---
id: "action-treat-as-apprenticeship"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Hiring and Developing Agent Managers"]
tags: ["training", "development"]
related: ["concept-test-deploy-learn-cycles", "question-training-pathways"]
action: "Train agent managers through hands-on apprenticeship in live operations and failure reviews."
outcome: "Builds practical operational literacy and change resilience faster than formal technical credentialing."
speakers: ["Suraj Srinivasan", "Vivienne Wei"]
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-sig-58-agent-managers"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/02/to-thrive-in-the-ai-era-companies-need-agent-managers"
sourceTitle: "To Thrive in the AI Era, Companies Need Agent Managers"
---
# Treat Agent Management as an Apprenticeship

## Action — Treat Agent Management as an Apprenticeship

**Do:** Develop new agent managers by immersing them in **live operations, failure reviews, and iterative [[concept-test-deploy-learn-cycles]]** — rather than relying solely on classroom training or AI credentials. **Clarify decision rights and escalation paths early** in the apprenticeship.

**Expected outcome:** Practical operational literacy and change resilience, built faster than formal technical credentialing.

**Grounded in:** the iterative cadence of [[concept-test-deploy-learn-cycles]].

**Open tension:** the apprenticeship model is currently the *default* precisely because standardized curricula don't yet exist — see [[question-training-pathways]].


## Related across articles
- [[action-protect-practice-ground]]
- [[action-train-employees-to-build]]