Consulting and service companies, now called ESN (Entreprise de Services du Numérique) have long had a reputation for promoting a management style based on stress and pressure. These companies are different from others in terms of their sector of activity and their operation. Being a manager in an ESN is therefore not a job like any other. More than ever, you have to be able to listen to your employees, while having project management skills. Human qualities, benevolence and interpersonal skills will make the difference for a manager who is respected and followed by his teams.
Managing in an ESN means helping your employees grow
Being a manager in an ESN is more than just being a business manager or project manager.
Project constraints, customer relations and deadlines are all sources of tension for ESN employees. Perhaps as a manager, you’ll be facing deadlines, working under pressure with tight deadlines to get projects moving. How will you translate this pressure to your employees? Are you going to pass it on directly to them?
Increasing the stress and pressure on your teams in order to improve their performance is one of the work methods that ultimately proves to be counterproductive. Pressure can be a driving force, but when it becomes too great, it can lead to demotivation or even resignation.
The difficult mission of the manager in an ESN will therefore be to find the right balance point so that the pressure felt brings the best possible performance. To achieve this, you need to know your team members well, and be ready to listen to them.
There are a number of tools available to keep track of your employees, including regular interviews. These regular meetings are an opportunity to take stock of the employee’s professional life, expectations and difficulties… It’s a time to define the best way to reach the objectives set, the means to be used to achieve them, but also to find solutions to the problems encountered.
A good way to motivate an employee is to offer new challenges, new projects, regular training, more ambitious objectives or new responsibilities. These training courses can cover technical, human or behavioral skills (“soft skills”). Employees who are likely to be interested or simply need training must be identified by their managers so that a support plan can be put in place. A skills management and training plan must be set up with each employee.
It is important to maintain a strong link with employees, especially in ESNs where employees are often required to work full time at the client’s site. The employee can quickly feel abandoned by the company that employs him/her, having to face the customer alone, without support. The manager must therefore maintain regular contact with his employees on customer assignments. Ideally, a weekly meeting should be held. A physical meeting is always preferable, but not always feasible. When it is not possible to travel, a telephone meeting (or video conference) may be sufficient. The meeting does not have to last very long. Often, 15 to 30 minutes is enough to keep in touch.
First and foremost, it’s an opportunity for the manager to take stock of how the assignment is progressing, any difficulties encountered and solutions to be found, the objectives set, etc. The manager must listen carefully to the employee on assignment, and provide him or her with information on company life, any opportunities that may arise, and the progress of other projects. The objective is to maintain a strong link between the employee and the company, through exchanges with the manager.
Keeping your team busy
The functioning of an ESN is particular in that its employees can work either on projects for clients or directly with clients. These are generally the only two cases where they are billed and therefore make money directly for the company. When an employee is not assigned to a project or client, he or she is not billed, and therefore, his or her salary is not covered by an income stream. If too many employees are in this situation, the company’s financial health can quickly deteriorate.
One of the objectives of the ESN manager is therefore to limit the number of inter-contracts, so that as many employees as possible are positioned on a project that will generate a financial margin. It is therefore important to work closely with the sales teams. Sales people have information about upcoming projects while managers have a good understanding of the skills of their teams, allowing them to better respond to customer requests. The Manager, by being aware of the different opportunities on which the sales teams are working, can propose, anticipate and position their employees. He or she must also ensure that the assignment proposed to the employee corresponds to his or her skills and career aspirations.
It is also important for a manager to communicate transparently with his teams. Involving employees in thinking about the direction of the team, informing them of the various issues, sharing current business, projects and opportunities are all ways ofinvolving the whole team in the life of the company. The Manager will also make sure to keep his collaborator busy during an inter-contract and take advantage of the opportunity to offer him training, the piloting of an internal project, the accompaniment of a trainee…
Managing with kindness
Managing with kindness is not just a buzzword. A manager must be empathetic if he or she wants to understand and engage in a transparent dialogue with his or her employees. If an employee is just a line in a spreadsheet, if he or she is just a cost, an invoice amount and a margin, it will be impossible to establish a relationship of trust with him or her.
It’s important for the manager to be authentic and to remain himself. If he plays a role, if he is not sincere, he will never obtain the respect of his teams nor the recognition of his function. The manager manages human beings, and must put recognition, trust and respect at the center of his concerns. Only then will he be able to create good working conditions for his employees, who will then enjoy working together and within the company.
Benevolence is something we live by every day, and it makes all the difference within a company.
The manager must maintain this benevolence in his dealings with customers. He may be called upon by his teams to manage conflictual or tense situations that his consultants are unable to resolve. As a moderating manager, his experience and know-how should enable him to find solutions to move projects forward and support his team.
It is also the role of the Manager to enforce and respect the company’s operating rules. His challenge will be to reconcile the rules of the customers with whom his consultant will be placed and the rules of the ESN which employs him (taking time off, teleworking, etc.).
Retaining consultants
The competition is raging between ESNs and employees are more and more demanding about their working conditions and their professional fulfillment. Young graduates are not prepared to accept just any conditions for work, and more experienced profiles no longer hesitate to change employer if they are not satisfied.
Controlling staff turnover is a major challenge for ESN managers. Too much and too frequent employee turnover can destabilize teams and greatly reduce their productivity.
Recruiting and training someone takes time and money. It also takes time to develop skills and to integrate into a team. If a person trains for a few months and then resigns soon after because he or she is not satisfied with the working conditions, it is a dead loss for the company. Frequent arrivals and departures lead to team disorganization and demotivation.
How do you build consultant loyalty?
Compensation is a factor of course, but it is not the most important one. The interest of the missions offered, the working conditions (environment, equipment), the pleasure of working as part of a team, the possibility of advancement through training and skills development, autonomy and empowerment and, of course, managerial support are by far the factors with the greatest impact on employee loyalty.
The closer a team is, the less likely its members will think about going elsewhere if they can find better conditions. It is the manager’s responsibility to create the conditions to create a link between the team members. To ensure that there is a good working atmosphere. Offering activities outside of the work environment (organizing sports or cultural events, exchange moments) allows employees to get to know each other better, and ultimately, to work better together.
Join a great place to work
At SQORUS, we pay particular attention to the proximity between managers and employees. Our managers support our consultants in the development of their professional skills.
