Managers Are Cracking and More Training Won’t Help | Gartner

Managers play a significant role in influencing the engagement, retention, and performance of their teams. However, the increasing complexity and pressures of the manager role raise concerns about unrealistic demands placed on them by organizations. These demands not only affect managers’ well-being and performance but also have a ripple effect on their teams and overall business outcomes. While skill-building investments are made to develop managers’ capabilities, it alone is insufficient to make their jobs manageable. This Gartner paper proposes four HR actions to enhance the manageability of the manager role: resetting role expectations, rebuilding the manager pipeline, rewiring manager habits, and removing process hurdles (e.g. identifying and eliminating low-value tasks or extraneous process steps that burden managers and employees). The paper emphasizes that job manageability is 5x more effective than skill proficiency in improving manager effectiveness, potentially increasing overall manager effectiveness by up to 21%. Organizations focusing on skill-building AND job manageability can significantly enhance manager effectiveness. The paper includes an action plan with recommendations for immediate, 90-day, and 12-month steps to achieve manageable manager roles. As a bonus, here is a new HBR article, Managers Are Burned Out. Here’s How to Help Them Recharge.