Want to keep expanding your knowledge and wondering which books you and your team should be reading in 2022?

Whether you manage people, take a more casual interest in HR, or are an HR professional looking to expand your knowledge base, there are stacks of books you can read to support your interest and learning. We’ve created a shortlist of some of our favorites right here.

17 Best HR Books For Your Reading List

1.  The Essential HR Handbook

Authors: Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell

This is one of the top HR strategy books on the market and covers almost every HR topic you can think of. It focuses on best practices with workers, building relationships, and traversing HR problems in a complicated business world. It’s a great go-to manual for all levels of HR professionals.

2. Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead

Author: Laszlo Bock

One of the best human resource management books available, this book shows you how to balance company creativity and structure. Build a better company internally rather from the top down using Google as the undisputed example of how it works. It may answer the question of “What will the role of HR look like in the future?” Google is ahead of the curve and leading the way. This book gets you on track for the future.

3. Unleashing the Power of Diversity

Author: Bjorn Z. Ekelund

In an ever changing world of diversity in the workforce, this book highlights how to make sure your company is working to improve communication between people from various cultural experiences. Learning to break barriers to unification and trust is at the forefront of this book’s mission. It helps HR make sure that diversity is viable and sustainable.

4. Rituals for Work: 50 Ways to Create Engagement, Shared Purpose, and a Culture that Can Adapt to Change

Authors: Kursat Ozenc and Margaret Hagan

This book offers some newer HR knowledge around rituals and how they can benefit the workplace, creating meaning and connecting people. It supports HR goals to make teams stronger, achieve company goals, and create e a cohesive company culture.

5. People Processes: How Your People Can Be Your Organization’s Competitive Advantage

Author: Rhamy Alejeal

This is a book for the HR professional who is still bogged down in paperwork. Its goal is to show how software makes HR easier and more effective. It offers a map to get you from the point of researching a Human Resources management structure to being up and running in under four months.

6. People Analytics for Dummies

Author: Mike West

This is one of the greatest HR strategy books for beginning human resources professionals or those who want to start using analytics to enhance their HR strategies. It shows that various data can assist in pointing you in the right direction on a hire, improve employee motivation, and maintain workers satisfied.

7. The Drama-Free Workplace

Author: Patti Perez

While drama should be avoided through human resources best practice, some things may slip in under the radar every so often and they need to be dealt with swiftly. This book helps HR make sure there is little chance of issues occurring and if they do, how best to nip them in the bud. Communication and compliance are at the front of the discussion in this book.

8. Bring Your Human to Work

Author: Erica Keswin

When so many books focus on technology and upgrading in HR, this book talks about one of the biggest HR needs of all: creating a more comfortable workplace. Building relationships so the company can do well and employees are happy is essential for success. This is one of the best selling books 2019 as named by the Wall Street Journal.

9. The HR Answer Book

Authors: S. Smith and R. Mazin

This is the go-to book for quick answers around HR issues. It is easy to read, concise and offers guidance on all issues found in HR. Answers range from the simple to the complex, making it a great quick reference book for everyone interested in HR or are working in the field. It is one of the books for HR professionals that should be kept in the HR libraries.

10. Talent Keepers: How Top Leaders Engage and Retain Their Best Performers

Authors: Christopher Mulligan and Craig Taylor

This is one of the best human resource books when it comes to trying to improve employee engagement and retention. It gives suggestions for invigorating your employees and keeping those who are great for the organization. Its suggestions help keep those essential people in the company to help build success.

11. Culture Decks Decoded: Transform Your Culture into a Visible, Conscious and Tangible Asset

Author: Bretton Putter

This book looks at the culture decks from top-ranking companies to highlight the ways to create a company culture that benefits your place of work, helping all employees maximize their abilities.

12. Performance Management for Dummies

Author: Herman Aguinis

Another “Dummies” book for the beginner and professional, this book helps outline the basics and supports the refinement of a current performance management system. It highlights the benefits of doing performance management online.

13. HR on Purpose: Developing Deliberate People Passion

Author: Steve Browne

The HR team is often overworked and overwhelmed. This HR book by the owner of the blog EverydayPeople is about making HRs more accessible to people who need them the most. The book reminds HR team members of their passion for helping, serving, and leading team members through real-life examples, case studies, epiphanies, and observations. It offers a fresh perspective and encourages you to avoid overlooking passion and career development in the daily grind of administrative tasks.

14. HR Transformation: Building Human Resources from the Outside In

Author: Dave Ulrich

This book offers HR professionals a new way of thinking. It encourages HR professionals and leadership teams to collaborate and achieve business goals by bringing systems, strategies, and human capital together. The four-phase model of transformation presented by Dave Ulrich and his team of authors serves as a tangible blueprint for enterprises worldwide.

15. HR Disrupted: It’s Time for Something Different

Author: Lucy Adams

Talent management is tough. To engage, lead, support, and influence people in a dynamic business environment, HR leaders need to optimize HR practices by making changes that truly make a difference. This book is based on the EACH ( Employees as Adults, Consumers, and Human Beings) principle. The book encourages enterprises to recognize traditional human resource initiatives and offers practical ideas, tools, and ways to help them make radical changes.

16. Start with Why

Author: Simon Sinek

HR leaders must inspire their team to become great leaders. This practical guide emphasizes the need to understand and decode the why behind business goals, strategies, and decisions. The goal? To help the HR industry build a productive and creative workforce that will contribute to their organization’s success.

17. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Author: Kim Scott

Manipulation, insincere empathy, or aggressive HR management plague the industry and give professionals a bad rep. It’s important for HR to be calm and kind since HR has a direct impact on workplace culture and employee satisfaction. Being calm and considerate isn’t always easy, and that’s why this book can help. Reading this book empowers HRs and business leaders to care about their work, share constructive feedback, and be open to criticism from team members.

Need More?

If you need more suggestions for HR books for beginners or other leadership and organizational development tips, sign up for the People Managing People newsletter. We’ll guide you through HR issues when you have doubts with tips, tricks, and support along the way, with insight from experienced people managers.

Some further resources to help you on your HR journey:

• The 20 Best HR Certification Courses For 2022
• Top HR Podcasts Of 2022
• Key Human Resources Responsibilities: Creating Happier, Healthier Workplaces
• How Will AI Impact Human Resources?
• The 10 Best HR Software for 2022

The post 17 Best HR Books You Should Read In 2022 appeared first on People Managing People.

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Albrey Brown--Joonko’s VP of Strategy and General Manager of New York—shares his insights with us.

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

I’ve always been hyperfocused on unlocking opportunities for underrepresented people throughout my career, and I’ve had the opportunity to focus on this at different stages. 

At Telegraph Academy, I helped build a school that taught over 1000 underrepresented adults to be software engineers, and got over 190 of them jobs. 

I previously had roles at Pivotal Software, Inc., DocuSign, and most recently at Airtable, where I worked with People Teams to help design cultures that actively enabled equity.

At Airtable, my team trained recruiters and hiring managers to prioritize recruiting underrepresented candidates from the start—I led Diversity and Inclusion at the company when we were under 150 employees.

Now at Joonko, I am directly involved in building the first sourcing platform focused solely on underrepresented candidates and helping more than 200 companies like Adidas, Accenture, American Express, Crocs, PayPal, Northwestern Mutual, and Intuit hire underrepresented talent.

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

Gregarious and optimistic. I’m often described as relatable, and easy to talk to. I often have intimate and vulnerable conversations with random strangers in New York.

Working with people as a profession comes naturally to me. Admittedly, my overly optimistic attitude is a lot for most people. I sometimes have to throw in a constructive comment to make sure people don’t think I’m a robot.

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

I was studying to attend a coding bootcamp in February 2014. The admissions test was known to be very difficult; most students failed the first time, studied for 6 weeks, and passed the second time. I was on a tight timeline (and budget), and needed to join the April class. Failure was not an option.

During the day of my admissions interview, I was very confident in my skills. As I started to take the test, though, things fell apart quickly. My interviewer stopped the interview early and said, “I think you should take 6 weeks to study, before trying again.”  In my desperation, I looked at her and said, “no.”

She looked puzzled, and I went on, “I need to join the next class. I can pass this, just give me a week.” She reluctantly agreed and gave me a link to her personal calendar. I studied my butt off for a week, passed the test, and joined the following cohort.

That experience taught me two lessons: don’t take no for an answer, and give people more time than you think they need to be great.

The best thing an organization can do is survey their team, understand how they’d like to work, and do whatever they can to align expectations around that.

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

Meet people where they are. My time in diversity, equity, and inclusion taught me that everyone is on a different part of their journey.

I had to understand where people are coming from, where they want to go, and how I can help them get there.

This concept applies to people development, professional development, and project development. After all, everything we accomplish involves people. 

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work,” what comes to mind?

A workplace that serves the needs of its people, as much as the people serve the needs of the business. Companies that acknowledge and honor the way that employees work can serve employee needs the best. 

A concrete example is a flexible work schedule and location. “Work” used to be a place you go, but it’s evolving into something a lot bigger than that.

The best thing an organization can do is survey their team, understand how they’d like to work, and do whatever they can to align expectations around that.

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

People’s misconception of Diversity and Inclusion being a strategic function. Most people believe that DE&I is about feelings and culture, but the majority of DE&I roles are about strategically driving behavior so that feelings and culture can thrive.

For example, at DocuSign we asked our recruiters to record the number of underrepresented candidates they reached out to in a given week and this simple behavior change forced recruiters to face their “awkward” feelings about not being able to find many URG candidates.

This ultimately helped us build a culture where stating those feelings was more than okay, but they were encouraged and embraced.

I’d encourage People Teams and business leaders to treat employees like internal customers; talk to them more often, record their feedback, and implement reasonable improvements. 

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

Talk to employees, early and often. My background is in product and entrepreneurship. The majority of those jobs are talking to customers. 

I’d encourage People Teams and business leaders to treat employees like internal customers; talk to them more often, record their feedback, and implement reasonable improvements. 

The bi-yearly, Employee Voice Survey, is important, but gathering continuous feedback is both in our control, and allows us to make agile decisions about how work should be conducted.

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

I recently read the latest Mckinsey Women in the Workplace Report. The thesis of the report is that women are leaving jobs at the highest rates we’ve ever seen. Not out of fear, but out of a desire to get more out of their careers, and workplaces. This quote really stood out to me:

“Women leaders are significantly more likely than men leaders to leave their jobs because they want more flexibility or because they want to work for a company that is more committed to employee well-being and DEI.”

Talented, experienced women are holding companies accountable to building a better world of work. I hope this forces companies to invest in the evolution of work at with greater urgency.

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work, is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

Madison Butler, Chief People Officer at Grav, is a must follow on LinkedIn. She tackles tough topics with practical advice covering all spectrums of culture and diversity work. Her posts have taught me a lot and challenged me to be a better people leader over the years.

How can our readers follow your work?

I can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.  

Thank you for adding your voice to People Managing People’s interview series on How to Build a Better World of Work! 

Add your voice to the conversation

Join our interview series and share your ideas for how we can build a better world of work!

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In our Office Snacks series we interview members of our community to delve into their varied buffets of experience and come away with juicy insights and ideas.

Join us in our next installment below as Michal Peleg, Head of Talent at Tyk—shares her insights with us.

Hi Michal! We’d love to get to know you a bit better, where are you based?

Hi! I’m based in Hertfordshire, UK but I was born and raised in Israel.

How’d you get to where you are today?

I spent years in agencies headhunting candidates for digital marketing, but decided that the next challenge would be a role in house, and I’ve been working in house for nearly 7 years, specifically in the tech space.

I’ve always had my own idea of how the ideal recruitment process should be, and it was never a tick off list, I’m so happy that I got the opportunity to express that in every role!

How does your typical day look, do you have a set routine?

Technically right now I’m on maternity leave, so my day includes baby talk and baby wipes!

HOWEVER, in the real world, my day is less operational and more strategic. I like to think that I solve problems as well as assess what problems might pop up and de-risk them well before. 

I also get my hands in to the day-to-day recruitment as that is always a priority for us. It’s not necessarily a set routine, but I have small tasks every day that help me get us to an objective. This can be researching global benefits, compensation, trends within the business, employer brand initiatives.

How do you describe your job to others?

I help the business grow and enhance their already awesome culture.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

Definitely seeing the people we hired and seeing them progress within the company and gain more responsibilities. It reassures me we did well in getting them in!

What’s the most challenging?

Our industry [tech] is very tight right now. More than ever, candidates are in high demand and there aren’t many out there, there’s a lot of competition so the challenge is to figure out ways to attract them.

What are your most-loved tools that help you with your job?

Our ATS, our HR system, and our benchmarking tool. Anything that provides quick data is helpful.

What would you say has been your most effective initiative to date?

Off the top of my head I’d say our referral scheme. We encourage all employees to refer, we ALWAYS get in touch with their referrals, and the team member can be rewarded with either a bonus or a charity donation on their behalf. Our referral placement rates were close to 30% earlier this year.

What’s your number one piece of advice for sourcing talent?

I have two, but they go hand in hand: trust and transparency. Trust your employees they know how to do their job and that they’re responsible professionals who are there to push the company forward.

Be direct, and don’t write an essay; give the top details (role, company, package) of the opportunity on the first lines. If I’m a candidate that’s not looking, I’ll delete a message that goes on and on without crucial details at the top. Go on to tell the whole story on the first call. ?

What’s your number one piece of advice for retaining talent?

I have two, but they go hand in hand: trust and transparency. Trust your employees they know how to do their job and that they’re responsible professionals who are there to push the company forward.

And be transparent, tell them the good and the bad, with open feedback (adapting to styles, of course!). There’s nothing worse than working somewhere and not knowing company news that may affect your role, or not having an open conversation with your team or manager.

Lastly, and most importantly, what’s your favourite office (home or otherwise) snack?

Well I’m a really boring fitness person, so I’d have a protein bar!

What’s your favorite office snack?

Work in People and Culture? Want to share your ideas?

Applications to be interviewed are open to anyone (yes anyone!) so don’t hesitate to fill in the form for an opportunity to share your knowledge and ideas.

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Mentor, sponsor, coach, advocate, role model, advisor, guide, counselor.  

At first glance, these all seem quite similar. Each word evokes thoughts of a relationship between a more senior-level employee and their more junior protege.

However, in practice, there are nuances within each role definition that provides significantly different value to both your employees and organization.

In the book “Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor,” Sylvia Ann Hewlett digs deeper into the difference between the two roles. In particular, Hewlett makes a bold case in support of finding a sponsor over a mentor (although she does also articulate the value of mentorship as well, despite the tongue-in-cheek title).

In my role as an HR leader, I’ve experienced the value of having both a mentor and a sponsor. 

In my first role as an HR Business Partner, I was lucky to have an extremely strong mentor who helped provide me with a safe space to learn, grow and ask questions.

She acted as a catalyst for my development into the role and, to this day, is someone I can lean on for help (despite the fact that both of us have since moved into different positions).  

Beyond the learning and development that mentorship afforded me, sponsorship from a key HR leader helped get me to where I am today as HR Director.

Having a senior leader who realized my potential, and intentionally put me in spaces where I could shine, accelerated not just my development but also my own career advancement.

The combination of the mentor and sponsor approach put me in a position where I was able to simultaneously grow my career and contribute in the most meaningful way possible to the work that needed to be done at my organization.

I’d argue that, while mentorship can and does provide a significant amount of value for your employees in support of their growth and development, sponsorship, in addition to mentorship, can take employee growth development to the next level and realize significant value for both your employees and for the organization as a whole.

In this article, I’ll cover: 

• What is mentorship?  
• What is sponsorship?
• Mentorship vs sponsorship
• Mentorship and sponsorship: Why it’s good to utilize both in an organization

What is mentorship?

Mentorship is an organized approach to matching more experienced employees to more junior ones. The more seasoned individuals act as trusted coaches or advisers to support the junior employee’s growth and professional development. 

Mentor/mentee relationships can vary in their level of formality. When done well, organizations create strategically built mentoring programs that align individuals with the right competencies, skills, and knowledge to help develop the next wave of talent within their organization. 

Successful mentorship gives mentees space to focus on their career development, career vision, and the creation of a plan to build the skillset they need to realize their aspirations.  

Benefits of mentorship

Drive Colleague Development 

Mentorship is a critical component of any formal employee learning and development program, providing mentees with social learning in addition to the formal learning they get through coursework and experiential learning they gain on the job.

Mentorship relationships allow mentees to gain new skills, perspectives, and relationships in a safe space outside of a formal hierarchical/managerial relationship.  

This is essential in helping mentees gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to be successful in the role they are in today or aspirational roles they hope to grow into within your organization.

Internal Mobility

Developing your employee’s capabilities opens the door for internal mobility and personal growth within your organization, both of which are critical from an employee retention and engagement perspective.

Mentorship can help expose your mentees to other parts of the organization and build out their professional network at your company. This, combined with helping ensure they have the right critical skills, can be a catalyst to help them ascend to new roles as they emerge.  

What is sponsorship?

Sponsorship, in a way, transcends mentorship. Mentorship is certainly a component of the relationship and perhaps how it begins, but successful sponsorship takes the relationship to a whole new level.  

An easy way to think about sponsorship is mentorship with action--it’s an active effort on the part of the sponsor to use their network, connections, and potentially even their authority to help influence the career growth and advancement of the individual they are sponsoring.  

Let me be clear—this is not about favoritism. This is about individuals in leadership roles (often C-suite) taking a highly intentional approach to put the right individuals, or proteges, into the right opportunities to shine within your organization.

Those opportunities could be their next project, a promotion opportunity, or a new role within the organization. The sponsor is staking their own credibility and potentially their own success on the individual whom they are championing.  

Sponsorship is therefore predicated, not just upon a high level of trust, but a deep-seated belief in the sponsee’s ability to be successful in the opportunities they get recommended for.  

Benefits of sponsorship

Drive organizational success and business growth

Ultimately the largest benefit is the success and growth of your business. Your talent is your greatest asset and your ability to deploy that talent in the most impactful way is paramount.  

Sponsorship can help ensure you have the right people in the right roles at the right times to support your organizational needs. 

Retain high-potential talent

Today’s war for talent is highly competitive and it’s more cost-effective to retain talent. One of the best ways we can retain top talent is to give them the right space to grow and develop within our organization. 

We often find unique talent within our teams who have the ability to grow above and beyond their roles, even if that means moving to other parts of our organization.

Taking a strategic approach to these high-potential employees, and sponsoring their ability to find internal mobility opportunities, is one of the strongest ways we can keep our best talent working for us.  

Impact organization DEI efforts 

Being intentional about sponsoring employees in underrepresented demographics is a great way to drive diversity, equity, and inclusion at your company.

Women and people of color, in particular, can benefit from sponsorship, especially in the tech space and other industries where these groups are woefully underrepresented.  

Mentorship vs Sponsorship

Here’s a quick side-by-side view to help see the subtle shift in thinking when moving from mentor or sponsor.

How to foster mentorship and sponsorship in your organization?

So how do you get started with fostering mentorship and/or sponsorship at your company?  

The extent to which you invest in both mentorship and sponsorship is going to depend greatly upon the maturity of your talent processes and the unique needs of your organization. 

Like all HR processes, mentorship and sponsorship efforts needs to map back to your organization’s needs and talent strategy.  

Identify your needs

Start by asking yourself questions like:

• What critical business needs do we need to drive? Does our talent strategy contribute to our business needs? 
• What components of our culture are we trying to influence? What behaviors do we want our employees to emulate across the organization? 
• What critical skills do we have today? What critical skills do we need for tomorrow? Do we have employees across the organization who can coach others on these skills? 
• Do we have a diverse pipeline of high-potential talent ready to fill critical roles?  
• Which high-potential individuals do we want to invest in to build critical capabilities for tomorrow?
• Are there pockets of employees who would benefit most from mentorship or sponsorship?  

Once you’ve isolated the needs you are trying to address through mentorship and sponsorship you can begin to build out a program designed to meet those needs.  

Fostering mentorship

Mentorship is generally driven through formal mentoring programs. I would encourage you to check out our “How To Start An Effective Mentoring Program In 6 Steps” article for a detailed overview of how to build out a program at your organization.  

Fostering sponsorship

Sponsorship, meanwhile, isn’t often accomplished through a formal program. However, it does benefit from structure and agreement across your leadership team.  

Ultimately, successfully utilizing sponsorship comes down to three key things:

1. A culture of learning, development, and internal growth and mobility 
2. A strong commitment from senior leaders across your organization to make time and space to build sponsorship relationships and invest in key talent
3. Clear alignment by leaders across the organization regarding how they’ll leverage sponsorship to contribute to the business 

A best practice is for your leadership team to leverage your organizational talent review processes, or other formal talent discussions, as an opportunity to talk about your approach as well as the key talent that you are investing in through sponsorship. 

Conclusion: mentorship and sponsorship—why it’s good to utilize both in an organization

It’s abundantly clear that both mentorship and sponsorship have a role in nurturing and retaining talent.

It certainly shouldn’t be an “either/or,” but rather an “and” as both play a distinct role in how you grow and develop talent within your organization.  

Mentorship without sponsorship doesn’t allow you to invest specifically in the career success of  your highest potential talent.  

On the other hand, sponsorship without true mentorship leaves a significant portion of your population undiscovered and unsupported in their personal growth and development. 

However, together, mentorship and sponsorship can help you grow, develop, retain and deploy all talent across your organization.  

Interested in learning more? I’d highly recommend Sylvia Ann Hewlett’s “Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor” (a fascinating read).

You can also utilise mentoring software to help you launch and run your mentoring program and match mentors with mentees.

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In this age of data, every area of a company is generating a lot of metrics to analyse. Recruitment is no exception and there are a lot of things to keep track of and optimize. How do you decide what are the right recruiting metrics to focus on?

The first step is to understand not only each metric but what story the numbers tell. Formulae of KPIs are very important, but arguably the more important thing is to know what the numbers are saying and what you should do about it. 

That way you can know what you can do if things are not going well or, even more importantly, recognise when things are great and you can celebrate accordingly.

Here I’m going to split the recruiting metrics into what I consider “key” and “advanced”. Key metrics are what I keep track of regularly and what I recommend non-HR professionals learn more about.

The advanced are for when your organisation has the capacity to keep track of more (i.e. you have hired a Talent/People Operations Specialist in your Talent Acquisition team).

In reality, all of those are important, however very rarely is there a case where you will have the time to actively keep track of everything.

So, rather than getting decision paralysis, start with the key metrics and then work your way towards the advanced ones.

Key Recruiting metrics

Time to Fill vs Time to Hire (TTF and TTH).

TTF and TTH are often used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences.

Technically speaking, Time to Fill is from when you opened a position to when you have a person hired and Time to Hire is the time it took for the specific candidate you have to move from application to hire. Usually, they are measured in the number of days.

I’d say Time to Fill is more important as a metric to start with so that you can see on a higher level how long it takes for your company to hire anyone in a given position. This gives you a starting point to see if anything needs to be investigated. 

Just for benchmark reference in my career, I’ve never been able to push the average down below 30 days and I wouldn’t recommend it either especially if you have many roles because you may be rushing your decisions. 

If your hiring time, however, is consistently above 90 days, you may want to take a look at why. Is it the salary you are offering? Is it a small candidate pool? It’s not the end of the world, but something to investigate further.

The different organisations I’ve worked for as a recruiter had different definitions of “hired” too. Some consider a person “hired” when they sign their contract/offer letter. Others consider a candidate “hired” when they actually start.

My recommendation is that, if you’re hiring in a global capacity, for ease of comparison use the time when they signed their contract rather than the start date.

This is because the start date can differ wildly from the contract date, due to notice periods in different jurisdictions. In the US it can be almost no difference, but in a country like Germany, it can be 3-6 months. This means that using the start date will not yield any comparable results as Germany will look slower to hire.

Most modern applicant tracking systems (ATS) give you the ability to track this and modify what is a starting point and what is an “ending” point to each role for the TTF so you won’t need to manually track this.

Number of hires (vs. number of open positions)

Quite simple and straightforward, but you always want to make sure you know how many hires you have per month/quarter/year and how that stacks up with the headcount plan you had. 

The two go hand in hand because you could have a low number of hires made e.g. 15 for the year, but if that is all the open headcount there was for the year – then you have achieved 100% fill!

A “good” average per month really depends on the market, roles you have, the company you are and the team you have. 

Just as an idea—if you are a startup company with almost no employer brand recognition, expect a lower number of placements unless you invest more money into either a larger team or external recruiters. Depending on the roles sometimes as low as 2-3 placements per recruiter can be a great achievement!

On the other hand, larger companies with more candidate attraction should expect to average around 4-5 a month, once again depending on the role. If it’s all customer experience, that would be more. If it’s all Principal Software Engineers—4 would be amazing a month!

Source of hire

There are many sources of candidates nowadays, so it’s important to choose ones that are a good fit for your area or industry or location. The main categories of sources are job hires, social media, direct sourcing, and referrals.

Most modern ATS have a way for you to keep track of each candidate and where they came from, by either generating links for each job board or social media that tags it accordingly or integrating with them to show you directly.

With so many choices, it’s important to keep track of where candidates you hired actually came from so that you can invest more in those sources. Recruitment is not a cheap endeavour, so making smart, data-backed decisions on where you spend is important.

Take tech hiring as an example—off the top of my head I can think of so many platforms—Hired, Cord, Talent.io, Remoteok, Haystack, Honeypot.io. 

You may be on some of those, or all of them, but looking at which ones yield actual candidates you hired will avoid spending creep. 

Who knows, maybe your best source is actually social media/community outreach which most of the time is free anyway!

Number of applicants

This is quite a straightforward metric. On its own, it may not say much but it’s important to keep track of how many people you have to choose from.

For a role that is entry-level, you should expect more candidates as the requirements are lower and there should be more people.

If that is not the case (e.g. for a Customer Service role you only had 2 candidates in a week) you may want to take a look at why that is. Are links working properly? Have you described the role appropriately?

On the other hand, if you consistently are getting over 200 candidates a day, you may want to implement a closing deadline for posting so you or your team are not overwhelmed with applications.

Conversion ratio

This is probably my favourite metric to look at. It tells so much depending on where you are looking in the pipeline.

The conversion ratio is quite simply how many candidates are passing through each stage vs how many candidates progressed to the stage.

For example, if you are a recruiter who has screened 10 candidates, and had 8 submissions to the hiring manager, then the conversion rate from screen to the introduction of 80%.

Then let’s say the hiring manager interviews all of them, and only passes one person to the next stage, the conversion ratio from the introduction to 2nd stage interview is only 12.5%. This is significantly lower!

Here is where looking a bit deeper into the story comes in. There are a few reasons I have seen why a scenario like the one above might happen:

1 – the recruiter is passing too many people off to the hiring manager and has not vetted candidates properly.

2 – the recruiter and the hiring manager are not on the same page as to the requirements of the job (could be either party has not understood or been clear).

3 – there is an unexpected requirement that has come up over the course of the interview that was not reflected in this pool of candidates (e.g. hiring manager decides skill X moves from “nice to have” to “essential” so none of the candidates pass).

4 – the interview style is not fit for purpose so no candidate is ever going to pass.

and many more. The point here is to take a look at the discrepancy in conversion ratios at any stage of the recruitment process and keep an eye on what is happening and why it might be happening.

I have often used this to both let my team know how they are doing as a recruiter, and also advise hiring managers – especially if a test stage just fails everyone all the time, which has happened often.

One note—a good conversion ratio is no replacement for keeping up the volume of outreach. A 100% conversion rate may sound great but if you have only introduced, screened, and interviewed one candidate, that is not a proper search in the market for qualified candidates.

Recruitment funnel speed

It is essential to keep an eye on how long your hiring process takes and one way to do that is to see how long candidates spend in each stage of the funnel. Otherwise, you risk losing out on good candidates because they will go to other companies that can move quicker.

There is no need to rush through a process, but it’s great to review what is happening in each stage and check if something needs nudging or changing.

For example, if people are spending too long in the “testing” stage, why is that? Are candidates not willing to go through the test task you have for them? Are they going through the test but waiting too long for feedback on your company’s end? 

Both of these scenarios are something to investigate and see if you can do something to make the process smoother. I have had a few occasions where the test was either not a fit, or the link wasn’t working for candidates, and some of them just didn’t flag that until I went to ask them about it.

This also will have a direct impact on the TTF metric above so it’s important to understand if one stage is holding up the process.

Offer Acceptance Rate

This is a very simple ratio of how many offers are made vs. how many offers are accepted. In my previous article on how to make a job offer, I mentioned that there are ways to make sure that candidates are more likely to accept an offer, but there is always a risk. 

That’s why I never make my aim to be 100% offer acceptance rate. That is simply impossible in the long run, and you are setting yourself up for failure.

Additionally, if you have that as a target you may concede to perhaps some unreasonable demands you really shouldn’t and make a hire that you will end up regretting. 

I’ve had it happen where I, as the Talent Leader, advocated against hiring someone whose working demands we couldn’t meet. The hiring manager was insistent on keeping their own “track record” of never having an offer rejected. 2 months later the person was out as it just didn’t work.

A good rate is really dependent on the market, role, your employment conditions (salary, benefits), and the volume of hires.

If you have a few hires and are considered a good employer, you really should be aiming for 90%+. If any of the other conditions are less than ideal you should adjust this accordingly. I have, however, never dropped my expectations for my teams below 75% regardless of role.

Candidate Net Promoter Score (CNPS)

Candidate Net Promoter Score (CNPS) is similar to the net promoter scores in customer experience management.

It’s a numerical score—usually out of 10 and anyone scoring less than 7 is considered a “Detractor”—i.e. their experience is not positive with your company.

The easiest way to manage the CNPS is to let the ATS do the heavy lifting for you. Some ATS allow you to send candidates surveys about their experience at any stage of the hiring process using preset templates or customized questions.

That way you can have a mix of numerical (quantitative) and qualitative answers so people can both score your hiring process and elaborate on any issues.

It’s a great way to gather feedback on the candidate experience—what works well and what you can improve on if you need to.

Personally, I prefer to send a candidate survey upon exit from the recruitment process. This could be at any stage post-first screen/first interview. I tend to not ask for feedback via survey during the process as I think that can be a bit spammy. 

If candidates are rejected at the application stage, they may not have sufficient information about your hiring process beyond the application page to help.

Recently, I have seen some ATSs providing you the ability to create a feedback form at the end of an application especially aimed at assessing accessibility. 

Diversity of pipeline

This is essential to keep in mind. While I do not advocate box-ticking, or having a minimum number of candidates from the X category, it’s important to keep track of the number of candidates from diverse backgrounds for your industry or area applying. 

If you don’t have any in the pipeline, how can you encourage wider representation of your community? If you do have an accurate representation, what did you do to encourage this so you can keep it up and develop it further?

In some jurisdictions it can be an issue keeping data on things like ethnic background, gender etc. so please familiarise yourself with your jurisdiction’s rules first. 

Additionally, you can make the diversity-style questionnaire part of every application, but please be aware that some are incredibly long and can lengthen your application process significantly. 

This can, in turn, discourage people from completing the questionnaire or the application altogether. Balance is the key. Only ask for the information that is important to you.

Recruiter effectiveness metrics—screens, outreach

This is something I keep track of whenever I have a team of recruiters I lead. It’s important to understand the performance of each recruiter so that you can help in their development. 

It’s difficult to say how many recruiter calls or outreach messages are appropriate as every situation is different, but it’s good to set some expectations.

For example, for volume hiring, I’d expect them to have around 4-5 calls a day with candidates at minimum. If it’s a leadership hire, the expectation can be around 2-3 as they will need to spend more time researching and reaching out to candidates individually.

Additionally, you need to keep in mind how many roles a recruiter has. If they have 2 roles, they can’t reach the 4-5 calls a day for an entire month. If they are fully loaded (e.g., around 15-20 roles) then it’s reasonable they should be able to reach their targets for outreach or screens.

It’s important to keep track of these so that, if something is to go wrong, you can see if you need to pull or push the outreach levers, work on messaging, work on the screening call, or the volume of calls.

Advanced Recruiting metrics

These are for when you have more capacity to keep track of everything you may want to. They are still important and helpful but you may be overwhelmed if you try to implement them all at once.

Probation passing (if you have one)

Working with hiring managers to understand whether most of the new hires actually were a good fit and passed probation. It’s not a completely foolproof metric to guarantee the quality of hire as there may be one-off situations that are not representative of candidate quality. 

It does, however, help you build an overall picture of your company’s hiring practices. If a lot of employees are not passing probation, either in a specific team or overall, this could be symptomatic of many things including:

• A bad interview process
• An onboarding process in need of reshuffling
• Review of potentially inefficient management style.

Employee experience score at the start and at probation passing

(or 3-6 months if no probation).

This is a less talked about metric but something I have noticed can be quite indicative. Often, due to the excitement of a new job, the engagement scores of new employees can be slightly elevated.

A lot of the employee engagement tools (Peakon, Hibob, and CultureAmp) allow you to filter the results by tenure to check for any dips. I had a situation previously where there was a significant drop in employee engagement at the 3-month mark once people start. 

This is something I investigated by running interviews with new starters and people 3 months into their jobs. Through that process, I realised that there was a big difference in the way recruitment was talking about the company vs. the reality. 

This prompted us to both retrain recruitment and also launch an employer value proposition re-evaluation exercise with the leadership for us to work on where we want to be.

It’s important to keep track of any difference as the first few months are crucial in how engaged or disappointed someone will be in their employment.

First Year Attrition

This is how many of your hires stay beyond a year is a potential indicator of the quality of the hire. You may also see it called retention rate, but I prefer to really focus on the first year as a more appropriate timeframe for recruitment.

It’s quite a standard metric for companies to keep track of as an indicator of both hire quality and engagement. 

In my opinion, it’s something that you have to keep waiting to see or to action anything against, so, for smaller companies at least, I prefer the above two as it lets them be more agile and responsive.

Average Cost per hire

This is easiest to calculate if you have a recruitment team budget tracker so start with that first.

The cost per hire is all the expenditure around recruitment combined divided by the number of hires. Expenditure includes things like:

Internal costs	External costs
Salaries of recruitment team + taxes	Agency fees
Benefits and other costs (IT or software)	Advertising costs/sourcing channel costs
	Recruitment software
	Testing platform/services
	Events
	Background check services

Sourcing channel costs—they can creep up!

As a more in-depth look into one of the costs listed above, I like to also divide all the platforms my team uses and keep track of the cost per month/year vs how many hires they have generated.

For example, if a platform is fairly expensive, but it has not yielded a candidate that has even gone to an interview in a month, it’s likely time to review why that is.

The first step is to speak to your account manager at the platform (if there is one) and see if they can help. Otherwise, it may be time to look at alternatives as it is not yielding a return on investment.

With so many sourcing platforms out there it’s easy for the costs to creep up. I once came into a situation where the previous leader had spent £80,000 in advertising and platform costs alone for 8 hires. That is way too much!

Sourcing Channel Effectiveness

This is a more in-depth look at sourcing channels. If they’re not getting hires, maybe take a look at where candidates are falling in the pipeline. 

This may be a bit tougher to measure, but once again the modern ATS should have the data for a report on how many people go through the process at different stages from each channel—including the ones who don’t apply.

This is important, because it may help you identify which sourcing channels are most effective so you can double down your efforts there.

	CV screen	Recruiter Screen	1st Interview	Test	Final Interview	Offer
LinkedIn outreach	80%	75%	60%	40%	25%	10%
Platform 1	20%	10%	5%	0%	0%	0%
Social Media	40%	10%	8%	2%	0%	0%
Platform 2	20%	15%	12%	5%	0%	0%
Referrals	60%	50%	50%	40%	25%	25%
Job site applicants	8%	5%	5%	4%	3%	1%

The above example shows that LinkedIn outreach and Referrals seem to be the most effective sources.

Hiring Manager feedback

A lot of the metrics we can look at are quantitative, but it’s important to engage with hiring managers on a qualitative basis. We are in a people profession after all!

I like running regular retrospectives with hiring managers e.g. after we’ve done a massive push for hiring with a specific team or after 6 months of regular hiring activities. 

This is a great space for both parties to say what worked well and what didn’t. Below is a simple retro template I use:

	Mad	Sad	Glad
Hiring Team
Talent Team

Application completion rate

Modern ATS can give you the data on how many people clicked through to the job and how many actually completed the application.

A high drop-off rate may be an indicator of low engagement with your brand, a need for improvement in your job description, or that the application process is too complex. 

Ideally, this should be coupled with the Candidate NPS above.

Test completion rate

Similar to the application rate above, the test completion rate may tell you if the test is irrelevant or too onerous for candidates. 

In tech circles, testing has recently been getting a bad rap recently, precisely because sometimes they are too artificial or irrelevant to the role. 

Keep testing to what you really need and truly look at the content of the test you are sending out as top talent will recognise irrelevant tests immediately.

Employee Referrals

Getting a good number of quality referrals is a great indicator that employees are engaged, and they want great people to come in and work alongside them as they want to share your great working environment. 

However, either too low or too high a number of referrals can create issues of their own. Too low may be something to investigate with teams. For example, if current engineers are not referring anyone to come and work with them, why is that? Or, if there are too many referrals but the majority aren’t right, is your incentive for referrals too high?

One thing I like to do with referrals is to ask “Who’s voice are we not hearing from in your team and how can you help us with that?”. This encourages people to think about getting a diverse pool of referrals so that their team can be better rounded.

Days to a job offer

This is something that, again, can help you get candidates that are on the market quicker and can help identify snags in the internal process.

Days to a job offer is the metric of how long it takes you to make the offer to the candidate from the time you’ve identified that you’d like to hire them.

Ideally, this time should not be more than 72hrs in today’s market. If it’s often longer, it may be time to take a look at what is holding things up—is it the approval process, the admin or something else?

Candidate withdrawal/rejection reasons

Once again in the ATS, whenever you are rejecting a person or removing them from the candidate pool, you can add a reason which you can then filter in the reports.

It’s important to see if there are patterns emerging in situations where candidates have rejected your role or offer. 

I’ve had situations where, through this metric, I’ve realised that our salaries were way too low for the market, or the hiring manager was actually undermining the hiring process. 

Whatever the issue may be, look for patterns as one person rejecting an offer for being too low is not enough. A few more are needed to establish a pattern.

Closing thoughts on Recruiting metrics

The modern ATS can really help you streamline the gathering and presenting of data and even generate a dashboard for you. However, the important thing for you to know is what potential story the data is telling you and how to adjust your recruitment strategy accordingly.

To give you an idea I once had a situation where I was helping our Head of Sourcing at Twitch look into her team’s performance which was showing only 80% attainment of the recruiter screen KPI.

However, when we looked deeper, I realised that the hire ratio had actually increased slightly, and we were on track for placements. This means we were still producing the right candidates with fewer calls, and therefore we’re a more efficient team.

By looking at the wider data we were able to see the bigger picture rather than drive the team harder to just reach an arbitrary number.

Choosing the right metrics will allow you to make data-driven decisions that are right for your organisation. Not all of them will be relevant for all companies at all times and you don’t want to end up in data paralysis!

Most importantly, once you choose what is right for you, look at a few of them to draw the right picture so you are not constantly chasing outliers.

Some further resources to help you on your hiring journey:

• Employer Branding: Where To Start And How To Keep It Authentic
• How To Write A Zinger Job Description
• The Key To Focused, Engaging Interviews (+ Template)
• How To Create A Great Candidate Experience (Even Through Rapid Scaling)
• How to Create An Attractive Careers Page to Get Better Applicants
• What Is An ATS? Features, Benefits And Best Practices

The post 10 Key Recruiting Metrics To Focus On (And 12 Advanced) appeared first on People Managing People.

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Are you familiar with the phrase, “herding cats”? It makes me laugh every time I hear it; the image of someone chasing dozens of cats scrambling in every direction never fails to make me chuckle. In many ways, organizational structures are the antithesis to this trope—a way to place all your ducks in a row, if you will.

Organizational structures help companies establish how different departments interact with each other and how decision-making processes flow throughout the organization. 

A well-planned and thoroughly executed organizational structure lets employees know where they fit within the organization and how their role factors into the achievement of greater business goals. It has the power to unite team members with disparate functions in alignment with the company’s primary objectives.

Organizational structures aren’t just for large businesses. Small businesses benefit from establishing their organizational structure early on, because the type of structure will influence hiring decisions as time goes on and the company grows.

Curious what type of organizational structure might be right for your business? Let’s take a closer look at how these structures work.

Jump to:

• What is an organizational structure?
• Elements of an organizational structure
• Centralized vs decentralized organizational structures
• Types of organizational structure

What is an organizational structure?

An organizational structure is a framework that demonstrates how decisions are made, how work flows between teams and team members, and what the hierarchy of leadership looks like within a group or company. 

If you’ve ever entered a new job and been handed an “org chart” by human resources, you’ve looked at an organizational structure.

Organizational structures can take on several different forms, based on how the group would best manage the flow of information, chain of command, and decision-making tasks. 

The organizational structure clearly communicates the various levels of management and the reporting relationships between them.

With the right organizational structure in place, employees will know who to turn to for help when problem-solving, who to connect with for approvals, and how different departments interact with each other to support the overall business goals. 

Why is organizational structure important?

Organizational structures are important because they improve efficiency, reduce confusion and miscommunication, and help employees gain clarity on their roles and responsibilities. 

Once an organizational structure is established, companies will benefit from faster decision-making and greater proficiency within departments. Everyone knows the role they play and how that role fits into achieving company goals. 

Organizational charts

An organizational chart, or org chart, is a diagram that visually displays your company’s structure. Org charts help employees gain an understanding of where they are located within the business infrastructure, as well as whom they report to or should seek approval from during the decision-making process.

Generally, the chart begins with c-suite leadership and extends out and all the way through to low-level employees.

Throughout this article, I’ll share examples of organizational charts to illustrate each of the types of organizational structure I’m explaining, and provide real-life examples of companies that have adopted each type of organization.

Elements of an organizational structure

To determine which organizational structure is best for your business, you’ll want to consider the following key elements:

Span of control

The span of control is the number of direct reports under a manager. A manager with a narrow span of control (say, only one or two employees) has the ability to work closely with their reports and develop relationships with plenty of one-on-one communication.

By comparison, a manager with a wide span of control (say, 15 to 20 employees) will not be able to provide as much one-on-one time and, for this reason, may need to choose more highly skilled workers who can handle operating with greater autonomy.

The span of control is influenced by a number of factors:

Size of organization

One might assume that a smaller business would naturally have narrower spans of control. But, in some cases, small businesses are unable to provide much one-on-one support because there are fewer managers. 

Large organizations sometimes have a larger middle management team, meaning that lower-level employees receive more one-on-one support.

Level of complexity

Roles that are complex and that require significant subject matter expertise and specialization will naturally require more supervision.

For this reason, companies with loads of complicated roles will generally need to reduce the span of control to provide employees with enhanced support.

Manager + employee skill level

Hiring experienced managers who are experts at leading team-based activities will enable you to expand the span of control. Similarly, managers with little experience communicating with and directing stakeholders will fare best with a more narrow span of control.

The same goes for employees. Lower-level employees like interns will require plenty of hand-holding and will be most likely to succeed if they have closer contact with their manager.

Departmentalization

Departmentalization refers to how an organization breaks up employees into specialization groups. For example, a company might have a marketing department, a human resources department, an accounts payable department, and a sales department.

Even small companies can benefit from departmentalization. Grouping individuals together with a specific goal in mind motivates employees and enhances teamwork. Employees with similar job descriptions can support each other within their departments, and focus on achieving their KPIs with greater focus and efficiency.

Many organizations choose to divide their departments by function. But some establish their departmentalization based on customer profile, location, process, or product-based factors.

Chain of command

The chain of command is an organization’s hierarchy of reporting relationships. Sometimes known as the command structure, it demonstrates who reports to whom, and establishes a flow of communication for decision-making and approvals.

A traditional command structure has three levels:

Top-level management

Job descriptions for senior management generally include developing and implementing strategies and plans to promote and grow the business. 

These managers are focused on learning about market trends in the business environment so that they can forecast opportunities and threats. Top-level management have direct reports in the middle-management level.

Roles include:

• Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Director (of: marketing, human resources, etc.)

Middle management

Middle managers are largely focused on achieving the goals established for them by top-level management. Middle management has direct reports who are front-line employees, and they are responsible for allocating budgetary resources to these lower-level employees.

Roles include:

• Division manager
• Department manager
• Foreman
• Supervisor
• Branch manager
• General manager

Lower-level employees

Lower-level employees carry out the daily activities of the company. Many of these roles are highly specialized and are tailored to the specific industry in which the company operates.

Roles include:

• Office manager
• Product developer
• Project manager
• Human resources specialist
• Sales representative 

Specialization

The extent to which your job descriptions are specialized will also factor into your departmentalization. Having highly specialized employees is beneficial because it empowers individuals to focus solely on a specific task, leading them to become proficient very quickly. 

That being said, specialization can also result in a team that operates in silos, with little communication taking place between departments. It’s worth weighing out the pros and cons of specialization when determining how to organize your departments.

Formalization

Formalization refers to the amount of standardization throughout the organization. In companies with a high level of formalization, job descriptions, functions, and systems are standardized and very clearly laid out for employees to perform those duties. Formalization is widely considered to improve innovation rather than stifle it.

Centralized vs decentralized organizational structures

Most organizational structures are hierarchical. This means that the greatest authority is granted to one individual—generally the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). 

The CEO is responsible for decision-making at the highest and most consequential level, in a top-down authoritative model. Lower-level employees, by comparison, have very little autonomy or say in how those decisions are made. This is called a centralized structure.

By contrast, a decentralized structure is one in which teamwork is prioritized and a more democratic approach is taken. Employees are given greater freedom to share opinions and ideas, and influence decision-making.

Types of organizational structure

There are several types of organizational structures. Each configuration caters to different business needs. 

Whether your organization is a startup, small business, or large company, choosing an organizational structure to suit your needs will assist your employees in understanding their roles, succeeding at their duties, and positioning your company for growth. 

Let’s take a look at some of the most common organizational structures:

Functional organizational structure

Tne functional organizational structure is one of the most common types. In this configuration, people are grouped by their job function. 

For example, a company with this type of organizational structure might group all of their new business development people together, all of their tech support people together, and all of their human resources people together. This structure creates an environment that nurtures specialization, and connection within teams that share a common goal.

Case study: Amazon

Amazon is an example of a company with a functional organizational structure. Though the company began with a lean, flat organization, as it grew it transitioned to a more traditional hierarchical structure. 

This gives the organization top-down control over their operations globally, clearly defining roles and responsibilities across functions and geographic divisions.

At the top of the organizational chart is CEO Andy Jassy. Just beneath him are a team of executives responsible for solving problems and shaping company culture in accordance with Jassy’s direction.

From there, the chain of command trickles all the way down to lower-level employees.

Advantages of functional organizational structure

Adopting a functional organizational structure enhances accountability and specialization. It makes it easy for employees to improve their skills because there is stability in the tasks they’re performing, allowing them time to master their role.

Because departments are so focused, they can build processes that support further improvement of their function and put them into practice. 

Since there is a clear chain of command, communication is well-organized and the decision-making process is understood by all the stakeholders. 

Disadvantages of functional organizational structure

Within a functional organizational structure, teams work within silos that risk limiting communication between departments. This can cause inefficiencies, especially in situations where the company has several target markets and products. 

Departments may be dependent on each other to successfully achieve their goals but, without an understanding of each department’s processes and functions, it’s difficult to be innovative and create solutions for greater synergy between departments.

Divisional organizational structure

A divisional structure is one in which the company is organized into many smaller functional structures. For example, each division within a divisional structure might have its own IT department, marketing, sales, etc.

There are three types of divisional structures: 

• Product-based divisional structures (in which each division is focused on a certain product line)
• Market-based divisional structures (in which the structure is based around customer profiles, industry, or markets)
• Geographical divisional structures (in which the structure is based on districts, regions, and territories within which a company operates). 

Case study: General Electric

General Electric (GE)  is an example of a company with a divisional structure. 

As a conglomerate with many different business verticals operating in multiple industries, this structure allows GE to implement strategies specific to each vertical’s business needs and market conditions. 

Divisions like renewable energy, power, aviation, transportation, and health care can all operate independent of each other while remaining under the GE umbrella.

Advantages of divisional organizational structure

Within a divisional structure, each division has its own leadership (often a Vice President). This ensures that strategic objectives are supported, and makes it more likely that the division will be able to secure the budgetary resources it needs to carry out those objectives.

Focusing on a single product, region, or market enables the division to create its own culture while entrenching specialized knowledge of the team’s function.

Disadvantages of divisional organizational structure

Divisional structures can sometimes create unnecessary competition within the organization. Issues like funding and sharing of resources can become contentious.

If divisions become too separate and specialized, they risk internal incompatibilities, in which one division’s product or service encroaches on business from another. 

Process-Based Organizational Structure

Process-based organizations are (you guessed it!) based on an organization’s processes. They look at the complete end-to-end flow of actions and decision-making and consider each employee’s job description, as well as how all the various activities performed by the company interact with each other.

This structure is best suited to companies with activities that are heavily dependent on each other; meaning that one process cannot begin until another is complete.

An example of this might be one in which product development must take place before marketing can begin developing strategy.

Process-based organizational charts operate both from the top down, as well as from left to right. They demonstrate both reporting hierarchies as well as process flow.

Advantages of process-based organizational structure

Process-based organizational processes are excellent at improving efficiency and are easily adaptable to market changes. It promotes intradepartmental (inside a department) teamwork, and interdepartmental (between departments) teamwork. 

If one process cannot begin until the first team finishes, teams are encouraged to keep up a good pace with output and maintain momentum. 

Disadvantages of process-based organizational structure

Process-based organizations run the risk of creating silos that diminish communication between departments. If one department becomes frustrated because another’s pace is slowing down their output, tensions may flare.

Matrix Organizational Structure

Matrix structures do not align with a traditional hierarchical structure. In these structures, employees have dual reporting relationships. 

Generally, an employee will report to someone based on their job function, and another leader based on their product or division. On a matrix organizational chart, direct reporting relationships are represented by a solid line, and secondary reporting relationships are represented by a dotted line.

Having more than one chain of command encourages balanced decision-making and flexibility. And, since projects are overseen by multiple business units, there’s ample opportunity for communication and the sharing of resources and perspectives.

Case study: Starbucks

Starbucks is an example of a company with a matrix structure. At the top of the Starbucks organizational chart are the CEO, board of directors, and several executive vice presidents and senior vice presidents spanning both functional and product-based divisions.

Most of the day-to-day decision-making takes place at the functional hierarchy level. These individuals have control over the departments and divisions beneath them, including geographic divisions, and product-base divisions (like baked goods).

Within these divisions, individuals might have reporting responsibilities in two directions; for example, one report regarding their geographic division (i.e. North America), and another regarding their job function (i.e. merchandising).

Advantages of matrix organizational structure

The biggest advantage of a matrix structure is the promotion of collaboration between teams and divisions. Employees benefit from the ability to develop new skills and have a line of sight on a variety of job functions.

Disadvantages of matrix organizational structure

The main risk of having a matrix structure is confusion. When employees have several layers of approval that need to be checked before moving forward, they can become frustrated and confused about where they need to go for what.

When something goes wrong, finger pointing can take place, with team members debating about whose authority was lacking.

Circular organizational structure

The primary difference between a circular structure and a more traditional organizational structure lies in the ideology. 

In a circular structure, there is still a hierarchy of leadership but these leaders are located in the inner rings of the circle. 

Rather than being seen as sitting above their employees, leaders in a circular organizational structure are conceptualized as sitting at the center of the organization and sending their vision through to the outer layers.

The idea here is to promote the freedom of ideas to flow between levels of the organization, and to open the lines of communication.

 In a circular structure, all divisions and employees are seen as belonging to the greater whole, rather than occupying their own autonomous branches on the organizational chart.

Advantages circular organizational structure

Circular structures follow an outward flow of information and encourage communication across the entire organization. Within this structure, it’s easy to keep employees aligned with the company’s objectives, and to encourage sharing and collaboration between teams.

Disadvantages circular organizational structure

Since circular structures are inherently different from a traditional model, they can be difficult to understand when new employees join the company. New hires may need additional support understanding to whom they report and how the approval and decision-making process is meant to flow.

Flat

Flat organizational structures are designed to create proximity between staff and leadership. Rather than being built as a pyramid, with many layers of individuals between low-level employees and upper management, flat organizational structures ensure that every single employee has equal access to all levels of management. 

Flat organizational structures are one of the more detailed types of structures. A flat organizational structure, or flatarchy as they’re sometimes known, tends to work best for small companies and startups. 

Case study: Google

Google is an example of a company with a flatarchy. Though their organizational structure takes cues from a variety of formats (including matrix and divisional), Google is famous for its lack of middle management, placing lower level employees in direct contact with their superiors and encouraging autonomy and communication at all levels of the organization. 

In this structure, staff may have a few different leaders, including a direct line to VP level leadership. 

Advantages of flat organizational structure

In the absence of hierarchical pressure, employees may feel as though they have greater autonomy and authority over their job function and relate to leaders as equals rather than looming overlords. 

Flat organizational structures speed up the decision-making process by providing authority and encouraging more direct relationships with upper management.

Disadvantages of flat organizational structure

Similar to many of the non-hierarchical models, the primary risk of the flat organization is confusion regarding reporting. 

Senior leaders may find themselves often involved in dispute resolution, or having to participate in decision-making that they might not otherwise have in a different type of organizational structure. 

Network Organizational Structure

A network structure is an excellent choice for organizations that work with freelancers or otherwise outsource some of their workload to external vendors. 

Network structures look very similar to divisional structures, but rather than listing divisions they might list satellite offices, other vendors (like manufacturing, for example), or freelancers.

It’s an excellent way to conceptualize the entire life-cycle of a product when the company operates on a large scale, or, on a smaller scale, it’s a great way to create a visual representation of how your freelance workforce factors into the business. 

Case study: H&M

H&M is an example of a company that uses a network organization. H&M is the core company, and they outsource functions to other companies in various countries. 

For example, call center operations in New Zealand, product development in Australia, manufacturing in Malaysia, and distribution in Singapore. H&M’s managers control both internal and external relationships.

Advantages of network organizational structure

Outsourcing to freelancers and other vendors enables companies to keep costs low, remain flexible to market changes, and encourage greater focus on a few central job functions. 

Rather than creating an entire department to manage a certain function (which might necessitate hiring several full-time employees), a network structure empowers companies to remain lean and competitive.

Disadvantages of network organizational structure

Since network structures can easily become complex as more vendors and freelancers are added to the mix, they risk causing confusion for new hires. 

If you choose a network structure for your organization, be clear in how the structure is communicated, and be sure to accurately define all the roles and job functions.

Learn more about organizational structures

Choosing the best organizational structure for your business is one of the most effective ways to set your team up for success. 

Organizational structures clearly communicate reporting hierarchies and create an infrastructure to support growth and achievement of the company’s primary objectives. 

As we learned, structures such as circular also have the opportunity to emphasize a company’s culture and ethos by underscoring the importance of values like teamwork and collaboration.

If you’re looking for tools to support you in plotting your corporate structure, don’t miss this article from our subject matter experts:

• 10 Best Org Chart Tools for Plotting Company Structures

And to remain up to date on all the latest in your industry, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter. You’ll receive fresh insight and updates on all things HR and leadership, sent straight to your inbox.

Suggested Related Content:

• Centralized vs. decentralized: Which organizational structure is right for your business?
• What is a functional organizational structure?
• Pros and cons of a divisional organizational structure
• Starbucks, Nike, and Ikea use this organizational structure. Should you?
• Best organizational structures to nurture collaboration
• Best organizational structure for companies with a freelance workforce

The post 7 Organizational Structures And The Benefits And Drawbacks Of Each appeared first on People Managing People.

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Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.

Timothy Gallwey, Coaching Expert & Author

I often talk with leaders and managers about their career aspirations or “what they want to do next”.

In many cases, I hear stories and sentiments of feeling stuck, not knowing what to learn next, and not knowing who can help them develop further.

If you’re a leader who seeks to get to the next level but is unsure how, you’re not alone. This article is for you. 

If you want to be a better leader, and improve the experience of your employees and the performance of your organization, you need yourself a leadership coach.

I know this because I’ve been working in organizations with and without leadership coaches over the last 15 years, and I’ve found a material, noticeable positive difference in leaders and organizations that engage with leadership coaches and coaching programs.

I myself have been mentored and coached and have benefitted from coaching in such a way that I now know when I need a coach versus a mentor or leadership development course. 

In my experience, having a mentor and a coach is a winning combination, in addition to your personal board of directors. 

This article will take you through:

• What is leadership coaching?
• Key focus areas of leadership coaching
• What to look for when preparing to engage with a leadership coach or leadership coaching program?

Let’s dive in! 

What is leadership coaching?

Leadership coaching is a professional relationship in which a coach helps a leader to achieve their goals and serve their teams or organizations well. The coach provides guidance, support, and feedback to help the leader grow and develop in their professional (and sometimes personal) life.

Coaching can help leaders to become more efficient, better communicators, better strategic thinkers, and better at managing and developing their team members.

Important! With that all said, this is super important to remember: leadership coaching is not the same as leadership development. 

Leadership development is a process that helps individuals learn the competencies, skills, and knowledge necessary to be effective leaders. 

Leadership coaching, on the other hand, is a process that helps individuals improve their existing leadership skills by focusing on real-life experiences.

Who benefits from leadership coaching?

Research conducted by Sounding Board found significant opportunities and benefits of leadership coaching for both leaders and non-leaders influenced by leaders who had been coached.

Respondents identified several positive outcomes as a result of leadership coaching: 

• 67 percent said leadership coaching increased employee engagement and satisfaction 
• 60 percent said it improved employees’ perceptions of the quality of leadership
• 54 percent said it improved leadership bench strength 
• 50 percent said it improved productivity 
• 44 percent said leadership coaching improved the quality of work.

Bonus, has employee engagement been on your mind? Leadership coaching influences that too.

How leadership coaching benefits managers and budding leaders?

Leadership coaching can help new and experienced managers become better leaders by teaching them how to better motivate and inspire their team and better handle difficult situations. 

Coaching can also help managers develop their own skills and abilities, and learn how to better manage their time and resources. 

In addition, coaching can help managers become more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to capitalize on their strengths while working to improve upon their weaknesses.

I once worked with a coach to help me navigate a change in my career from a tactical, hands-on role to one that was much more focused on leading people and connecting dots. 

I was having a hard time feeling fulfilled in my new role as I was “doing” less “stuff”. Less creating documents, less project planning, and less direct negotiation with vendors. 

My coach was able to lead me to understand the value I was delivering to my team members, and folks close to my team, such that I was able to find purpose and see the importance of my work in the new phase, re-defining my understanding of delivering value in my role. 

New or aspiring leaders can benefit from leadership coaching to help develop better communication skills and learn how to navigate complex hierarchical issues, delegate tasks, and set achievable goals. 

By doing so, it will leave them feeling less overwhelmed and stressed out, resulting in better decision-making and more successful projects. 

I once worked with a coach who simply showed me that spinning up my emotions when something is difficult, taking too long, or not going well doesn’t help to solve the problem. 

We battled a natural physiological response to challenges together, and I was able to better acknowledge and then control my responses over time, just by being able to notice, name, and manage the feeling! 

Now, I can’t say I’ll always keep my cool, but I’m much better about navigating leadership challenges under pressure now! 

How leadership coaching benefits organizations?

Managers hold such critical positions in an organization. As I said in a previous article on people management, a bad manager can ruin a good job, but a good manager can make a bad job tolerable!

As such, there are many benefits for organizations when their managers engage in leadership coaching. One of the biggest benefits is that coaching helps to develop leadership skills in managers, and this can significantly improve the overall performance of the organization.

For example, coaching can help managers to better understand their team members and how to motivate them. This can lead to a more productive and cohesive team. Additionally, coaching can help managers to better handle difficult situations and make better decisions.

Creating a Coaching Culture

This benefit nestles right between the organization and teams and team members is the creation of a coaching culture within the organization. Coaching culture is a term used to describe an organization where coaching is commonly used as a strategic tool to improve employee performance.

In a coaching culture, employees are coached on a regular basis and managers are trained to be coaches, in addition to being coached themselves. The goal of a coaching culture is to develop employees into high-performing individuals who are able to contribute to the organization’s success.

A coaching culture can have a positive influence on an organization in a number of ways. 

First, it can help to create a more positive and productive work environment. Coaching cultures tend to be more supportive and encouraging, which can motivate employees to do their best work. 

Additionally, as we’ve covered, coaching can help to develop the skills and abilities of team members, which can make them more valuable to the organization. Finally, coaching can help to improve communication and collaboration within the organization. 

By providing feedback and guidance, coaches can help employees to maximize their strengths, better understand one another, and work together more effectively.

How leadership coaching benefits teams and team members?

Employees and team members benefit when their manager/leader engages in leadership coaching and a coaching culture is developed within the organzation. 

A manager or leader engaging in coaching signals that they are actively interested in improving their skills, which in itself can open the door to positive conversations about leadership and management style.

As the leader learns to coach by being coached themselves, they can provide feedback and coaching on specific skills or behaviors that the employee can work on to improve their effectiveness in their own role.

This can help the employee grow and develop as a leader while also influencing positive employee retention.

What skills are taught through leadership coaching?

Emotional intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ, Emotional Quotient) is the capacity to be aware of and manage one’s own emotions and the emotions of others to facilitate productive collaboration and lead effective teams. 

While the description of emotional intelligence was coined in 1970, the practice of enhancing emotional intelligence for work was popularized in the late 1990s by Dan Goleman in his book, Emotional Intelligence, and since the publishing of this book, many additional books and assessments have emerged. 

Emotional intelligence is often considered to be one of the most important characteristics of a leader. In fact, a study published by TTI Success Insights, one of the leading Emptional Quotient assessors, indicated that individuals with high Emotional Intelligence could be “40 to 122% more effective in positions involving influencing, managing, negotiating and/or serving others” (Source: TTI Success Insights).

In fact, EI/EQ is significantly more important to your success as a leader than your IQ. People with average scores on traditional IQ tests outperform people with ultra-high IQs 70% of the time. 

“There is a direct correlation between increased job performance when employees are high in EQ. Emotional intelligence is responsible for 58 percent of performance in all types of jobs, and 90 percent of top performers are high in EQ.” (Source: Workforce.com) 

Emotional intelligence, then, is the competitive advantage of a great leader and EQ is more important than IQ when considering your opportunity for success as a leader.

If you want to be an effective leader, you need to acknowledge and actively work to improve or maintain your emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence has been defined in many ways, but most often refers to elements including self awareness, self regulation, motivation, social awareness and social regulation.

1. Self Awareness: The ability to accurately perceive your own emotions and thoughts, and to understand how they influence your behavior or impact other people. How we take our own emotional temperature. 
2. Self Regulation: The ability to manage your emotions, control impulses and think before acting. How we manage our emotional states. 
3. Motivation: The ability to be driven by a desire to achieve a goal or outcome, rather than by emotions or feelings. How we use our energy to achieve goals. 
4. Social Awareness: The ability to understand the emotional state of another person. How we take others’ emotional temperature.
5. Social Regulation: building upon social awareness, social regulation is the ability to respond in a way that is beneficial for both people, acknowledging the emotional state of the other person(s). How we manage the emotions of others through our own behaviors.

The best leadership coaches will either teach and coach emotional intelligence directly, or it will be interwoven into other coaching interventions, such as coaching on communication skills that include social regulation behaviors.

Either way, emotional intelligence is key to success as a leader. You can learn on your own, but you’ll learn best with a coach who may even consider using an assessment to set a baseline and monitor progress over time.

Get started developing your Emotional Intelligence (EI/EQ). Check out this list of Emotional Intelligence books. 

Leadership models and theories

One key element of leadership coaching is exposing leaders (new and old) to various leadership models and theories as opportunities to view current or past problems through new lenses.

By considering leadership challenges through various leadership models or theories, leaders can identify the impact of their behaviors and determine what type of leader they wish to become. 

A few leadership models or theories you might be exposed to by your coach include: 

• Transformational Leadership
• Servant Leadership
• Situational Leadership (a personal favorite of mine)
• Adaptive Leadership
• Behavioral Theory of Leadership

Learn more: 11 Leadership Models to Help You Become a Better Leader

Coaching

Learning to coach people and teams is a critical skill of a well-rounded leader. Coaching people and teams is different than leadership coaching, but your leadership coaching can help you become a better people and team coach. 

While you develop your own emotional intelligence skills, your coach may encourage you to consider also how you can coach people and teams on their own journey. 

Adults learn best from their own data, meaning that experiential learning is best for teaching adults new ideas.

Being coached yourself will help you learn the facilitation skills to be a great coach to others, including your direct reports in your own coaching style, fit to the team that you already know so well! 

Learn more about how to coach people and teams as a leader, especially in times of change. 

Once you’ve learned some coaching skills and are ready to begin coaching your people and teams, learn how to evolve from “the boss” to “the coach” to unlock the potential of your team. 

Some more resources to help you to develop your coaching and leadership skills:

• Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives
• The Coaching Habit: Say Less And Ask More
• The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks To You
• 5 Coaching Skills Leaders Can Use To Navigate Change
• How To Listen Better, A Look At The Different Levels Of Listening
• How to Put Employees In the Driver’s Seat of Career Development

Learning

Leaders must always be learners. As a leader, you must constantly be growing and developing so that you can continue to lead your teams effectively.

Leaders who stop learning eventually stop being effective leaders. They can become stale and out of touch with what is happening in the world around them, and may also start making bad decisions that can hurt their team or organization.

Consider if a new leader joined your organization from a different industry, maybe even from a different time. Would the leadership tactics of the Oil and Gas Industry in 1995 work in a software company in 2022? I’d bet not. Especially in our ever-changing world of work, staying up to date with leadership trends and meeting the changing needs of employees or followers is essential to being an effective leader. 

That’s why it’s so important for leaders to continue learning throughout their careers. They need to be constantly expanding their knowledge and skills so that they can stay ahead of the curve and make the best decisions possible for their teams. Learning helps leaders stay current and relevant, which is essential for success in today’s world.

A leadership coach can help leaders continue to learn by providing them with feedback and assessment, resources and tools, and encouragement.

Leaders can use the feedback and assessment from their coach to help them grow and develop as leaders, including building skills in coaching others. 

A good coach builds not only another good coach, but a lifelong learner and student of leadership that will keep the leader developing well beyond the coaching engagement.

How to select a leadership coaching program?

When looking for a leadership coach or coaching program, it is important to find someone with the right skillset and knowledge as either your personal coach or to run the program. 

The coach should be able to help the leader develop their skills and grow as a leader.

Some things to look for in a coach include:

• Experience in leadership development, leadership training and coaching
• Knowledge of different leadership styles, models and theories
• Able to provide feedback and critique in a constructive way
• Has a good understanding of the leader’s goals and aspirations
• General knowledge of your specific industry or leadership context
• Bonus: Certified Coach. You might seek a coach with a leadership coaching certification such as those from the International Coach Federation (ICF).

It is also important to find someone who you (the leader) can trust and feel comfortable working with. The coach should be able to build a positive relationship with the you and help you grow both professionally and personally. 

If looking for a leadership coaching program, note the difference between leadership development and coaching.

Leadership development is a process that helps individuals learn the competencies, skills and knowledge necessary to be effective leaders.

Leadership coaching, on the other hand, is a process that helps individuals improve their existing leadership skills through focusing on real-life experiences.

Support

Look for a leadership coach or coaching program that is designed to support and help individuals improve their effectiveness as leaders.

The coach can help identify areas of improvement and develop a growth plan. They should be able to provide guidance and feedback and offer resources and contacts to help the individual succeed. 

In addition, you might have an in-person coach or a coach you can meet with virtually. Both types of interaction are proven to be effective, so pick whichever is the best fit for your schedule to ensure you are able to attend your coaching sessions consistently as a coachee.

Length

Length of a leadership coach engagement or leadership coaching program can vary depending on the needs of the individual or organization. However, most engagements last for six months to one year.

Peers and cohort model

When looking for a leadership coach engagement or leadership coaching program, it’s important to find one that caters to your specific industry, level, leadership methodology or mindset. This will help ensure that you receive the most relevant and beneficial coaching possible.

For example, if you’re looking for a program to help you develop your skills as an executive or senior leader, it’s important to find one that focuses on coaching executive leaders versus one that might be focused more on coaching new leaders.

There are a few online resources for finding a leadership coach, professional coach or coaching program. 

• BetterUp Leadership Coaching – Find an Executive Coach
• Ezra Coaching Programs – Programs for Leaders at Different Stages
• Center for Creative Leadership – Leadership Coaching
• Leadership Coach Group – Opportunities for Leaders at Every Level

If you’re ready to begin working with a coach, talk with trusted peers or leaders in your network and ask if they have had positive experiences with coaches, or coaching programs, to find what opportunities might be local or well respected in your community or industry. 

Bonus: Are you looking to create a leadership coaching program? Check out the Center for Creative Leadership for tips and tricks for creating a leadership coaching program. 

Bonus: Leadership and Professional Development Opportunities. Because this article is about coaching, but coaching might sometimes be considered the same as leadership or professional development (which is is not), these links might be helpful in taking the next steps in leadership development. 

• What is a Leadership Development Program
• 13 Best Leadership Certificates

Getting Started 

Are you ready to take your leadership to the next level with a coach? If so, it’s time to get serious about finding a coach. 

Check out the links to a few notable programs above, and talk with your community or personal board of directors about programs or coaches they respect and have experience with. 

Next, get ready to engage! You might not meet the coach, coaching approach or training program that is right for you on your first try. That’s OK!

Not every coach is right for every leader. Keep going. You will find the right person or program who will coach and facilitate you on the way to reaching your full potential.

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Joy Burnford—founder and CEO at Encompass Equality—shares her insights with us.

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

When I was growing up, my mum, Sue Peterson, was a single mother and worked tirelessly as a dance teacher and dance shop owner. She enabled my sister and I to have the strongest start in life, with the best possible education and opportunities; the story could have been so different. 

She was—and is!—an amazing role model, and taught me that being a girl should not hold me back. She’s also just published her own book ‘Dance for your life: Steps to better health with stories to inspire’ just ahead of mine! 

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

I checked with a colleague for this one and was flattered by her response! She described me as motivated, driven, kind, compassionate, and a natural connector in both personal life and business. 

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

When I set up my first business in 2007 I felt like a punch-bag, hitting stumbling blocks at every turn. I learned to not give up and stay resilient. A particular example was being told we needed to have a man on the board, but we successfully secured investment with two female board directors—something I’m very proud of.

Access to flexibility creates a happier, more engaged, trusted and motivated workforce, while also helping organisations retain talent. 

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

That confidence is a skill that can be learned. Despite my early ambitions, I found my confidence declined in my twenties. I was working in a male-dominated industry and found myself often comparing myself to others, leading to a rollercoaster of confidence.

Five years ago I discovered coaching where I learned that confidence is a skill that can be taught. This inspired me to set up my next business – My Confidence Matters, now called Encompass Equality – with the mission to enable women to have confidence to progress their careers. 

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work”, what comes to mind?

For me, flexibility is key and I’m happy that it is now part of our working world in a way we could not have anticipated before the pandemic. 

Access to flexibility creates a happier, more engaged, trusted and motivated workforce, while also helping organisations retain talent. 

It’s key for working parents and is a huge factor in stopping mothers, in particular, and those with caring responsibilities, from leaving the workforce. Offer someone true flexibility and this allows them the freedom to fit work around their lives, rather than their lives around work. 

I believe flexibility should go a step further and be personalised, to recognise that employees are individuals with differing needs depending on life circumstances. 

I hope it will shape the way of working in the future for many businesses, allowing people to work in a way that suits them, ensuring it sits within the confines of organisational needs. 

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

Gender equality remains a huge problem for businesses, so when contemplating how to ‘build a better world of work’, we must consider how workplaces can become more inclusive for women, which will, in turn, benefit all. 

There is so much evidence on the business benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion, yet the loss of talented women from the workforce still exists across all sectors: one in three women considered downshifting their career or leaving the workforce in 2021. 

Businesses need to wake up to this and start to make changes now to retain women and offer them the opportunities to progress.

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

There are many practical steps that can be taken to improve gender equality. This topic is very close to my heart, as it’s the focus of my new book, Don’t Fix Women, in which I outline three cultural frameworks – flexibility, allyship and coaching –  that companies can develop to ensure their working environments allow women to flourish, function, and crucially, remain.

By implementing these frameworks, businesses will create a level playing field not only for women, but all employees. And, in turn, it will develop a more diverse workforce which has a proven benefit to the bottom line.

Leaders and people managers need to recognise the obstacles that women face at work (which could be confidence, dealing with fertility problems or caring for a child or elderly relative), which can result in burnout, overwhelm, and, ultimately, women leaving the workforce. 

There needs to be an effort within organisations to normalise conversations considered taboo (such as menopause), to allow more awareness of issues that women may face that can impact their working lives.

Schemes such as ‘growing your own’ coaches can help: where every manager is trained in key coaching skills, such as listening actively, expressing interest, offering honest feedback, and how to have sensitive and empathetic conversations.

Many managers remain painfully unprepared for the kind of conversations they need to have with women at various stages of their careers and this is vital in being able to support and retain women in the workplace. By gaining understanding, leaders can become allies for women and gender equality advocates.

Gender equality should be a top priority issue, which requires definitive action; this can’t be considered a tick-box exercise and must be led from the top if change is going to happen. 

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work? 

I am often amazed that job sharing has not become more prevalent, particularly at senior levels, given the benefits it can offer.

I met with Charlotte Cherry and Alix Ainsley, who job-share the role of Director of Talent and Learning at John Lewis & Partners, and are the most fantastic example of how successful this can be. 

Both women approached job sharing to find more balance at home, taking on their first shared role at Lloyds Banking Group in 2016 and subsequently moving together to roles at companies including Dyson and Quilter plc. 

They have shown that job sharing does result in better work/life balance, but also recognise that their careers have accelerated at a faster pace thanks to the confidence that job-sharing has instilled in them both.

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work, is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

Nathan Coe, CEO of Auto Trader Group plc, stands out to me for his work towards gender parity—Auto Trader is listed in the Inclusive Companies Top 50 2021/2022 with 50:50 gender parity on its board. 

I consider Nathan to be an inclusive leader with diversity and inclusion in his DNA— a trait that is crucial to implementing real change in businesses in the future.

I spoke with Nathan and he shared the following advice to other organisations looking to achieve better retention of women: 

“Without doubt, change requires passion, empowerment and a belief right from the very top of the organisation to make the change happen and to call out behaviour or practice that is exclusionary. Too few at the top of organisations are talking passionately about this topic and yet we, as leaders, have a duty to ensure that women feel included and have the same access to careers that male colleagues have.”

How can our readers follow your work?

Continue the conversation at www.dontfixwomen.com and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Thank you for adding your voice to People Managing People’s interview series on How to Build a Better World of Work! 

Add your voice to the conversation

Join our interview series and share your ideas for how we can build a better world of work!

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Working from home is becoming increasingly common with many corporations like Airbnb and Google turning to remote and hybrid work options for employees permanently. Yet while remote work comes with benefits like flexibility and better work life balance, it means a new approach to work. 

Read on for 32 tips on staying focused while working remotely.

#1 – Set A Schedule And Stick To It

For remote workers, the boundaries between work and personal life tend to get blurred. If you’re not careful, you might stretch yourself thin past work hours and not consciously take enough time to rest or socialize.

Creating a daily schedule puts firm boundaries around your workday. You know when you’re going to start work, when you’ll take breaks, and when you’ll stop for the day. This allows you to get into a daily rhythm and even set expectations with your remote team.

You’ll spend less time trying to decide what you’re going to do, which reduces the amount of decision fatigue you experience and increases productivity.

Make your schedule clear to your coworkers so that they know when you’re in work mode:

• Google Calendar allows you to create shared calendars so that people know what you’re doing on each day of the week.
• Calendly makes it simple to agree upon meeting times without sending dozens of emails back and forth.

#2 – Quit At Quitting Time

In an office, you leave the building and go home at the end of the day, which puts a hard stop on your work hours. Switching locations also gives your brain a physical cue to focus on a new task, but this isn’t the case with the home office. With work and personal life at home, you may find yourself checking your inbox or internal chat at all hours.

This is a sure recipe for burnout.

We already know that a majority (70%) of employees say their company needs to do more to prevent burnout. But you can do your part to prevent it, too.

At the end of the day, stop working completely. Create an offboarding of your day: close out browser tabs, shut your laptop, and tidy up your workspace so that it’s clean for the next morning.

If you have a separate home office area or room, leave the space. Then give all your attention to the remainder of your evening so your brain knows it should focus on rest.

#3 – Get Dressed when Working from Home

One of the great advantages to working from home is that you don’t need to suit up. However, as tempting as it is to work in your pajamas, your productivity is scientifically proven to increase if you “dress for success”.

It’s called enclothed cognition, and in the same way a suit might make us feel powerful, scrubs or a doctor’s coat makes the wearer feel more responsible and empathetic.

Getting dressed also mentally prepares you to tackle the day and be more engaged, and it creates a boundary between lounging in your PJs and work.

#4 – Communicate Expectations To Those Around You

Those at home with you (roommates, kids, etc.) need to know what you expect from them. Communicate your work hours and designated home office space.

Let them know your routine, especially if you’re a hybrid worker who goes into the office a few times a week. Help the household adapt to your flexible schedule by establishing your boundaries and needs so you’re time isn’t infringed on to do errands, play with your kids, etc.

Author Glenn Fleishman recommends:

• Having a conversation with family or roommates so that they know how you’ll be working
• Sticking to a regular schedule so that everyone knows when you’re working
• Having some sort of sign or signal that you’re working (closed door, headphones, etc.)

#5 – Observe Routines

Most of us have routines and rituals before we start working. We drink coffee, exercise, or read the headlines. Going through these routines signals to our brains and bodies that it’s time to start working. They become habits and create mental “grooves” of sorts. These mental grooves make it easier to actually get started.

Additionally, routines have been demonstrated to improve sleep cycles, which consequently helps reduce stress and improve mental health.

In a remote job, it’s up to you to create that pre-work ritual that helps you get in the right headspace to be productive. Maybe that ritual involves drinking a cup of tea and going for a jog. Maybe it involves meditating using an app like Headspace or Calm.

The more you utilize routines, the easier it will be to get your workday started.

#6 – Take Regular Breaks during Work Hours

As a remote employee, it’s easy to forget to take breaks. You just keep working, maybe even going so far as to eat lunch while in front of your laptop. This is a sure recipe for burnout and exhaustion.

Throughout the day, your body goes through multiple cycles of high and low energy called “ ultradian rhythms “. These cycles occur every 90 – 120 minutes and play a large part in how productive you are. At the peak of a cycle, your energy is highest and at the trough its lowest.

The implication is that you’ll be most productive if you work with your body instead of against it. Focus on getting things done when energy levels are high and then give yourself space to recover.

Consciously include regular breaks in your schedule and be sure to take them. Resist the temptation to just keep going or to answer that quick coworker question. Add the away messages on Microsoft Teams or Slack to signal you’re at lunch for an hour, and give yourself the permission to close your laptop for a break in the day.

Related Read: 9 Tweaks To Make Shift Working Even Better For Your Employees

#7 – Create Your Own Office Space

Increased productivity is the result of habits, and numerous studies have shown that habits are the result of associations. We take action, observe the outcome, and then repeat that action if the outcome is good. The more we do this, the stronger the habit becomes.

When you enter your office or cubicle at work, you know that it’s time to be productive. It’s not time to stream movies or check social media. There is a direct association in your brain between your workspace and productivity.

Create a dedicated office space—either a room or even a corner—in your home specific for work. You can also ask your employer if they might cover a co-working space membership for their remote workforce.

Having one spot where you always work creates an association in your brain between that spot and getting things done.

#8 – Make Your Workspace Comfortable

You’re going to be spending a lot of time in your workspace, so do your best to make it comfortable. If you hate being in your workspace, it will be hard to be productive.

Get a chair you like that supports good posture. Make sure the space is well-lit, preferably with natural light. Light a candle to keep things smelling nice and maybe put up a few photos. You can even create an area where you can take video calls for Zoom or Google Hangouts so you know your background is always clean and tidy.

Your employer might also include a remote work stipend to help fund any office supplies you need.

#9 – Get The Right Tools

If you’re going to be productive from home, you need to have the right tools for the job.

You may need to buy a laptop or tablet or some other tool. You also may need to invest in a faster internet connection if you’re going to be transferring a lot of files or remotely controlling a computer at work.

You’ll also need the right communication tools to chat with your coworkers and collaborate on projects. Applications like Slack , Google Docs , Dropbox , and Loom can help you stay in sync with people.

#10 – Keep A Task List

Office workers are constantly in contact with the boss, who helps them know what needs to be done and when. With remote working, that physical proximity is gone. You have an increased responsibility to identify important tasks and get them done.

Maintaining a task list can help you stay on top of deadlines. Each day, before you start working, prioritize your task list and communicate up any questions you might have for deadlines.

In his book The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, Gary Keller writes:

“Getting extraordinary results is all about creating a domino effect in your life. Toppling dominoes is pretty straightforward. You line them up and tip over the first one…Highly successful people know this. So every day they line up their priorities anew, find the lead domino, and whack away at it until it falls.“

Using a task list helps you create the domino effect. It ensures that you get the most important things done every day, which leads to extraordinary results.

#11 – Tackle the Most Important Tasks when Your at Peak Productivity

There are points during the day when you work more effectively. When you’re able to think most clearly and get things done most efficiently.

Be cognizant when you’re in peak productivity mode so you can work on those important projects. If you’re freshest first thing in the morning, don’t waste that time on relatively trivial tasks like email. Focus your energies on the task that will have the biggest impact.

This is how author Stephen King produces best-selling novels year after year. As Mason Curry notes in the book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, King writes every day of the year starting at around 8:00 am, and he doesn’t stop until he reaches 2,000 words. Only then does he do less important things.

#12 – Don’t Multitask

For remote employees, it’s easy to get sucked into the trap of multitasking. One minute you’re working, the next you’re cleaning up the kitchen or running out for quick errands.

This kills productivity. Time and again, research has shown that multitasking makes you far less efficient. The effort involved in switching back and forth between tasks requires more mental energy, increases the chances of error, and increases the amount of time it takes to complete tasks.

As much as possible, try to stay focused on a single task. Work in discrete blocks of time and focus on only one thing during each block (known as “ time blocking “). Don’t let your attention be spread thin.

#13 – Use The Pomodoro Method For Productivity

The Pomodoro Method is a well-established technique that helps you work in focused bursts and then giving your brain a break. It works like this:

• Identify your most important task.
• Set a timer for 25 minutes.
• Work on the task for 25 minutes (one Pomodoro session).
• Take a 5-minute break.
• After four Pomodoro sessions, take a 15-20 minute break.

Using this technique keeps you on task, helping you give focused energy to the things that are most important. It also keeps you from working too long without taking a break.

#14 – Use White Noise to Block Out Distractions

There are going to be distractions when you have a working-from-home job. If you have kids or roommates, there may be a fair amount of noise. If you don’t have an office where you can close the door, that noise will probably make it harder for you to get things done.

One relatively simple solution is to get noise-canceling headphones and then listen to background music or ambient noise that won’t distract you. Some listening options to consider:

• Brain.fm
• Noisli
• myNoise
• Deep Focus on Spotify
• Ambient Deep Focus on Spotify

#15 – Block Time-Wasting Websites

Social media is one of the biggest time wasters. One minute you’re working away, the next, you’re sucked into the black hole of doom scrolling.

If you have trouble resisting the allure of Tiktok or other favorite sites, consider using an application that will physically prevent you from accessing those URLs: Freedom and Rescue Time both allow you to block specific websites for set periods of time so you can enjoy distraction-free productivity.

#16 – Respond To Messages In Batches

In an effort to prove that you’re working diligently and being productive, you may be tempted to immediately answer every message or quick question a coworker sends your way. Your inbox dings, you stop what you’re doing, and you fire back a response.

It’s understandable, but it can distract you from your work at hand or make you lose focus and momentum.

Try responding to messages in batches. Emails, Slack messages, or pings on MS Teams, you can block notifications for focus time, then return to any questions at specific times of day or in between work springs.

#17 – Get Outside

With telework you might find yourself at home too long. Without a daily commute or office happy hours, you might find yourself spending all of your time inside, which is bad for morale and for your health.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of being outside. It contributes to:

• Reduced stress
• Improved immunity
• Increased focus
• Better mental health
• Improved short-term memory.

Additionally, being outdoors increases the amount of vitamin D in your body, which is essential (approximately 42% of Americans are vitamin D deficient).

Try to get outside your house every day. Go for a walk. Read in a coffee shop. Grab drinks with friends. It may seem counterintuitive, but getting away from where you work will actually make you more productive.

#18 – Take Sick Days, Even While Working From Home

In the United States, in particular, employees seem to have a particular aversion to taking sick days. In a culture of constant productivity, taking a sick day can seem like weakness, but nothing could be further from the truth.

If you don’t take sick days, you may actually prolong your illness since your body can’t heal. This was demonstrated during the 2016 presidential election when Hilary Clinton almost physically collapsed due to pneumonia. Unable to rest, a cough morphed into something much more serious.

The moral of the story? Take care of yourself.

If you’re sick, take time off to rest and recuperate. Don’t try to power through. Flexible work doesn’t mean you should work from your bed. Take sick time off and let your body fully recover. Your work will be better when your health is better.

#19 – Eat Healthy

When you’re working from home, your pantry is never more than a few steps away. There’s a huge temptation to mindlessly snack, especially on sugary treats, which can quickly turn into additional pounds and impair your cognitive functions and energy level.

There are a number of specific strategies you can employ to help you eat healthy at home:

• Set specific times when you will snack and stick to those times rigidly
• Stock up on healthy snacks that satisfy cravings but don’t add to the waistline
• Prepare meals and snacks the night before so that you’re not tempted to just grab whatever is in front of you
• Keep a water bottle close by to ensure that you’re hydrated
• Use the “ Healthy Plate Method ” to help with portion control
• Use an app like MyFitnessPal to help you track the calories you consume

#20 – Exercise Regularly

Few things improve productivity like exercise. It clears your head, improves your energy, and lifts your mood. A recent study by Briston University evaluated the immediate impact of exercise on productivity, with employees comparing days they exercised versus days they didn’t.

On the days they worked out, the employees experienced higher levels of concentration, managed their time more effectively, and felt significantly more motivation.

Add a walk or jog into your routine. If the weather is bad, download a workout app like Nike Training Club or try a yoga class on Youtube. Consistently exercising will make the experience of working from home significantly better.

#21 – Connect With People

Loneliness is an occupational hazard when it comes to working from home. You can’t casually chat with coworkers about sports or the latest movie you saw. While virtual meetings enable remote teams to connect, they might not be conducive to socializing.

Prolonged loneliness and isolation can lead to a variety of health problems, including:

• High blood pressure
• Depression
• Cognitive impairment
• Anxiety
• Heart disease
• Obesity
• And more

For the sake of both your physical and mental health, make an effort to connect with people a few times per week. Go to lunch with a friend or grab coffee with a neighbor.

You can even connect with coworker friends for quick catchups using any of the video conferencing tools like:

• Zoom
• Google Meet
• Skype
• Houseparty
• Marco Polo

Socializing with teammates is so important for building up work culture and creating connection.

#22 – Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Communication becomes even more important when you’re not working in an office. You’re not getting regular face time with your supervisor or coworkers, and things can easily get lost in strings of emails and messages.

Tell your boss and coworkers your schedule. Let them know when you complete a task. Make it clear when you’re taking vacation days. Communicate the same message via chat, email, video conference, etc. You can also add your work hours on your calendar.

It’s better to over-communicate than under-communicate. Under-communication leads to misunderstandings, missed deadlines, and a lot of frustration.

#23 – Keep Written Messages Positive

Tone and body language are lost when communicating digitally with your remote team. People can’t see your face or hear your voice. It’s really easy for people to interpret your words in a negative way even if you didn’t intend any negative connotations.

According to Inc., writer Jacquelyn Smith:

“…tone is easy to misconstrue without the context you’d get from vocal cues and facial expressions. Accordingly, it’s easy to come off as more abrupt than you might have intended—you meant ‘straightforward,’ they read ‘angry and curt.’ […] For best results, avoid using unequivocally negative words (‘failure,’ ‘wrong,’ or ‘neglected’), and always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’“

When communicating over email or chat, keep things light and positive. Maybe throw in a joke or your favorite emoji or GIF where appropriate. Little things like this go a long way in helping you maintain good relationships with your coworkers.

#24 – Clean Up For Video Calls

A big advantage of working from home is that you can wear comfortable clothes. However, you still want to look professional during video calls.

Like it or not, your appearance is directly tied to your success. Research suggests that the way a person looks plays a really significant role in career advancement. As much as possible, try to look good when interacting with other employees, even if it’s just during a video all.

Don’t wear a ratty t-shirt and have your hair going all over the place. Put on an appropriate shirt, comb your hair, shave, etc. Make it clear that you really do care about the work you’re doing.

#25 – Use A VPN for Secure WiFi

As a remote worker you can work wherever: a coffee shop, a library, or a co-working space. However, when you’re using public wifi it’s important to be secure, so use a VPN. 

A VPN gives you a secure internet connection, ensuring that someone doesn’t steal important company information. The last thing you want is to have a security breach, and a VPN helps prevent that.

Some effective VPN apps are:

• Hola (free)
• ExpressVPN
• NordVPN
• Surfshark
• CyberGhost

#26 – Level Up Your Skills

Learning and development training is a staple for employee engagement at the office. However, as a remote worker, additional training or sighing up for additional courses will be up to you. 

Your organization might have learning and development opportunities for their remote employees and some organizations also include free access to online courses through other providers, like SkillShare or Lynda Learning.

You can also find your own courses from a number of online platforms that provide in-depth training. Check out:

• LinkedIn Learning
• Coursera
• Udemy

#27 – Resolve Problems With Phone Calls

If you sense a problem starting to arise, don’t try to solve it via email or chat. Misunderstandings are common with these methods of communication and things can quickly get worse.

To navigate conflicts, hop on the phone or a video chat and have a conversation with anyone involved.

Kevin Hart, SVP and Managing Director at EMA Boston, says :

“Holding people accountable or having a fierce conversation is best done in person. It gives you better understanding of tonality and allows you to observe body language. Also, there’s more room for two-way communication. We encourage face-to-face meetings to resolve conflicts. If that is not possible, a phone conversation is the next preferred way to determine how to move forward.“

#28 – Manage Up

Remote working requires open communication and being a proactive teammate. Ensure you’re on top of deadlines and expectations by managing up—communicating openly with your supervisor.

Ask them what they think is working and what isn’t. Take notes on the feedback and assure your boss that you really do want to be as efficient as possible.

Also, let your supervisor know of any unique challenges you’re facing that you don’t encounter in the office. Are you encountering any bottlenecks? Are there any tools you need? This kind of open dialogue will keep things running smoothly and keep yourself motivated.

#29 – Get Clear On Company Policies

Your company probably has specific policies and guidelines related to working from home, and in some cases the crisis has been a catalyst, prompting companies to upheave and shift their policies in an entirely new direction. New policies could include everything from what hours you need to be available to what you’re allowed to use your company laptop for.

Make sure you’re crystal clear on these. Knowing exactly what your company expects from you can help you avoid misunderstandings. It also ensures that you and your supervisor are on the same page. If you have questions regarding certain policies, get clarity as soon as possible.

#30 – Acknowledge Hard Work

In the office, with our managers nearby and the influence of coworkers around us, we’re more likely to stay focused and accountable for deliverables. However, with remote working, you need to possess that self-motivation, so ask yourself: “what would motivate you?”

For many, that can be something as simple as employee recognition for hard work.

Employee recognition not only bolsters culture but it also motivates workers, and, when you’re working from home, you might not get that immediate positive feedback loop from your coworkers or manager.

When you perform a task, talk to your supervisor about it and share your hard work. Most of all, acknowledge when you see a teammate do something great too! That can help create a positive, motivating team culture.

You can also ask your supervisor or coworkers for feedback. Managers can track this through a performance management tool so they can view overall progress and growth, helping you see your own hard work.

#31 – Experiment

It may take you some time to figure out what works best for you when it comes to working from home. Don’t expect everything to fall neatly into place right at the beginning. You’ll need to find what works best for you and your style of working.

Feel free to experiment with your schedule, workspace, task list, management tools, routine, etc. The beauty of working from home is that you have the freedom to change these things. You can optimize your working day for maximum productivity.

#32 – Be Kind To Yourself

It takes time to get used to working at home. It’s a new work environment that requires new skills. It will take time for you to find your groove. Some days will be less productive than other days, and that’s okay.

Show yourself compassion. Give yourself time and space to get acclimated. Over time, things will get easier. Until then, be kind to yourself.

Ready to Stay Productive When Working from Home?

Whether you’re a hybrid worker or fully remote, finding the best way to stay productive is a process but doable with the right mindset. 

Find what routine works for you, create a dedicated workspace, and don’t forget to communicate, communicate, and communicate with your team and manager.

The post 32 Proven Tips To Help You Work From Home More Effectively appeared first on People Managing People.

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Research shows that employees who have friends at work are more productive, better at communicating, and happier with their job.  

But what about when one of you becomes the boss?  

A study by the University of Reading found that 90% of first-time managers struggled with setting boundaries with employees, especially when they’d previously been friends. Nearly three-quarters of them said they had lost friendships since becoming a manager. 

So, if you’ve found yourself in this situation, how can you maintain your friendships, while still establishing your authority and setting healthy boundaries? 

In this article, we’ll explore:

• What makes being your friends’ boss so difficult?
• How can you establish your authority with your co-workers as a new manager? 
• How can you set boundaries with your friends–without losing your friendship?

Why is it So Hard to Go from Friend to Boss? 

Jessica Kriegel, the Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture at Culture Partners, says that the transition from friend to boss is “one of the most awkward transitions in business.” The main issue is the change in power structures, Kriegel explains.  

“What was a relationship of two equals becomes a relationship in which one friend is “above” the other—at least according to the hierarchical organizational structure.”

The other issue is what psychotherapists call the “dual relationship principle.” This is the concept that your therapist should never also be your friend, lover, colleague or family member. 

The reasoning, explains Art Markman, a professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, is that “every relationship has goals associated with it, and when you have more than one relationship, those goals can conflict and cause serious problems.” 

This isn’t just an issue for therapists. When you become your friend’s boss, then the goals for your friendship (connection, empathy, fun) may come into direct conflict with your goals for your professional relationship (such as offering direct feedback or promoting top team performance.)

Finally, if you have a personal relationship with one or more members of your team, then it can make it harder to build a connection with the rest of the team. You may find yourself accused of favoritism—or overcompensating for your friendship by being unduly harsh with your friends. 

The secret to overcoming the awkwardness—and keeping your friendships—comes down to open communication and setting clear boundaries. 

What Does It Mean to Be the Boss? 

To set personal boundaries, you first need to understand what it means to you to be a manager. What kind of leader do you want to be? What work environment are you trying to create? 

This level of self-awareness is key, both to being the best manager you can be, and for understanding the kinds of work boundaries you need to set with your co-workers. 

When it comes to establishing authority, many new managers think they need to be an “autocratic leader”. They worry that they’ll need to start to order people around, and generally transmit the message “My way or the highway.” 

However, there are many other models of leadership that can help you to establish authority, without turning you into General Patten. In fact, these approaches to management can make your personal relationships with your team into an advantage, not a problem. 

Consider, for instance: 

Servant leadership 

Servant leaders aspire to put employee well-being first and support their team to achieve greatness. Instead of telling people what to do, they provide coaching and feedback. They aim to empower the people on their team, rather than micromanaging them. 

Empathetic leadership 

Empathetic leaders aim to understand first, and then react. They start with the principle that employees are individuals with a unique set of pressures and challenges. If you already have relationships with some of the members of your team, you have a head start when it comes to building trust and empathy within the team as a whole. 

Authentic leadership

Again, if the people on your team already know you as an individual, as well as a colleague, you may find this leadership model comes naturally to you. Authentic leaders lead from their values, whether they’re interacting with their direct reports or making tough decisions. They are open and honest about who they are and what’s important to them. 

As you can see, there are many models of management that will work well, even if you’re managing people who are also your friends. In fact, several approaches to leadership are going to be easier to achieve when you already have the trust of the people you work with. 

How to Set Boundaries with your Work Friends

However, no matter what type of manager you aspire to be, you will still need to set boundaries with employees—especially if you have an existing friendship. If you don’t set healthy boundaries, you might find that you run into: 

• Accusations of unfairness from direct reports who aren’t your friends; 
• Work dynamics spilling into your personal life, causing unnecessary stress; 
• Burnout, as you struggle to manage two types of relationship simultaneously; 
• Extra work, as you try to do your job as a manager without hurting anyone’s feelings or causing friction with your friends.  

Here are a few tips for setting boundaries at work: 

1. Start by acknowledging the issue

Before you can begin to set professional boundaries, you need to start with a frank conversation with your friends. Recognize that you feel concerned about the impact of your new role on your friendship, and ask them how they’re feeling. 

Markham explains that when you sit down with your friends and discuss the possible conflicts frankly, you can help them to see that the new dynamic is challenging for both of you. “You may assume that your friends will implicitly understand the tensions you have, but they are much more likely to be sympathetic if you have an open conversation.” 

April Shprintz, now a business consultant and the founder of Driven Outcomes, found that being upfront about her own discomfort was the key to maintaining her work friendships. She recalls: 

“I was promoted to lead a three-person team and two of the three were friends. I was both less experienced and less credentialed than each of them. Imposter Syndrome crept in and the fear that I would lose my friendships.”

Instead of ignoring the issue, Shprintz sat down with her team and shared that she was feeling vulnerable. “I owned that I was the least experienced and youngest on the team and that I would need their help for us to be successful. In exchange for that help, I promised to be their biggest advocate and to lead with everyone’s professional and personal goals in mind. Each member of the team got well deserved raises and nominations for company awards.” 

2. Keep things professional 

Behaviors that are acceptable when you’re an individual contributor are no longer appropriate when you become a manager. 

For instance, venting about difficult colleagues or a company policy you don’t like is fine for employees. However, when you become a manager, you need to keep things more professional. 

Your role now includes promoting a positive attitude and encouraging top team performance—and you can’t expect to do that job if you still gossip with your friends in the office. 

Leadership coach and former S.W.A.T. Commander Eddie Mac explains, “To be successful, the leader must never waiver from the confines of their role for the sake of “friendship.” If so, other coworkers will see this as favoritism and weakness in the leader.”

In other words, while you might feel like the best way to keep your friendships going is to fall back into your old dynamics, in fact it’s better all round if you maintain emotional boundaries during work hours. 

3. Define and communicate your boundaries 

There are different types of boundaries involved in working with a team. Sit down with your team (including your friends) and agree on the kinds of workplace boundaries you all need. 

You should decide on: 

Communication boundaries 

How do you all prefer to communicate about work? By Slack, by work email, by WhatsApp? When is it OK to communicate about work—only during work hours? How will you maintain your work-life balance? 

Physical boundaries 

This isn’t just a question of personal space (although if you and your friends are huggers, you might need to discuss if this is still appropriate). 

You can collectively decide on working hours, how long breaks should be, whether or not it’s positive to leave the workspace to get fresh air and exercise during working hours, and so on. 

Emotional boundaries 

We tend to share emotions with our friends that we wouldn’t share with a manager or a direct report. You may need to decide with your friends (and the rest of the team) which aspects of your emotional life you want to keep sharing at work, and what you’d prefer to keep private from now on. 

This will often depend on the overall company culture; for instance, in a company where employees are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work, emotional sharing may still be appropriate. 

Time boundaries

If you don’t discuss time boundaries explicitly, your friends may expect to take up more of your time than you can afford to give them.

Managers are often extremely busy, especially in the early days–so times that you spent socializing with friends at work might not be available any more. 

If you hope to maintain a healthy work-life balance, you’ll need to be clear with your friends and direct reports about when you’re available to chat, and when you aren’t. 

Some managers use “office hours” (whether literal or virtual) to make sure they are available for their teams, while also having enough time for deep work. 

4. Don’t play favorites

Research published in the Harvard Business Review found that consistency and fairness are key to building strong working relationships with your former peers. 

For instance: 

• Use a template or standard format for one-to-one meetings to ensure your friends and other direct reports get the same input and feedback. You can find a handy one-to-one agenda here.

• In your first 90 days as a new manager, set up a team meeting to discuss shared values and get to know one another. That way, you’ll start to know as much about your other direct reports as you do about your friends. 

• Be inclusive. For example, if you invite your friends to join you for lunch, make sure you open up the invitation to the rest of the team too. The researchers found that half of their respondents developed new friendships with their direct reports by sharing social time together. 

• Be transparent. For instance, if you’re used to exchanging off-topic messages with your work friends via Slack, open up your Slack channel to the rest of the team as a place for watercooler chat. That way, you make sure nobody feels left out and create a more unified team dynamic. 

• Use performance management and employee recognition tools to avoid unconscious bias towards your friends. Even with the best will in the world, we can all fall victim to unconscious bias. We may not even notice that we’re giving more recognition and praise to the people we know better. 

Using standardized performance management software can help. Researchers at Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Lab found that, when a performance management system forced managers to be specific and provide evidence for their feedback, it dramatically reduced rater bias and created a fairer work environment.  

Setting boundaries with employees comes down to open communication 

It can be awkward to set boundaries at work–especially with your friends. 

However, the best way forward is to communicate openly about your own needs and concerns, and listen attentively to what your friends need and how they’re feeling. Then, you can work together to decide on the workplace boundaries that work for both of you. 

Talking about your own boundaries can feel uncomfortable, but frank conversations are at the heart of a healthy workplace. 

Some further resources to help you become a great manager: 

• How To Handle Awkward And Uncomfortable Conversations: What Every New Manager Should Know
• In Too Deep: How To Keep Calm & Carry On When You’re Overwhelmed As A New Manager
• 11 Leadership Models To Help You Become A Better Leader
• How To Create Psychological Safety In The Workplace (with Sarah Wirth from EcSell Institute)

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