It’s a tough time for those aspiring to managerial roles. Pressured from all sides, caught between a management eager to achieve its business goals at all costs and an increasingly demanding workforce, managers are left to fend for themselves in many organizations, resulting in a cocktail of exhaustion, disengagement, and disillusionment.
This is the harsh reality described by Marie-Hélène Chèvrefils, founder and principal consultant of the firm Evō Conseils, specializing in employee and managerial experience:
“I accompany several entrepreneur clients, executives, or managers in this era of hyper-personalization. And even if most of my clients are still compassionate [towards their employees], internally, they face significant challenges of tension and mental health. The emphasis is very much on the employee experience, but what about the managerial experience? It’s as if we rolled out the red carpet for employees, but took it away from managers. Yet, they are just as important and act as pillars within organizations.”
More than 50% of managers have psychological health issues, asserts the HR consultant.
The level of engagement among managers is declining. People constantly feel pressured, really overwhelmed, and sometimes at the end of their rope. When you add to that a labor shortage, it’s not surprising to see that companies have significant managerial succession issues. Many of my clients are wondering if management is still a sustainable career.”
To get out of this deadlock, Marie-Hélène Chèvrefils urges companies to be more intentional in designing their managerial experience, starting with a simple question: “What do we want them to experience?” What “positive” experience do we want to offer them? And what are their specific needs at this stage of their careers?
The Human Behind the Manager
To initiate a reflection on the managerial experience, the image of the “superman” manager, the ultimate responsible for the fate of their department, who doesn’t count the hours, extinguishes all fires, and never complains, must first be shattered.
Before being a manager, we are human. We have a job, of course, but we also have a life outside of work. Whether it’s being a caregiver, having children, or about to obtain Canadian citizenship… As an employer, it’s important to recognize all these realities.”
As the first step in designing the managerial experience, Marie-Hélène Chèvrefils advises companies to define and break down a manager’s journey within the organization:
“In a manager’s lifecycle, there’s the moment we recruit them, then the welcome, integration, skill development, questions about departures, absences, paternity, maternity, inevitable sick leaves, and retirement.”
The consultant emphasizes that a newly promoted manager has different needs than a manager on the brink of retirement:
“A person early in their career needs to develop their knowledge and skills. Someone nearing the end of their career will want to transfer their skills and knowledge. We might ask ourselves if there’s an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by creating a mentoring program to pair someone eager to transmit their knowledge with someone thirsty for learning.”
Taking a step back, we realize that the ingredients that make “a good employee experience” are the same as those that will make “a good managerial experience”. We must address the fundamental needs for recognition, skills, and autonomy.
Autonomy is an important dimension, illustrates Marie-Hélène Chèvrefils. If we clarify managers’ objectives, and then give them decision-making power, it’s much more rewarding and reduces stress.”
Much progress can also be made by providing them with a minimum of recognition and personalization. The consultant gives the example of a company that revamped its managers’ welcome and integration process from day one, calling them by their name and offering them their “favorite” drink.
“These are small gestures that can have an impact on manager retention,” argues the consultant.
The Price to Pay
Supporting and cherishing one’s managers sounds great on paper. After all, no one is against virtue. But how do you respond to executive committees that feel they have no room to invest in their managers? And who, paradoxically, continue to pressurize them to achieve their business goals?
“The senior management team must ask themselves, what is the price to pay if eventually there are fewer people seeking managerial positions? Without successors, these organizations will not be able to achieve their business goals, however ambitious they may be. Investing in the managerial experience is the key to successfully perpetuating the function.”
