“I think there’s something very curious about being a manager. We often talk about how no one – no child or teenager – says that they dream of becoming a manager. It’s not something you dress up for, or your fantasy outcome.”
André Sammartino is an associate professor in strategy, and part of the University of Melbourne’s Department of Management and Marketing. Through his teaching of the Master of Professional Management, he has seen many different approaches to leadership – and some big changes.
History and popular culture have given us the familiar image of an authoritarian kind of manager. Separated from their staff, they watch from a vantage point over a factory floor or open-plan office, emerging only to bark orders and assert their position.
While there’s some truth to the archetype, many of today’s managers are radically different. They are engaged and integrated with their teams, and open to ideas and new ways of doing business. At the same time, they’re required to be across an evolving world, from complex environments and big data to AI and ethical leadership.
We asked experts what they know about today’s managers, and how aspiring leaders can learn to become future success stories.
What does it mean to be a new age manager?
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Dr Amantha Imber – organisational psychologist, founder of the consultancy Inventium and host of the How I Work podcast
IMBER: The idea that we have to manage people to get work done is a very unhuman way of looking at how we best motivate people to do their best work. I much prefer the term “leader”. I think it is something to aspire to, to be a great leader that people want to do great work for.
Kemi Nekvapil – executive and personal coach, author and Dare to Lead facilitator
NEKVAPIL: They need to be able to ask a vulnerable question and give the time to hear the answer. The next-generation manager has to have coaching skills in their tool belt. They need to have empathy skills, so that if a team member is saying to them, “I’m not going well”, the manager is able to say: “Let’s brainstorm how we can support you.”
SAMMARTINO: It’s often now about creating environments and cultures of trust, empowering people and giving people initiative. But, also, offering those people in your team the tools they need, the skills they need. The modern manager is often juggling a lot of responsibilities, both vertical and horizontal. In terms of communication and engagement channels, the hierarchy has evolved quickly in many organisations, relative to what we might think of as a more traditional environment.
How are leaders adapting to the evolving world?
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SAMMARTINO: Managers need to be across an ever-increasing set of drivers of change and disruption. We get a bit obsessed with technology, and I think that’s justified, but there are also changes in societal expectations, there’s ever increasing regulatory complexity. There’s obviously shocks to the system, whether it be pandemics, supply chain disruptions, lots of other things. I don’t think anyone’s ever lived in an era where they didn’t think there was lots of change going on, but it’s fair to say it’s evolved a lot over the last few decades.
IMBER: It requires us to, as leaders, be thinking about: how do we give people work that challenges them, and is the best use of humans? Now it’s easier than ever to have computers and AI do those things for us, which is great – let’s use that to our advantage to create more enticing and engaging work for people.
What skills do leaders need most?
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NEKVAPIL: Clear and kind communication. That you’re able to communicate feedback: “You’re not going well here; this is what I need to see.” That’s actually what kindness is. It’s not pretending that that person is doing a good job and then talking about them to other team members.
IMBER: An understanding of human psychology is fundamental. The best leaders understand the people that they are leading, and they understand how to get the best out of them through understanding human motivation. They also, I think, respect the fact that adults spend about a third of their waking lives at work. And so I feel like the best leaders really see it as their obligation to provide not just a good, safe environment, but one where people can thrive and actually look forward to the work day ahead and come home feeling a real sense of achievement and progress.
SAMMARTINO: We all are doing these things that someone else would have done before … roles and tasks that were previously handled by a group of workers have been digitised and automated. There are things like technological literacy, analytical literacy. These are important parts of being a manager these days, and an important part of being in any organisation. Being able to question and critique what you see in front of you.
How can future leaders learn to succeed?
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SAMMARTINO: Formalised learning is a chance to step back from the day-to-day organisational grind to be much more deliberate in your engagement, and much more reflective. The role of education is actually getting people to write about stuff, actually construct ideas and work through what these big ideas mean, or what these analytical frameworks allow them to make sense of. How do they better understand the role of technology, the role of an organisation’s strategy, and so forth? These are all key aspects of becoming a better manager.
Sometimes, they just want to manage themselves. Some of this can be about you; almost everything we teach can be utilised at a personal level. We can talk about organisational and strategic context, which is the stuff I teach. But there’s also those relationship contexts: the empathy of understanding interpersonal interaction, and understanding that people have different motivations and different needs in different contexts. Being an empathetic manager means you understand the personal needs of someone as much as you understand their business needs.
Become a modern leader with a Master of Professional Management at the University of Melbourne.
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