The American Management Association & the Management Centre Europe recently completed research with hundreds of managers that has revealed the key skills needed to help them and their teams succeed in a changing work environment.
COVID-19 no longer dominates the headlines any time for workers to show up in person at least a few days a week, with six in 10 employees with remote-capable jobs wanting a hybrid work arrangement, according to a Gallup poll in February 2023. For managers, this hybrid arrangement has created new challenges. In fact, while most employees are very happy with hybrid work, this is not true of managers. An August 2022 analysis by Gallup’s Jim Clifton and Chad Holliday of another company study found that managers were “more miserable at work than their employees” because they were never taught how to manage a much less attached worker.
“It’s not enough to only provide a regular schedule of mandatory compliance training and industry specific skills,” AMA/MCE experts say. “Managers and individual employees also need adaptable, technology focused, resilience-building, and key people skills that help them succeed in their changing work environments and with new responsibilities. For managers especially, they need skills to support their teams across all work environments.” To determine how resilience, conflict resolution, collaboration, critical thinking, and other skills play a role in positive, modern workplace outcomes, AMA/MCE asked a nationwide audience of managers about the skills they believe they and their employees need to move forward successfully in a remote or hybrid work situation.
PERSONAL NEEDS OF LEADERS
Breaking down the numbers, AMA/MCE found that 23% of the people polled work remotely and 39% are hybrid, working in the office and remotely. Most important, of the 62% of respondents who are responsible for direct reports, more than half of the managers polled stated that they had to manage their direct reports differently, depending on whether they work remotely or in person. Sixty-six percent believe that there are skills which are more critical for remote employees than for those who are in the office, and 50% believe that the skills required to do their jobs successfully have changed since before the pandemic.
What exactly are those skills that managers say they need more of since the pandemic? Among them are communication, with 67% stating that the requirement has grown. Others are virtual presentation, at 66%; adaptability and resilience, at 65%; technology, also at 65%; motivation, at 52%; and emotional intelligence, with 51% agreeing the need has become larger.
23% of the people AMA/MCE polled work remotely & 39% are hybrid, working in the office and remotely.
