A few months ago I wrote a post on the power of middle management. Too often we disparage the middle, but in fact they are incredibly powerful assets to most organizations, doing far more than ‘pushing paper’. They are the glue in many companies – the conduits through which tremendous work gets done. When underleveraged they become sluggish and disfunctional for sure, but done right, a strong middle management can make a company great. Unfortunately, too often we make middle management out to be a mill or mindless work, or a sandtrap from which there is no escape. We lean on middle managers to do a mix of critical thinking and rote tasks that can create a crushing sense of overload without corresponding value.
In addition, these days we seem to have such a hang up on wanting to be ‘leaders’ instead of ‘managers’, as if there were a way to be one and not the other in 90% of roles in businesses today. This language creates an automatic pecking order – leaders are somehow better than ‘just a manager’, and people who don’t manage to rise out of middle management over time are treated as underperformers, or ‘left behind’.
I suggest we let go of the baggage associated with “management” and remember the purpose and what is accomplished when strong management is an available resource. When you design for VUCA, the middle becomes even more important because it provides a space for stability in a variable world. Giving people opportunities to move around and grow within ‘the middle’ as well as moving up is critically important. Additionally, figuring out what motivates people at this level is tough to do in an aggregate way, in part because people’s motivations change as their lives change. If you want to unlock the power of the middle, you are going to have to get personal. Talking to individuals and figuring out growth plans that are right for them takes time, but it helps tremendously in terms of motivation and engagement.
Today the topic made the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Check it out if you are interested in reading more about what’s going on in middle management.
