Supporting the person vs supporting their work

How many direct reports can one manager have?

I previously asked this question and said that the answer was probably not much more than five or six.

My good friend Steve Alexander prompted me to think about it whether that upper limit might change if the manager role was unbundled. That is, if it can be divided up and split out into separate functions without damaging it.

Good relationships are the foundation of high performance, and the way to invite better relationships into your organisation is through your line management structure. If line managers have good relationships with their reports, where there is mutual understanding and respect, then a culture of continuous improvement (with its constant balance of challenge and support) becomes sustainable.

So a well-functioning line manager role needs to be left with plenty of opportunities for meaningful relationship-building interactions.

The most logical place to split things up as I see it is between two functions that I call "enabling" and "mentoring"¹.

"Enabling" is abut supporting someone as a person.

It's about helping people be as fully engaged with their work as they want to be so that they can fulfil their need to experience success. It's about helping people grow - in their role, in the organisation, in their career, in their life even (if they want to open it out that far).

"Enabling" also involves active tending of the relationship, like a gardener. Are there any weeds that need to be erdicated, are there gentle shoots that need to be protected? 'Weeds' here are problems that the organisation is causing you. 'Green shoots' are emerging possibilities for growth and learning, new challenges that are there to be taken on.

"Mentoring" is supporting someone with their work.

It's the "teaching problem solving" piece of high performance. That is, it's about helping someone become able to solve more problems for customers, on their own, in the future - using problems they're stuck with now as a way in to that. We all get to points in our work when we're stuck. We don't know how to move forward and we need some outside support. That outside help generally comes in two forms. One form is you talk the problem through, and get helped by someone who asks you good questions. The helping here is "coaching" and is about helping the person who is stuck get clear on their problem and a way forward. The second form of role-based support is best exemplified by pair working. It's about sitting side by side with someone and working through a problem together.

Some or all of this "mentoring" piece can be 'unbundled' from the line manager role and handled peer-to-peer. You turn to your team mates to help you get unstuck, and to sit with you and solve problems in a way that transfers skills from the more experienced to the more junior.

If you do that, the number of direct reports a line manager has can go up. But there is still an upper limit - dictated by the need to be in touch with people, and their work.

1. I’m always open to feedback on these names. I haven’t yet found two words that don’t annoy at least some people. But feel free to get in touch with comments or suggestions.