The role of the Manager
Edition 1 - Managing risk as teams go back to work
As business regroups and enters the next stage of the C19 environment there is a heightened responsibility to manage the many risks involved – not least the people management risks. We are working with clients to help them identify some key issues and equip their managers with tools and techniques to address them.
Our aim is to approach this from the perspective of the line manager and help build a tool kit for them to reach into, no matter how busy their day-to-day activity seems to be, and give them knowledge and confidence to manage their teams well as we head into the uncertainties of 2021 and teams return to work in some way, shape or form.
Over the next few weeks our articles will be focussed on some common issues, with an opportunity to download a few short, practical guides or key steps from our well-established Management Development Program (MDP) which may be of value to you or your teams.
We know that issues our clients are facing include some of the following:
Not everyone returning to their workplace or their job; how to manage a hybrid team or deal with bringing in new members and agreeing new Ground Rules?
Different skills, knowledge and competencies may have been developed or be needed now? Need to plan for this and not lose key players.
Ways of operating may have changed? How to manage different processes or behaviours?
Ways of thinking may have changed: how to harness new ideas, maintain motivation or appreciate movement in employees’ state of mind?
Changing business goals? Need to set new expectations and manage focus?
First, let’s consider the actual role of the manager or supervisor in this time of emerging from C19. What do we expect from them? How do we help them deal with any of the challenges listed above?
5 Key Elements
If managers are responsible for “getting things done through others” what are the common elements of this responsibility whether you are managing a team of 3 or 30? It helps to think of five key parts of the role:
Planning: what do we need to achieve in this next period? How will we measure it and achieve it? How is this different from pre C19 or from our Lockdown period?
Organising: what resources (people, equipment, budget) do we need? What tasks are needed and who will do them? How has this changed? Have we lost some people or jobs? Do we have new jobs or new team members?
Co-ordinating: How will we motivate each individual team member – whether still working from home, back in the workplace or newly recruited? How will we regroup and lead our team? What communication methods do we need to use to deliver our key messages and learn what’s happening?
Controlling: What performance standards need to be set? How will we measure actual performance against standards? What corrective action may be needed? How different will the approach be if our expectations have changed?
Doing: What additional specialist or functional tasks will the manager need to do and how will these differ from what was needed before?
3 Parameters
In addition to stepping through each of the five key parts of the role, we know that managers also need to be clear on three parameters of their job:
Demands: What the manager has to get done. What are the minimum performance or procedural standards, specific bits of work or deadlines, tasks that cannot be delegated?
Choices: Opportunities to do things differently. What tasks have to be done when, how and by whom?
Constraints: Real or imagined? Which constraints are internal/external? What are the limits of my resources?
Many a manager has been derailed by mis-understanding any of the three “edges” of the role even when they think they planned, organised, co-ordinated, controlled and did! Such checking for understanding is useful in “normal” times, required in times of “organisation change” and critical in times such as we are experiencing now when so much is in flux both inside and outside our own organisations.
Relationships?
Even when clarity is found on the elements above, the role of the manager is also dependent on the quality of the relationships the role interacts with. Please note: successful managers know that the quality of the relationships is more important than the quantity.
In our next update we’ll look more specifically at techniques for identifying, examining and developing high quality relationships and some key steps to help managers communicate effectively.
But what does all this mean in practice?
If you’re wondering how best to brief your managers as this new operating environment gets underway, you might find it useful to have conversations about the three parameters listed above: from there all parties may be clearer about what has changed, what is needed, and what is expected. Such context should prove valuable understanding so that your managers can then start on their own assessment of how well they know what is expected of them in the five key elements of their role – and where they may need help.
Click here to download the first of some preliminary checklists from our MDP which can be combined with questions and examples in this newsletter, to help managers prepare themselves and identify where to start.
And the additional good news is that the toolkit, tips and techniques, work in non-C19 times too!