Why great management shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of HR
You may think that management is something that can be delegated to HR but this article outlines why this isn’t the case.
What you’ll learn:
- How the HR role versus your role are different
- Why managers need to help their team thrive and grow
It’s easy to think that HR ‘handle people management’. However developing a great team is clearly part of a managers role and here’s why.
HR is a specific discipline
The HR function varies from one company to another (it may be a freelance consultant who is used regularly or there may be someone who is hired full-time) but the core responsibilities of HR are specific. They will be involved in recruitment, payroll, disciplinary procedures, maintaining employee records, and will conduct benefit analysis. HR will also function to support employees on a broader level and offer advice on training when performance issues come up and more. They will be less involved in managing the team day to day because that is the manager's role.
A big part of being a manager is managing and developing people
So if HR are doing more administrative and logistical work in terms of managing people, managers are the ones who are working with their team day to day and helping them grow and thrive. They will also have a more intricate knowledge about what the role entails and a grass roots understanding of what their employees are up to. It isn’t a part of the job that can be handed over to HR unless there are specific areas that have been mentioned above (and even in these cases the manager will be involved too).
Managers will be best placed to understand what their team needs
A great manager is someone who is in touch with their team because they are scheduling regular 1:1 meetings, setting the agendas for each meeting, managing expectations, listening and ensuring that they understand what their employee needs.
If you think about it logically, HR can't be responsible for understanding the needs of each employee because those needs shift and change. They will be in the loop when specific issues come up but they can’t be expected to understand how things develop as each team member has different experiences working on different projects and with various team members.
Managers are also the people their team will be looking to for inspiration and motivation, because they may have ambitions to be managers themselves one day.
Remember there is lots of support for managers out there
Sometimes it can feel really intimidating as a new manager.
You may even feel intimidated by some of the terms the HR team/individual are using. It’s important that you use all the tools in your tool box to support yourself emotionally. Also remember that this is exactly why we designed Piper!
We wanted to support managers and help them in their journey so they can be the best they can be. There are also a wealth of resources out there- books, podcasts, networking events, mentoring opportunities- all these will help the newbie manager develop the skills they need.
This means that ultimately they won’t need to delegate their people management responsibilities to HR because they’ll be becoming increasingly confident in their own abilities as leaders.
