Relationships
Even in the twenty-first-century world of hybrid working and flat organizations, the hierarchy reasserts itself at critical moments: When your boss is an performance assessment, pay and algorithm, your boss is rewards, promotions and budget a tyrant negotiations. Firms are becoming more equal, but some managers are more equal than others. The disciplines of management are harder to execute when managing a team of professionals you cannot see. Note the following seven examples: ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Passing information up the hierarchy and passing orders down it – but most information has been liberated by technology from the hierarchy. If knowledge is power, power is bypassing middle managers. Monitoring progress and assuring quality – this is much harder when you cannot see what team members are doing. Assessing performance – hybrid working forces greater autonomy and accountability for team members, making performance assessment more transparent. Delegating work and assigning tasks – delegating becomes harder because communicating is harder on a hybrid team. It is easy to communicate the ‘what’ needs to happen, much harder to convey the full context of ‘why’. Motivating and encouraging the team – you cannot motivate a team by email or instant messaging. Solving difficult challenges – professionals do not want the most interesting challenges taken away from them. Hybrid working forces you not just to delegate more but to delegate more effectively. Selecting, developing and progressing the team – if they are not with the team in the office, new team members may
19
9781472992529_Smart Work_3rdpass.indb 19
6/3/2021 6:07:05 PM
