It’s been seven years since authors on the Harvard Business Review first anticipated AI influencing the ways in which we manage our teams. And while these authors weren’t far off, AI has recently taken off perhaps even more than most of us anticipated. And with AI so drastically changing the ways we work, so too is it changing the ways we manage teams. So, how can you, knowing what we know about how much AI is changing our workforce, work toward being a better manager in 2023?
It all starts by addressing existing patterns and habits and changing them to better support and inform employee practices.
How Management Has Changed with AI
The drastic development of AI has heavily affected many roles across almost every industry in the world, and management roles are no exception.
Primarily, AI has begun changing the ways managers interact with their employees because of the myriad ways AI can replace many of the functions that employees and managers alike used to be responsible for.
For one, managers now have the freedom to step back from training and developing skills in their employees now that AI can perform many of these tasks for them. For another, many AI tools are also capable of monitoring employees’ work in real-time and offering immediate feedback.
As such, in many ways, AI has rendered management pioneer Henri Fayol’s five functions of management (planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling) a bit outdated. (But let’s cut the man some slack; how could one have possibly predicted artificial intelligence in the early 20th century?)
Instead of these perhaps irrelevant functions, then, focus on the following steps to work toward being a better manager in 2023.
4 Steps to Being a Better Manager in 2023
If you’re still even loosely following the five functions of management established by Fayol, you’re most likely due for an update in your management style. It’s time to turn your current practices into newer, more effective ones.
1. Turn Micromanagement into Invitations for Collaboration
Listen: micromanaging is such an easy habit to get into. For many, it’s only natural to want to control how things get done around the office. And doing so is a very slippery slope into overseeing every single process to make sure things are exactly as you want them to be.
But micromanaging restricts employees’ abilities to develop their own decision-making skills. As well, of course, micromanaging can make employees feel undervalued, underestimated, and not trustworthy. And all of these can make for a very unpleasant workplace.
So, when you feel they’re ready, allow your employees to make decisions without your approval or oversight.
If this feels unattainable in the meantime, however, try working with your employees and offering equal opportunity for collaboration. This will make them feel like their ideas are worthy of being shared. And you never know: they might just surprise you with some innovative thinking!
2. Turn Constant Support into Encouraged Independence
As previously mentioned, one of the ways AI is changing the ways in which we manage teams is lessening the time we used to have to spend monitoring employees.
Nowadays, there are plenty of tools you can implement that monitor and offer feedback to your employees in real-time, including ActivTrak, Veriato, and InterGuard. So, if you don’t feel quite ready to step back from the controls, use software to do so for you.
This will still allow them to make decisions on their own and help them practice self-regulation, but will still allow them to feel supported when they get stuck.
Then, when you feel they’re ready, give your employees a bit more slack and see how they work without your approval or oversight.
3. Turn Old Habits into Innovation
While there will always be some functions that carry over from management philosophies of the past, there will also be many that just don’t work in 2023.
And remaining stuck in old ways of working can be detrimental to you, your employees, and consequently, your organization as a whole. In fact, many old habits actively prevent innovation.
So, whenever you find yourself resisting new ideas and maintaining the status quo, ask yourself why you feel the need to fall into these habits. Is there a reason for sticking with your old systems, or is this just out of comfort and ease?
And more importantly, what is at risk by relying on old tactics? What is there to gain with new ways of working and thinking in your field? Might your old ways be holding you back from staying ahead of your competitors?
Moreover, how can you learn from your employees? How might their contributions allow you to turn your old habits into new innovations?
4. Turn Taking Control into Testing Abilities
Of course, as a manager, your responsibility to put out proverbial fires will never go away. But as the saying goes, you can instead teach your employees how to put out fires on their own.
You can do so by offering your employees imagined situations wherein a problem may arise and get them to problem solve on their own. This way, they can learn—without the high stakes of a real situation—how they might approach such a problem were it to ever arise.
As well, it can teach them to fail and learn from their mistakes without feeling responsible for real losses that come with making such mistakes in the real world. And crucially, because the stakes are so low, encourage your employees to make grand mistakes! Ask them to make bold choices and see what the outcomes might be.
And regardless of the choices they might make, you’re sure to learn something about your employees and they might just learn something about themselves, too!
How Your Management Can Improve Employee Retention
With all of the above stated, it’s important to recognize that by shifting your priorities and approaches in management, you’re not just working toward making more resilient and effective teams. You’re further working toward making a more hospitable environment for employees long-term.
That is, in a Gallup survey of over 7,000 U.S. workers, 50% had previously left a job because of a manager. And, pointedly, these workers unanimously agreed that getting away from said manager would further improve their life overall.
So, don’t just think of the above as methods for getting the most out of your employees. Think of it also as your employees getting the most out of you. You want to offer your employees the best experiences at work to keep them meaningfully engaged but also happy and healthy.
After all, if you don’t, another manager will—and that’s where all the best employees will be.
Want to learn more about employee retention? Check out some of our latest blog posts on employee retention below!
How to Retain Top Sales Performers: Strategies for Long-Term Success
The 5 Key Traits for Team-Oriented Leadership
