Summary Notes: Frontline Management Capability Development

On 15^th May, CRF and Headspring hosted a discussion for senior members of the HR community on Frontline Management Capability Development. Discussion topics included the impact of the changing world of work on front line managers, challenges to management capability development, and lessons learned. These notes summarise the session.

Previous CRF research outlined the differences between leadership and management, emphasising that the reality of most organisations today is that people need to be able to do both. Participants at this event discussed both leadership and management.

Leadership is…	Management is…
Making sense of chaos	Planning, organising and budgeting
Setting vision and direction	Implementing strategy
Influencing and inspiring people	Giving direction
Building trust	Controlling and allocating resources
Innovating and developing	Making things run effectively
Having a long-term view	Short- to medium-term view
Change-oriented	Problem solving
Doing the right thing	Doing things right

Introduction – Future of Work and Manager Capability Development
Bethan Staton, Work and Careers Deputy Editor at the Financial Times, provided an overview of the changing world of work and its impact on manager capability:

• Good managers are crucial and have a significant effect on performance and employee experience. However, people are often frustrated with the management they experience; CMI research showed that nearly a quarter of people have quit a role because of a bad relationship with a manager.
• The same CMI data showed that nearly 80% of managers are ‘accidental managers’ who have become managers through default career progression rather than explicit choice. The inaccurate beliefs that management skills are innate rather than developed, and that only certain people are suited for leadership, are also common. Therefore, employers should be ready to invest in management training and recognise its importance.
• There is an ambivalence amongst employees regarding what management or leadership training really means and a lack of transparency about who can access it. With many people now needing to reskill throughout their careers, it is important to consider how leadership training can be shared across the workforce – especially as access to relevant training is often limited.
• Organisations should consider working structures and how people work together, including promotion structures and dual track careers, as well as other ways of supporting managers (including AI and technology).

Management Capability Development: Challenges
The following challenges emerged from the discussion:

• Organisations are asking more and more of their frontline managers. Amongst other areas, they need to be great communicators, manage different types of skills and performance, and support employees in their career paths. Their actions also have a significant impact on the overall employee experience – this is a lot of pressure!
• Managers are often poor at investing in themselves and their own development (despite emphasising its importance for others).
• Poor business performance can add extra pressure on front line managers to oversee the performance of their team and implement tools which require difficult conversations, such as 5-point rating scales.
• Often, management is seen as the only path for career progression, which can lead to people holding responsibilities they are unprepared for or that don’t align with their skills or interests.
• Managers need to navigate complex contexts, such as the differences between younger and older generations’ approaches to work.

Management Capability Development: Recommendations and Lessons Learned

Supporting People Leaders to Create an Inclusive Environment

• People leaders should take steps to create an inclusive environment for others, with a focus on psychological safety. This includes creating a safe environment where people feel comfortable to give feedback and respectfully challenge their manager when necessary. HR functions can support this by helping managers understand what psychological safety is and how to build the skills required to promote it.
• Focus on simple tools and actions, rather than empty buzzwords. This could include ensuring that people are represented in discussions (rather than thinking on behalf of them) and encouraging people whose opinions are different to the majority to speak up – for example, viewing an intern as the most important person in the room. Refer to CRF’s Team Effectiveness research for more information on techniques to build psychological safety and trust amongst teams.  
• Messaging from leadership and management is critical in setting the overall organisational culture. For example, managers can lead from example ways to navigate ambiguity or the ‘messy middle’.
• Recognise that whilst different generations may approach work in different ways, people tend to want the same things from work – such as to feel valued and a sense of purpose.

Democratising Management and Leadership Development

• Participants highlighted that there are different types of leadership which people can focus on, such as commercial leadership or self-leadership.
• One attendee shared how they have recently rolled out leadership programmes which target every level of the organisation. Another outlined how they require the same core capabilities for people leaders at all levels of the organisation, as well as additional supporting capabilities, depending on the context. For example, early careers focus on self-leadership, which then progresses to preparing yourself to become a manager. 

Implementing Effective Leadership Development Programmes

• Leadership development can be very costly, particularly when working with external providers. Organisations therefore need to be clear on what the impact of a leadership programme will be and ruthlessly prioritise where necessary. They should also be clear on how they will evaluate these programmes, including what evidence they will use and how they will collect it (see CRF’s research on evidence-based HR for further guidance).
• HR practitioners should be ready to build a business case for the required investment. Smaller-scale interventions – such as coaching or more frequent conversations about performance – can also be impactful. For information on maximising the business impact of coaching, refer to CRF’s 2023 coaching research.
• Whilst leaders are functional experts, it’s important to also encourage them to collaborate across siloes and think outside of their own world. One organisation connected leaders with their peers in different areas of the business, allowing them to share what it means to be a leader in different contexts.