<aside> 🚧 As part of my ‘building in public’ approach, you’re seeing a draft. This reflects my initial thoughts. I may have overlooked some things or need to develop some ideas further. Comments are welcome.
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If you want to build a really strong People (HR) function, start with your managers. More specifically, the managers responsible for managing the people in your company.
I consider People Manager to be a concrete term. It’s a role that comes with responsibilities. Not just approving PTO requests or determining what someone works on. But giving purpose, direction, and fulfillment.
As HR professionals, regardless of what People programs we put in place, managers are the ones driving the experience for employees. If the manager isn’t able to deliver a great environment, no amount of company-level programming is going to fill that gap.
We, as People people, rely on managers to ensure that they are giving clear direction, creating psychological safety, helping employees to develop in their careers, talking through organizational change and that they have the resources they need to be successful.
A People Manager Strategy is how you (the HR team), along with your company leadership, leverage your People Managers to deliver an impactful employee experience.
In practice, this means that you design your HR programs around your People managers.
A meaningful employee experience is driven by three things:
company leadership
their manager
the People function
So much of HR’s work is predicated on managers doing the right things. Too often, People teams overextend themselves to fill gaps. And we can’t overcompensate for a manager not showing up. Your People Manager Strategy is how you fill that gap.
(Ashley Hurd of Manager Method also has a great way of framing this).
As an HR person, you likely wont get pushback when you say, “Let’s invest in our managers.”
But how often do we often sit down to think deeply about what that investment really looks like? Typically, it’s a specific program or initiative (ex. Performance Reviews or Learning & Development budget). And when it comes to concrete action, that’s where resistance starts to come up.
It’s well accepted logic that for companies to succeed, they need to be employee first. Many a famous quote captures this sentiment. But how many companies get it right in practice?
In practice, an employee-first culture means you default towards what is in the best interest of the employee. (Ie. your short-term decisions should favor employees over the company. In turn, these positive actions ‘compound’ for mutually beneficial outcomes (ie. better engagement and retention).