The role of HR- Manager partnership in an organization can not be emphasized enough. They speak with one voice to ensure that employees are motivated, productive, and engaged.
But this can sometimes become challenging. With high expectations on both sides and heavy work stress, the HR-Manager partnership often gets complicated. And if you fail to keep your managers on your side, it is likely that you won’t have employees on your side as well.
Therefore to keep HR strategies function seamlessly, you need to build a better relationship with your team managers.
Why Do You Need a Stronger HR – Manager Partnership?
Managers take a lot of roles and responsibilities -from people management to performance management. This expectation to be the best in all roles might become daunting for some which cause burnout and shrinking productivity. Such dysfunctional managers can grind your teams to a halt.
HRs, therefore, need to step up and be a partner in the process to ensure a better employee experience while meeting company goals and maintaining culture. With a strong HR – Manager partnership, managers can become your strategic partner in the whole process, not a barrier you need to overcome.
With strong HR-Manager partnership, driving widespread alignment, engagement, and performance can be made possible.
It will allow you to provide-
1Better guidance in performance, employee engagement, and people management so that managers can be at the top of their game.
Companies with higher employee engagement saw 27% higher profits, and 38% above average productivity.
2Create a better employee experience through conflict resolution, employee wellbeing, personalized communication, and building trust
CPP found that only 31% of managers believed they were good at resolving disagreements.
3Better Feedback and implementation with data-driven facts and tools.
How to Build a Stronger HR – Manager Partnership?
To build a strong HR – Manager partnership you also need to be able to wear multiple hats and provide the support and guidance where and when needed.
“An HBR article, suggests that many managers are disappointed in their HR people.” Is it true in your organization as well?
Here are some tips for you to establish the HR – Manager partnership you are aspiring for-
1Communicate
The role of communication is not limited to sharing information. It’s also important to make your team managers feel engaged, motivated and build a relationship of trust.
According to 97% of workers, communication impacts tasks every day.
Here are 5 things you can do to improve communication with your team managers-
aGet to know them:
When you will get to know them on a more personal level, work relationships will become much healthier.
bListen:
Communication is a two-way process. Hence to build an HR – Manager partnership, it’s necessary to make your team managers feel heard. Be respectful of their values, even if you don’t agree.
cInitiate Constructive Conversations:
Help your team managers understand their roles in the bigger picture. Explain to them the specifics of a policy and why it’s in place.
Appreciation and recognition are also important for constructing a healthier HR- Manager’s partnership. Managers can show 8.9% greater profitability when their strengths are highlighted.
“…the role of HR isn’t just about evaluations and statistics – it’s about developing strong relationships with employees and getting to know them better as people. If workers feel connected and understood, they will give their best.”- Malte Scholz, CEO, and Co-Founder of Airfocus
dAsk for their insights:
To build an HR- Manager Partnership, it is important to share inputs from both parties. This includes- asking your managers about the issues and obstacles your teams are facing.
Take their insights on the initiatives, ask for their feedback on the tools and resources you have been providing. It will help them feel part of the whole and create a sense of belongingness and accountability in their hearts.
eBuild a relationship of trust:
Be an empath, motivator, and supporter for your team managers. Create an environment where your team managers can feel comfortable reaching out to you before things get knotty and harder to untie.
2Create a Structure:
Create a framework and a structure to make this HR – Manager partnership function effortlessly in different situations for assessing, discussing, and managing teams effectively. Work with team managers to maintain your employees’ physical and mental health, as well as the health of the company.
Design frameworks for-
- Effective 1-on-1s.
- Responding to unexpected challenges and conflicts.
- Supporting employee’s professional and personal growth.
- A better feedback management system. As frequent feedbacks can improve employee learning and performance.
- Encourage inter-personal and intra-personal relationships.
71% of employees who believe their manager can name their strengths to feel engaged and energized by their work.
Understanding team members and their skills will help the managers set realistic goals and expectations. And team members will get the time and space to reach out for questions and guidance.
3Empower:
All Managers don’t magically know ‘how to manage’. So Provide them-
aRight Tools
Give your managers the tools and skills they will need to develop staff into company assets. Tools and resources will help them detect, avoid and tackle problems early on.
bData
To make the most out of the HR- Manager partnership, equip your managers with data they will need at their fingertips. And help them stay up-to-date about the latest trends of people management, analyze performance, and engagement levels.
cCoaching
“The goal of coaching is the goal of good management: to make the most of an organization’s valuable resources.” Harvard Business Review
Offer your team managers developmental opportunities through coaching. Coaching will help them improve their ‘people skills’ and other leadership skills.
Why you should integrate OKR and 1:1s
Confused About Which Coaching Service will be Best for Your Team Managers?
Consider Peoplebox Coaching, which provides personalized coaching with a combination of AI + experienced leadership coaches. It will make this HR – Manager partnership stronger by helping managers convert feedback into actions, and build authentic connections and collaboration with teams.
Why Peoplebox Coaching?
- Allows you to assign goals and improvement areas that you would like the coach to work on with each manager.
- Will help team managers make the best use of feedback and performance tools.
- Reduce your burden by guiding the managers on effective 1:1s, Team performance reviews, and engagement drives.
