Posted on Nov 24, 2021 at 7:16 am
Post-crisis, 78% of employees favor hybrid work. But, long before the outbreak of the pandemic, source of an unprecedented acceleration of changes, 80% of middle managers already deplored “a profession that is increasingly difficult to manage”. Boston Consulting Group Investigations
these observations remind us that “the middle manager is the focal point of all the transformations of the company”, in the opinion of Vinciane Beauchene, associate director of BCG.
And this human resources specialist explains that “when it comes to gaining in flexibility and agility, to strive to maintain the link or to explore new solutions responding to new challenges, it comes too often. to add a layer of responsibility to the manager ”.
Avoid disparities
As a result, this position is losing its splendor: only one in ten talent aspire to this position, and 65% of managers look to other horizons, to expert positions, internationally, or even entrepreneurs. “This job is less dreamy while it remains essential, especially in times of crisis, at a time when middle management is the best way to disseminate messages quickly and to reorganize work”, emphasizes Vinciane Beauchene, insisting on need to make this position desirable.
To do this, the HR expert advocates clarifying the role of the manager to avoid too much heterogeneity in the quality of management within organizations. “We observed it during the crisis, when teleworking was still constrained: within each company, and even from one department to another, each team received different messages according to the preferences and sensitivities of each manager. “, she says.
Think about specialization
In his opinion, faced with all-out transformations, and keeping in mind that a manager “cannot do everything”, a specialization of management is essential. “With regard to new working methods, it seems relevant to refocus their role, for example on skills development and career support, even if it means redistributing other tasks such as project development or relationship reporting client, etc. “, Gauge Vinciane Beauchene, seeing there” a prerequisite for an optimal level of individual and collective performance “.
Recalling that the health crisis and the large-scale recourse to remote work have empowered many employees, she believes that the period is favorable for the development of “a management refocused and freed from certain management charges”. “What is taken from a manager is entrusted to other roles, deprioritized or automated,” sums up Vinciane Beauchene.
This job is less dreamy while it remains essential, especially in times of crisis.
Vinciane Beauchene Associate Director of BCG
Of course, such a reorganization presupposes investments, both in new technologies (for example to equip the organization with a human resources management information system or HRIS), as well as in training and skills development, or again in carrying out internal audits and investigations. “However, 40% of HRDs feel they need an additional budget,” she warns, referring to a study by the ANDRH carried out in partnership with the BCG
Use artificial intelligence
With regard to technological investments, it seems particularly judicious to accelerate on the path of artificial intelligence “making it possible to seek information where it is found, for example on corporate social networks in order to be able to react quickly and no longer be satisfied with annual surveys, ”points out Vinciane Beauchene. Indeed, the transformation is not only taking place at a more sustained pace, it is becoming continuous.
“The expression ‘continuous transformation’ is scary, so we prefer the term ‘evolution’ which reflects the idea of a continuum: the objective is not to chain the knocks, but to be in a logic of perpetual adaptation, ”she says. And Vinciane Beauchene concludes that “this reveals the fundamental need to rethink the ability to support the development of employees: for this to be sustainable, we must explain the why and take into account the needs of each by reconciling them with those of the ‘business “.
-Sources: “Decoding Global Talent 2021” report produced by the Boston Consulting Group for Cadremploi (March 2021) and study “Intermediate managers, integrators of complexity? ”, From BCG in partnership with the human resources group of Sciences Po Alumni (December 2017).
