The Evolving Role of Middle Management

As I travel around the midwest and the country, I am continually amazed by the evolving role of middle management. What years ago was the sole work of senior executives is now becoming the normal work of middle management as senior managers become more and more focused on external stakeholder engagement and management.  

Whenever I consult with an organization with lack of role clarity issues at the middle management level, I always start with the four pillars of any successful organization, namely people, structure, systems and culture. Before we dive into mission, vision and core values or the development or implementation of strategy, I always ask what is a person’s role when it comes to maintaining or building clarity or alignment among the four pillars. It is a valuable exercise and always generates a higher degree of insight and perspective.

Right now, I believe more and more middle managers need to improve their ability to do the following four things very well. 

First, they need to clearly define the internal priorities and goals of the company, and be highly competent in cascading the external big picture. 

Second, effective middle managers need to focus on making the customer the center of all that they do, and at the exact same time build win-win partnerships with internal partners, other departments or divisions, and suppliers. 

Third, they must have the capacity to balance present challenges and future expectations. As we all know, the short, middle and long game are always in play. They key is setting realistic goals and then implementing flexible budgeting in order to capitalize on the right kinds of opportunities that appear in the market place. 

Fourth, effective middle managers need to continually shape the values and standards of the company, and hold people accountable to them. This will make a tremendous difference in making sure the right decisions are being made, and implemented.  

While defining roles is not easy work, it is very important work as we move through the coming months.  When we have this degree of clarity, many current problems will fall by the wayside.  And this will allow each and every employee to engage at a deeper level. 

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Today, the role of the middle manager is very important. We live in a world where a global economic crisis continues, a prolonged recession ambles along, a sluggish recovery happens each quarter, and a Congress that loves to debate a host of reforms - regulatory, heath care, financial - but not make any real decisions until the very last minute. And even then, not make all of the decisions so people can plan effectively for the future.

Nevertheless, as senior executives and leaders, we need to stay focused on the development of appropriate strategy, particularly as our companies navigate through this unprecedented and prolonged period of uncertainty. We also need to remember that it is the hard work of middle managers ,who hold the day to day operations together, that significantly impacts the brand identity and the organization’s real competitive advantage.

Right now in order to be successful, middle managers need to do four specific things very well. First, they must understand the philosophical framework of the company in order to routinely bring clarity and order to confusion and chaos among the front line employees. Second, they must be deeply immersed in the day to day, tactical operations of the company in order to solve problems better, and work on alignment related issues. Third, they must oversee multiple projects in multiple stages and maintain a vast network of people and resources in order to manage all of the projects to a successful conclusion or measurable outcome. Fourth, they must utilize a diverse set of assessment tools in order to routinely deliver improved performance at the individual and department levels. In essence, every day middle managers must lead and coach people who directly impact front line service and product delivery. 

At the exact same time, middle managers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Most of their work takes place in the space between clarity and ambiguity which does not co-exist peacefully. Many organizations and, in particular, many mid-level managers are suffering from constant change, reorganization fatigue, economic uncertainty, and strategic ambiguity. Most just want some black and white answers to basic operational and strategic questions. All they get these days is  “it depends” as an answer.

During the coming months in this blog, I will be exploring the role of the middle manager, and the key skills and knowledge they will need to have in order for all of us to be successful in 2013 and beyond. The first step in this journey is to recognize that many middle managers suffer from and have to deal with strategic and context blindness.  Strategic blindness is defined as the lack of ability or understanding to see our strategy as a whole organization. Context blindness takes place when we can see the whole organization but we can not see the environmental context within which the whole organization is working and moving through. In the beginning, when helping middle managers improve, assess which kind of blindness is taking place and then help them to eliminate it through improved coaching, education and dialogue. This will make a world of difference in their capacity to solve problems.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Improving Middle Management Effectiveness - Part #1

John C. Maxwell in his wonderful book, Winning With People: Discover The People Principles That Work For You Every Time, Nelson Books, 2004, wrote about “The Hammer Principle,” namely “Never use a hammer to swat a fly off someone's head.” Too many times this past summer and fall, I have witnessed this take place between a senior executive and a mid-level manager. It always ends up being a loss for all involved.

Today, the role of the middle manager is very important. We need excellent people to fulfill these roles and they need to have the capacity to do four specific things very well. First, they need to understand the conceptual framework of the company in order to routinely bring clarity and order to confusion and chaos. Second, they need to be deeply immersed in the day to day, tactical operations of the company in order to solve problems better, and work on alignment related issues. Third, they need to oversee multiple projects in multiple stages and maintain a vast network of people and resources in order to manage all of the projects to a successful conclusion or result. Fourth, they need to utilize a diverse set of assessment tools in order to routinely deliver improved performance at the individual and department levels. Today, more and more managers are coaching people who directly impact front line service and product delivery. Their action or inaction is directly impacting the bottom line of the company.

In order to improve their effectiveness, the first thing we need to do as leaders is to teach them to practice the art of active listening. While this seems such a simple concept, I have come to realize that many young mid-level managers were never taught this skill.

Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what (s)he hears. Active listening is a structured way of listening and responding to others, focusing attention on the speaker. Suspending one's own frame of reference and suspending judgment along with avoiding other internal or external mental activities are important. The ability to listen actively can improve personal relationships through reducing conflicts, strengthening cooperation, and fostering understanding.

There are three primary elements that comprise active listening, namely comprehending, retaining, and responding. In comprehending, the listener seeks shared meaning through an understanding of the context of what is being shared, and focuses on reducing distractions to improve retention. In the retaining part, the listener seeks out and pays attention to key information for retention purposes. Finally, in the responding part of active listening, the listener looks for verbal and non-verbal messages and adjust their communication style to meet the needs of the people involved.

The typical ways to do active listening involve repeating, paraphrasing and reflecting. For example, the listener might repeat the message using exactly the same words as the speaker. With paraphrasing, the listener might simplify the message using similar words and similar phrase arrangements to the ones used by the speaker. Finally during the reflection phase, they might restate the message using their own words and sentence structure.

While I recognize that active listening might seem extremely simplistic, spend time this week in meetings with mid-level managers and analyze how many of them actually do active listening. It will surprise you when you discover it is not a common practice these days.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

The Future of Middle Managers & Two Recommended Readings

For years, I have read that the end of middle management is near.

I have seen organizations lay them off and I have seen organization hire them all back. I have listened to senior leaders explain that middle managers are no longer needed. The future is flat, lean, and flexible.

At the exact same time, I have listened to different senior executives explain to me that middle managers are mission critical to their company’s success. They provide crucial leadership and help the company’s strategy get translated into day to day realities. They consider middle management vital to generating short term wins.

One would think that in the midst of all these different voices and actions, there must be a clear answer when it comes to the subject of middle managers.

Recently, Lynda Gatton, professor of management practice at the London Business School, wrote a very interesting short article called “The End of the Middle Manager” in the January-February 2011 issue of the Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/2011/01/column-the-end-of-the-middle-manager/ar/1.

She argues that the “classic job of the middle manager will soon disappear.” As she explains, “Now technology itself has become the great general manager. It can monitor performance closely, provide instant feedback, even create reports. That leaves people with general management skills in a very vulnerable position.” As her research makes clear, “Gen Y workers see no value in reporting to someone who simply keeps track of what they do, when much of that can be done by themselves, their peers, or a machine.” Thus, she advocates that middle managers acquire and build “knowledge or competencies that are valuable and rare” in order to not become invisible. By developing new areas of proficiency and thinking through one’s career, there is less chance of them not becoming obsolete.

From my perspective, her point that middle managers could become invisible or obsolete is valid due to the rise of technology and the skill set that Gen Y workers bring to the workplace. But, in the successful companies that I have observed, the notion of acquiring new knowledge and competencies plus thinking through one’s career is already hardwired into the strategy and the culture. In these organizations, the role of the middle manager is less about monitoring individual performance and providing instant feedback as much as becoming a better leader for operational success. These kinds of middle managers focus on clarifying expectations, achieving short-term results, defining priorities, improving process discipline, and maximizing efficiencies. To do this level of work, they often have to clarify and communication strategic direction, resolve problems, proactively coach, build and maintain teams, and empower people to continue performance improvements. The traditional or classical definition of middle management is long gone in these organizations. Instead, this new breed of middle managers run their area of responsibility like they are CEOs of mini companies.

While the debate over the role of middle management will continue, I think it is important for those in executive positions to continue to clarify and define this position in their organization. If they are wanting it to evolve and continue to be a valuable role, then they need to provide middle management with the time and space to learn and grow in their positions. This may require senior executives to spend more time teaching and coaching which would be a worthwhile investment.

On a different subject, for those of you who are interested in the emerging research into change management and what could be published during the coming years, I would encourage you to check out Robert Sutton’s blog entry called “Scaling Good Behavior” at the Harvard Business Review website: http://hbr.org/web/extras/hbr-agenda-2011/robert-i-sutton. I am curious to read the book he will be writing in 2011 about how to scale up constructive behaviors.

While you are there at the Harvard Business Review website, check out the recent blog entry by Rosabeth Moss Kanter called “Five Lessons from 2010 Worth Repeating - Without Repeating 2010”: http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2011/01/five-lessons-from-2010-worth-r.html. Posted yesterday morning, it is filled with exceptionally good insights that could be the foundation for an upcoming senior team meeting or a strategic review.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257