Wharton management professor Ethan Mollick has a message for companies: “Pay closer attention to your middle managers. They may have a greater impact on company performance than almost any other part of the organization.”
Today’s middle managers are sandwiched between senior leadership and the front lines. They are expected to produce more with less, build high performance teams, be creative and innovative, and achieve constantly changing “stretch objectives”. In addition, technology keeps the middle manager connected to his/her job on a 24/7 basis. Quite often middle managers have many duties but little authority, people to please both above and below, and days when their time is filled with meetings or consumed with putting out fires and managing unexpected crises. They are often viewed as paper pushers and symbols of bureaucracy. Are the 10.8 million people in middle management a vanishing breed, unsung heroes or are they the glue that keeps a company running?
Management experts say they are an essential layer of a company, turning top-line strategy into action, day by unglamorous day. Organizations want middle managers to wield soft power and spend more time working across departments, according to management experts. Recently I had lunch with John, a middle manager at a technology client company. John confessed he is tired of the turf wars, the power struggles between senior management, and the expectation that he get the job done without actual authority. He feels he manages without much autonomy and opportunities for getting ahead are limited. John is feeling the high level of stress that many of his other middle manager colleagues are.
As companies flatten their organizations, the role of middle management has become more important. Now these managers take on roles once relegated to more senior leadership. They make more critical business decisions, lead mega projects and are expected to develop talent in their groups. Organizations need to take steps to enhance the leadership skills and relieve the abnormal stress associated with these roles. Not all of the attention and training should be devoted to the most senior executives or high potentials. Companies need to develop programs to accomplish the following:
- Develop a leadership mindset and enhance the leadership capabilities of this critical resource group.
- Improve communication skills and processes since often middle managers communicate and interpret the vision, strategy, and direction of where the company is headed and their departments’ role in accomplishing overall goals.
- Focus on developing change management skills so middle managers provide effective leadership and guidance to employees through the myriad of changes occurring in any company today.
Middle managers are often the unsung heroes in the turmoil engulfing today’s organizations. Recruiting the right talent to fill these positions, investing in the right training and learning experiences so middle managers are effective leaders, and recognizing this group’s contributions are important.
