What will shape the managers of the future?

Whether it’s having to manage unprecedented levels of remote working or the fact that increasing numbers of tasks are being automated, line managers are undergoing a time of sweeping change. Cath Everett looks at how the role is likely to evolve.

Even before ‘business as usual’ disappeared as organisations began to wrestle with the challenges of the coronavirus, the role of managers was in the midst of a shift.

Automation and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, will replace an eye-popping 69% of the average manager’s workload by 2024, according to predictions by Gartner.

The company predicts that many transactional activities, such as form-filling, updating information and approving workflows, will be undertaken by machines, leading to a significant shift in the managerial role.

Clearly, this shift will only speed up as a result of the current coronavirus situation, which is forcing organisations to adopt new ways of operating, including remote working, whether they like it or not.

“It’s acting as an accidental accelerator of digital change and how companies organise themselves,” says Sunnie Groeneveld, founder of digital transformation consultancy Inspire 925. “We’re being forced to answer questions that we’ve been putting off for a while – and so we’re going to need good leaders and managers more than ever.”

You can find the full version of this blog post here.