How to navigate the ever changing world of work ?
At a recent event at Lancaster University Management School, I was asked to present a session for a group of talented students all about the workplace and how to manage people. They wanted to talk about the key challenges, insights and skills to look for in the ever changing world of work. It was refreshing to go back to the start and really think about what we need and what it could look like rather than try to navigate our current systems and frameworks. This is what we discussed:
Question 1 : What are the main challenges you face when managing/working with employees?
Insights:
- There are many versions of the truth! We know that when we receive information we distort, generalise and delete data. We need to be careful not to jump to conclusions or make assumptions about what an employee might say about their manager and vice versa. It’s a good idea to use stakeholder maps to involve the right people and form your own insightful view.
- Be accountable and hold others to account. The HR function can often find itself scapegoated and blamed by others as we are trying to uphold company policies. In reality direct line managers have wide ranging people management responsibilities. If they are ill equipped, HR colleagues can find themselves managing very challenging situations.
- Lack of focussed activity on real value add work. General busyness- notifications; MS outlook calendar triple bookings; senior people not doing value adding work. If we are not careful this can mean that work becomes transactional rather than transformational. If the issue is systemic problems then this needs to be addressed across the whole organisation.
Read: Deep Work by Cal Newport
Question 2 : What would the future of work look like and how do you respond accordingly?
Insights:
- More creativity and agility around organisation design and within that, role design. Start with the alignment of business goals with role design and allow space for natural strengths to emerge.
- The development of the internal market place – unfortunately some employees find it easier to find a different external role rather than look internally. This can be due to managers holding onto good people; systemic problems with the talent process or lack of awareness around the internal recruitment process.
- Rebalancing of leadership responsibilities between leaders and employees – we need to establish more balance between what is owned by leaders and what is owned by employees in terms of career development.
- Employee voice and employee forums. These need to be up and running and aligned with Human Centred Leadership principles.
Read: Redesigning Work by Lynda Gratton
Question 3: What are the vital skills you look for when recruiting and selecting?
Insights:
- Integrity and a commitment to do the right thing – In an HR role it is hard to be on top of all the legislation and therefore a real sense of what is right/fair/appropriate is a key starting point.
- Readiness to challenge –new hires bring the opportunity for a fresh perspective.
- An as yet undiscovered skill. A signal that the interviewee will bring something different that is not requested and may not yet be fully known.
- An alignment between the role and what the interviewee finds fulfilling. This signals that the work we can offer will be enjoyable for them and they will want to do it for longer.
- Growth Mindset vs fixed mindset
- High EQ and empathy
Read: Mindset; The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
Question 4: Any advice for the future ‘managers’?
Insights:
- Take a people managerial role thoughtfully – don’t look on it as the only way to progress.
- Enable and engage – there are many ways to manage people and you have to tune into individual needs.
- Do not promise anything you cannot personally deliver.
Read: First Break All The Rues by Marcus Buckingham
If any of these subjects resonate for you, please reach out if you think we may be able to support you.
