Accidental line managers. Discuss...

Thank you Steve for directing me here.

So I think there are a 2 points here;

• Accidental Line Managers

There are only 2 fair ways to go up the ladder in my opinion, job enlargement and job enrichment. If an employee ends up becoming a line manager, without going through these 2 ways, in my experience that line manager is almost always an accidental line manager who doesn't the necessary KSA to be effective. There is a lack of effective and simple career frameworks in most organizations, which further adds to this. Additionally, in my opinion there needs to be a balance between simplicity and complexity, change is not always good, I think many people just want to add unnecessary value to work that doesn't require further value, in the words of Alanis Morrisette, it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.     

• The opinion that HR is not a substitute line manager or shouldn't be.  

I agree, but sometimes HR needs to take the role on, and needs to teach the line manager how to fish, and for some this could be sowing them how to fish first, while others may just need to be given some guidelines. HR must know the business inside out, including the bottom line figures if HR wants to be as effective as possible. Big and successful organizations like P&G, Unilever and Google, have HR Business Partners for a reason and there is a reason why they have little to no accidental line managers. 

Just my thoughts  

HR needs to take the role on, and needs to teach the line manager how to fish

HR needs to take the role on, and needs to teach the line manager how to fish