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• You’ll also need to change how you evaluate your managers. Don’t reward them simply according to the revenue and profit their departments produce; recognize those who have taken on tough assignments regardless of the revenue potential. Most crucially, reward managers for their most important job: managing. One executive we know devised a scorecard ...
• As algorithms and machines take over tasks from humans, companies will be engaged in what we call the Great Rebundling: finding ways to reconfigure employees’ work. Although such redesigns may be broadly shaped at headquarters, the details can be defined and carried out only by those with firsthand knowledge of what happens on the ground. Smart org...
• Middle managers can make a huge difference in a firm’s ability to attract talent. They, far more than their higher-ups or their colleagues in HR, can craft individualized working arrangements that will enhance recruitment, retention, and diversity while facilitating high-value work.
• As work becomes ever more dynamic, other hiring practices need to evolve. HR can ensure that policies are consistent, fair, and legal. But only managers understand their individual departments deeply enough to see gaps between old and new realities and identify which policies need to change. For example, do university degrees still make sense for p...
• Middle managers can engage in a dialogue with HR about how the organization’s people are overseen and developed. They know their team members better than anyone else does, so they’re best equipped to provide continual coaching and to identify and address performance issues early on.

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