Jeremy Erard

Learner...Thinker...Doer
Co Founder @ Expectancy Learning & Partner @ SDI Consulting

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

Source: https://t.co/MW1zmGm3XK

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

The work disappearing first is the work where most of us learned to lead.

Northeastern University's AI & Society Survey asked 8,174 people who have a say in hiring how AI is changing their decisions. Roughly half said AI made a difference. Among them, 26% mentioned they were hiring fewer entry-level candidates, while only 7% said they were hiring more.

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

What's one thing you learned in your first job that nobody formally taught you?

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

The usual answer is more manager training. I've spent two decades designing training, and I've come to think the better first move is to hand one task to whoever's job it actually is, not add a course.

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

Every new initiative hands managers one more task. And we still call them our most important lever.

If you could take one task off every manager's plate tomorrow, which would it be?

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

HR Dive's recap of the Gartner HR Symposium put it plainly: "Close to 8 in 10 CHROs surveyed by Gartner said their managers were overwhelmed by the scope of their responsibilities."

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

Korn Ferry says managers will become "the shock absorbers of the organization." It's meant as a compliment. I read it as a warning.

A shock absorber is the part that takes the hit so everything above it rides smooth. It's also the part that wears out.

From Korn Ferry's Talent Trends 2027 survey as reported by Fortune: just 6% of talent and senior leaders believe their organizations' top executives are fully prepared to lead AI-driven transformation. And 66% expect managers to spend more time helping their teams through change than overseeing day-to-day work.

So the change lands on the manager. Often for mandates they had no say in and little context.

This isn't only an AI story. A reorg. A new scheduling app. An overtime rule the supervisor gets asked about at the 6 AM huddle before the memo is even out. At a fifty person company there is no change team. The supervisor is the whole rollout plan.

After two decades designing training, I've come to think trust survives hard news when the manager can explain the decision in their own words. Most managers are never prepared for that moment.

Before you ask a manager to absorb a change, give them three things:
The why, before their team hears it.
What's still unknown, said plainly, so they don't have to bluff.
One rehearsal of the hardest question their team will ask.

If managers are the shock absorbers, equipping them isn't a courtesy. It's the job of everyone above them.

Managers and supervisors: when you had to deliver a change you didn't choose, what's the one thing you wish you'd been told first?

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

The 1-on-1 is usually the first meeting a manager cancels and the last one anyone notices is gone.

Nobody announces it. One week it moves for an urgent request. The next week a shift runs short and it shrinks to a status check. A few weeks later it has quietly become optional.

The cost shows up later. Problems that would have taken five minutes in a 1-on-1 arrive as big ones. People stop bringing the half-formed concern and start bringing the finished complaint, or the resignation.

In my experience, the 1-on-1s that survive a busy month have a few things in common:

They are short enough to protect. Fifteen minutes that happens beats an hour that doesn't.
The employee owns the agenda, so it can't turn into a status update.
A cancelled one gets moved, not skipped, and the new time is set the same day.
It doesn't need a conference room. A quiet corner works.

This holds at every level, from a first-time supervisor to an owner with five direct reports.

If you want to know how a manager is really doing, don't ask whether they believe in 1-on-1s. Look at how many happened last month.

#Leadership #Management

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

California's SB 947 takes effect July 1, 2027. If an employer relies mainly on an automated system to discipline or fire, a human has to corroborate. Supervisor evaluations top the list.

My read: many who'll write them are on your floor today. Teach them before the title.

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

Strong individual contributors get promoted for work they already do well, then rarely get practice at the manager part. Having someone watch real conversations and give feedback in the first few months is what usually closes that gap. What's one thing you'd want a new leader to do in their first 30 days?

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

Taking over a team while you're still learning the job is a different job, even if your desk doesn't change. Ask your boss which decisions are yours from day one and which still need a check-in, so the team isn't guessing either. Then pick one thing to fix before you change anything else.

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

Fair point that a slow or unclear process is hard on candidates. A gut call after five minutes is useful, but it's also hard to tell instinct from bias. Asking every candidate the same questions and scoring them on a short scorecard before the debrief keeps the instinct and makes it easier to defend.

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

@elmelegey @ChesapeakeHRA The small tasks are what quietly eat a solo HR person's week, since each one looks quick until you add them all up. Try listing everything you handled last week and marking what only you can own. The rest is a good candidate to hand to a manager with a one-page checklist.

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

@vinitkumar Knowing the answer and giving it are different skills. The pause gets easier when a new manager practices it in a real meeting and talks through it afterward. What's one time holding back helped you, and what would you try differently next time?

[Jeremy Erard @JeremyErard]

Solo HR at a 200-person company isn't failing at development. They're out of hours. Fix isn't another login for them to run. It's making each supervisor's own manager own one observation a month.