Greeting! My name is Ilya Pracht, I am an experienced manager in IT, as well as a trainer of management courses at OTUS. In line of duty, I worked a lot together with HR departments, independently built HR processes in the company, managed HRD.

In our company, the use of HRBP was somewhat specific, unlike the average hospital. And in my opinion, it was effective. Therefore, I want to tell our story, and you already see whether it is applicable in your particular case or not.

Problems of team leaders

Transitioning to the role of team leader is always stressful. And often it happens suddenly. Just yesterday you were a cool engineer writing code. And today, you have a dozen people under your command, and you have to work with them somehow. Work is not only about chopping up breadcrumbs and learning to delegate. This is also the same people management – ​​dealing with motivation, development, monitoring loyalty, solving problems and conflicts.

I won’t reveal a secret if I say that all this people management is not very good for yesterday’s engineers. Even those with a natural gift and highly developed empathy have difficulties. And what can be said about those who do not really like all this.

This is how it turns out: the team has already started, it is necessary to work with people. And how to do it correctly – no one told. That is why most courses for team leaders are about soft skills. They are in the early stages and sag.

Again. The employee became a team leader, and his list of tasks immediately increased:

• Conduct meetings with employees

• Engage in their development plans

• Control motivation, improve it

• Understand problems and conflicts

And other little things. And all this against the background of a change in the area of ​​responsibility, increased requirements for work results. In general, it is not sweet for such a team, oh not sweet.

Development of soft skills

how to be Obviously, to close the gaps. According to Adizes, in order to improve insufficient managerial functions, it is necessary to either develop them in oneself, or supplement them at the expense of other team members.

It is possible to develop. And you even have to! If you have already started on this “managerial track”, then practicing soft skills is your new hobby. You need to allocate a lot of time and effort if you want to move forward in your career. But that’s the problem here – software develops for a long time and is difficult. It can take months to close the most basic gaps. And the results are demanded now.

Well, it’s true. Where it is weak, it breaks. Most often, novice team leaders begin to “shoot” these people-management problems: one employee is upset, another came with an offer and wants to resign, the third quarreled with the fourth, the fifth complains that no one is involved in his development. Etc. etc.

Hence the question – do the team members have a few months to swing? Most likely not. This is how our team solves its problems, as best it can, with inspiration. Sometimes it turns out well, sometimes not so well. And who would help, and how much it would immediately become easier.

HRBP + thymlide =?

This is where HRBP can come in handy with the “help” clause. And this story is not only about novice team leaders. An experienced manager will be very useful. Let’s understand each other.

Who is HRBP? This is not a recruiter, not an administrator of job sites. Not at all. This is an employee “about people”. As a rule, with a psychological background and/or education. With highly developed empathy. With a desire to help people solve their problems. And among other things, he has a good understanding of the company’s processes, knows who to go to with which questions. Because all the work of the HR department “permeates” the company.

What does this mean for team members? What HRBP will “cover”. It will help with solving problems and conflicts. It will help with motivation (at least with its clarification). It will help in complex cases when you need to retain an employee and make a counteroffer. There will be another meeting with the employee when the team leader is busy solving project problems and is busy closing the release. It even facilitates the processes of individual development so that no one is left without certifications and goals. He will not help here with decisions, but with administration – completely.

Together, partially or completely, it can close the main tasks of people management that fell on the team leader. And now there is an opportunity not to “put out fires” for days, but, as they say, to “sharpen the saw” and solve problems consciously.

It is clear with beginner team leaders. What about experienced managers? The following has been observed from experience: any manager in IT who came out of engineering is weak in empathy and working with people. Well, the specifics are as follows. Engineering mindset. Completely different psychological questions do not come out. And at HRBP – they come out. And here it can greatly strengthen the manager. The main thing is to work together. Then the synergistic effect is ensured.

A real example

I will now tell you how it was in our company. Our entire production was divided into units, each unit was managed by a Delivery Manager. An experienced leader, a native of team leaders. The units have several projects, each of which has a team leader. And HRBP was assigned to each unit. Worked closely with all employees of the unit, cooperating with team leads and Delivery MManagers.

HRBP met with each 1/1 employee at least once a month. Moreover, the team also held 1/1 times a month, and we did it with a shift of 2 weeks. Thus, no less than once every 2 weeks, we had contact with the employee, we could know and see what was happening with him, how far he was in the resource, in what mood.

I repeat that team leaders and Delivery Managers, no matter how experienced managers they are, are still not psychologists. And often our HRBPs were able to dig up problems and cases that managers just couldn’t get to. And these problems were eventually solved.

And our HRBPs controlled all development processes. They monitored certifications and the availability of goals for employees. Be sure to meet with employees before certifications to clarify their expectations. We met with them immediately after the certification to make sure everything was ok, and the employee was satisfied or at least agreed with the results.

Why it is good for team leaders and managers – as if they would figure it out. Why it’s good for employees – they get more attention (and who doesn’t love it) and are helped to solve problems much more effectively and more often. Why it’s good for business – HRBP relieves the manager by about 30-40% in this type of work, and the salary of HRBP is much lower than that of a team leader or Delivery Manager. Full profit from all sides.

PS

The main difficulty of the described approach is hiring. It is very difficult to find a good HRBP on the market, with an understanding of the specifics of the IT market, a psychological background and the necessary level of maturity and responsibility.

All this inspired us to develop of the new HRBP course at OTUS. And we made it, and it will start soon. See, suddenly this is exactly what you or your HRBP need.

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