What HR Learns From the Front of the Room

When someone from your HR team leads manager development, new managers can tell that person what they're struggling with while HR still has time to help, as long as the managers trust that the session is about getting better at the job.

Before anyone is invited to manager development, prepare your leadership team. Make sure senior leaders believe in the model the managers will learn, and agree with them on what the program is for, what HR's role is, and what happens to what people say in the room. If anyone from HR will be at the session, give that person the job of leading it. When managers trust the rules, they'll talk about what's getting in their way, often months before the same problems show up in an engagement survey or an exit interview.

You lead a session for eight new managers

Imagine you're the HR business partner for sales, and you're leading a session for eight people from operations who were promoted into management this year. In the debrief after a practice exercise, one of them says she has three conversations with her team that she's been putting off, because she doesn't know how to start them. At a nonprofit, one of the eight might be a program director who was promoted because she was the best caseworker on the team. Since you don't work with their bosses, the managers speak more freely, and you leave knowing what this group needs over the next few months.

Why HR can't just sit in

In my experience, an HR person who sits in just to listen creates an odd environment, and the session loses much of its impact. Nobody likes being listened to, and the managers aren't sure what that person is there for. Even when the facilitator explains the HR person's role, the managers don't always believe the explanation, so they get careful and keep the real problems to themselves. If anyone from HR is in the room, give that person a substantive part of the session to lead, like a practice exercise or the debrief, and tell the group in the first five minutes who is leading which part. Announcing lunch and the breaks or reminding people to fill in the survey doesn't count, and it puts HR in a weak position in front of colleagues. If nobody on your team is ready to lead yet, stay out of the room and ask whoever runs the session for the themes afterward.

Prepare your leadership team before you schedule anything

Start by walking your leadership team through the model the managers will learn. Senior leaders should understand it well enough to tell you whether they find it useful or think it's bogus, because managers pick up on what their bosses really think. If the leadership team isn't bought in, I think you're wasting your time, so get that buy-in first.

Then agree on what happens to what people say in a session, because managers get suspicious when nobody has told them. Some groups want a Vegas rule, where what's said in the room stays in the room. Others share general themes with HR, or use a mix of the two. Ask a few of the managers who'll attend for their input, so they have a say in the rules, too.

Last, agree on the purpose. The program is for development, to help people work together better and reach the organization's goals and their own department's goals. It's never used to evaluate anyone's performance, to decide who's ready for promotion, or to make hiring decisions. Put that purpose in the invitation, and ask senior leaders to say it in their own words, because managers notice whether the commitment is genuine.

People notice who shows up

Managers also notice which senior leaders take part, starting with the CEO. In an organization-wide rollout, everyone takes part, the CEO included. In a department rollout, the whole department takes part, in every role, along with the person who runs it. When the top person skips it, managers see someone who thinks they're above it, and that's rarely the message you want to send. Taking part means doing the exercises with everyone else, since a leader watching from the back has the same effect as an HR observer. For a group of new managers, the same signal comes from senior leaders who have been through the program themselves.

Say plainly what you'll do with what you hear

At the start of each session, repeat the rules the managers already saw in the invitation. If you agreed to share themes, you might say: "I'm here to run this session. Nothing you say today goes to your manager or into any review or promotion decision. I'll take general themes back to HR so we can improve the support new managers get. If something comes up that HR is required to act on, like harassment or a safety issue, I can't keep it in the room, and I'll tell you what happens next." Then keep that promise in ways people can see. Leave your notebook closed while people are talking, and don't mention anything from the session in a later meeting with someone's boss.

Keep your two roles apart

If you're also the HR business partner for the managers in the room, you're wearing two hats, and the managers know it. When someone raises a personnel issue during the session, offer to talk about it separately, at another time. When a VP asks how one of her managers did, share the group's themes and nothing about that one person. If your HR team is large enough, have people lead sessions for departments they don't support day to day.

Use what you hear to plan support

After each session, take 10 minutes to write down the themes, and keep names out of your notes. Follow up only with people who asked for help. Over a few sessions, the themes start to show where your organization's support for new managers falls short:

• Three new managers in a row say nobody showed them how to manage a budget, so budget basics go into the next group's first month.

• When people in several groups complain about the same policy, you can take the complaint to the policy owner without naming anyone.

Leading sessions costs your team time

Each session takes someone away from other work. On a small HR team, you might not be able to keep the two roles apart, and some managers may hold back for the first session or two, whatever you tell them. In the masterclass, we'll look at what it would take for people on your own team to lead manager development in your organization. Save your seat here.

Join us on November 17 and 18

Your In-House Advantage is a free, live masterclass for internal HR, L&D, and OD leaders at organizations of 250 to 5,000 or more employees. It's two 90-minute working sessions, on Tuesday, November 17, and Wednesday, November 18, at 1:00 pm ET (10:00 am PT). In the first, we look at the patterns organizations fall into with new managers and what those patterns cost. In the second, you work on a solution for your own organization and leave with a one-page business case for your CFO.

It's live only, with no replay, and seats are limited. Nothing is sold in session one. In the last few minutes of session two, I'll explain how Symphony 100 works with organizations that want help.

Save my seat for November 17 and 18

Managers decide how much to say in the first few minutes of a session, based on what they've been told about who will hear it. Before you invite anyone to a management training session this quarter, agree with your leadership team on what stays in the room.

Frank November is the Founder & CEO of Symphony 100 and has been an Everything DiSC® Certified Practitioner since 2014. Symphony 100 Ltd. and Symphony 100 North America LLC are each independent, authorized partners of Everything DiSC® and The Five Behaviors®, which are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., or its affiliated companies.