Stress in the workplace is increasing, and people in charge are feeling the pressure. Managers are responsible for delivering business results and developing their employees. The work can be overwhelming at the best of times, but when larger forces introduce unexpected disruption, managers must not only manage change but also maintain employee engagement and support an agile mindset. to their team.
Technology can help. Digital workflows create efficiencies by improving the way existing processes interact with each other, reducing the time and energy managers spend on routine tasks, and helping them to focus on their employees.
Melanie Lougee, senior director of strategy for employee workflows at ServiceNow, spoke SHRM Online at the HR Technology Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas about the changing role of the manager; common pain points of people management; and how technology can help managers do their job, especially when more is being asked of them.
ServiceNow, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has become one of the recognized leaders in digital workflow and employee experience technology.
SHRM Online: How has the manager’s role evolved over the past two to three years?
Lougee: The expectations of managers have changed significantly since the pandemic. Managers who are used to managing an in-person workforce need to know how to adapt to managing a remote or hybrid workforce. The pace of change has accelerated, causing many disruptions to companies. Managers are between the organization, who adopt new policies in the face of greater change, and the employees, who expect personal attention and need to feel the connection with the employer that managers are often responsible for.
The manager role is stressful today. That begs the question of what managers need to do to be successful in their role. From a technology usability perspective, even before the pandemic hit, the proliferation of point solutions made managing employees difficult.
Historically, managers have had to use multiple apps and solutions to get their work done. They may have other apps for everything from screening job candidates to approving time cards, establishing goals, and managing or recognizing performance. Because these apps are disconnected, managers find themselves switching between tabs multiple times a day to perform even the simplest tasks. This is time-consuming and frustrating for managers who should be focused on people and productivity, not on broken processes. And because these apps are disconnected, data and information are mixed up, making visibility or insights into team goals and activities impossible. This is a problem that needs to be solved. If technology does not work for managers, managers will be less productive in their work, and less effective in leading their people.
SHRM Online: How do you see the manager’s role evolving over the next few years?
Lougee: A manager’s expectations have changed from driving deadlines to driving the entire employee experience. They are expected to be coaches, leaders and sometimes supportive therapists. While driving deadlines is still key, just as critical is making sure team members are given the opportunities, projects, resources and training that will help them be successful.
Agility is key to everything moving forward, both personally and professionally. A good manager will start to look like a talent agent. What I mean is that when companies start paying attention to things like internal mobility and skill-based hiring and development, it becomes clearer who can be transferred, which roles needs to be hired, etc., and the manager will play a key role in that, making sure that their employees get those opportunities.
Organizations need to assist managers in this new reality, with solutions that can be customized to both employee and business needs while also planning for future talent requirements. Managers, in collaboration with the entire leadership team, need to consider ways for internal mobility and upskilling to fill roles, meet business needs, and more effectively retain employees.
SHRM Online: How can organizations best set managers up for success?
Lougee: It starts with culture and expectations. Being very clear on what the company’s values, principles and expectations are. And then supporting managers by simplifying the tools they use. The average manager touches more than 20 different applications to manage their people. That needs to be rationalized and streamlined. Another thing is to create positive encouragement for good behavior. It should be clear who the good managers are, based on clear evaluations, because they meet with their employees, their employees are recognized and promoted and they develop. And good managers should be recognized and rewarded for their success.
SHRM Online: What are the common pain points of managers?
Lougee: The biggest is the speed of change. Dealing with unpredictability and the need to balance business continuity when things go haywire while also having a very human, personalized relationship with their employees that will help them weather the changes, so they stay with the employer in instead of going elsewhere. It can be very difficult to balance those two things. Employees have individual needs that must be taken care of, and business wants to move quickly through disruption.
In the midst of all this disruption and change, managers are challenged with increased workloads, uncertainty about the future for themselves and their teams, helping their team manage well-being and burnout, while managing also their own mental health. It has been intensifying for the past few years. Leading organizations know that mental health and wellbeing must be a priority, or people will leave.
SHRM Online: What technologies do managers seek to do their jobs better?
Lougee: Most managers demand less technology. They have a bunch of HR-initiated point solutions, in an HR-centric way, to gather data that HR needs, and I think it’s time for the next generation of tools to come from asking to managers what they want, not what HR is. they think they need to.
Going forward, it’s more about simplification and consolidation. Technology that gives managers a single destination to track and respond to employee tasks or requests gives them better insights into their teams’ journeys across geographies or other differences, and it also delivers personalized resources and training to help them grow as leaders.
Managers must be able to help their team with a seamless workflow. And managers need support. They need resources and development that can be easily integrated into their busy workday.