6 Key Activities That Support Middle Management

By Beth Schaefer

My research from Forbes suggests, “Middle Managers have the potential to drive growth specifically because of their unique position with a company… middle management binds purpose with execution.”

In the second article in the Middle Management Series, I discussed the research supporting the importance of middle managers to an organization. Because of this role’s importance, organizations should intentionally and directly support the people in those roles rather than view them as a “layover” position.

Here are 6 Key Activities organizations can take to build up middle managers and build up their organization’s potential:

1. Listen to them

And, even better, empower them.  Daily, middle managers observe who and what is working… and who and what is not working.  Ask them to weigh in on decisions and listen to what they say.  Provide them with some latitude to make decisions or execute the organizational goals in a manner that makes sense for their team.  Provide them with training beyond the check-off-the-box meant to save the organization insurance and legal costs and instead pay for professional development that helps them lead their team.

2. Give them credit and respect

Recognize that there isn’t anything wrong with someone who loves their job and does not want to move into C-Suite.  The best leaders are sometimes followers; the best followers are sometimes leaders.  This appears to be a relatively easy concept on the surface, but one that is difficult to juggle within the power dynamic or political climate of an organization.  Middle Managers do this every day.  The best middle managers have the confidence to listen to their team members and to challenge their superiors. Knowing how and when to do both is a nuanced skill that should be respected.

3. Quit measuring success by the number of direct reports

In America, we tend to be about big and bigger: “Value price meals” with extra-large servings; Gawdy stats of individual athletic achievements over the team success; giant SUV’s to transport 1 or 2 people.  It is hard to escape that in America, more equals better, and that quality is often an afterthought. The bigger is better concept is often applied to how middle managers are rewarded.  Someone who has 55 direct reports is paid more than someone who has 34 direct reports who is paid more than someone who has 12 direct reports.  Of course, the natural reaction is, but the 55-report person is doing more work.  The question to ask is, what kind of work?  “Paperwork” and reporting could take most of the time for someone who has 55 direct reports with very little time spent on the actual managing – coaching, communicating, and collaborating. And, most would agree, it’s the “people work” that requires the greater skill.  Put in success measurements that are more than the number of boxes on an organizational chart.

4. Pay for expertise and experience – not organizational chart status

In article 1, I talked about how much I enjoy middle management.  With several years left to work, I have reached my financial peak as a middle manager.  So, unless I choose to move up the organizational chart, my salary will stay the same even as my experience and contributions to the organization grows.  The next layer of leadership shifts into strategy.  While I enjoy using value streams, capability mapping, and the SIPOC to solve problems, I do not want to do hypothetical risk cases and projections all the time.  Reward middle managers for the work they love to do and for their experience of doing it well.

5. Find ways to reward outstanding employees instead of promoting them to management

Most organizations provide one path of financial reward, and it goes through official leadership roles.  This causes people who are experts in research, or selling, or creativity, or coordinating, or engineering, or accounting, or (fill-in-the-black) to leave behind the work they love to do and become a middle manager.  Contrary to this career pathway, being an experienced expert in a specific skill does not necessarily make you good at leadership. Being a good leader is about collaboration, coaching, and communication and often has very little to do with the actual skill and expertise that is valued in the current role.   Every day, somewhere in America, an organization is promoting people into leadership roles as a “reward” when, in fact, they are setting up many of those people for failure, and, indirectly, their teams and organizations for failure too.  Do not use Middle Management as a reward for those who do not really want to be leaders.

6. Pay for Professional Development

I know; I work for an organization that sells professional development.  The reason I do this work is because l believe in its value, but you do not need to go by me – plenty of research will tell you the same thing.  Providing professional development for leaders is critical because leadership challenges are not static.   While some challenges, such as team collaboration, remain perennially relevant, new leadership issues do surface.  For instance, most workplaces now have 4 generations of workers.  Or the latest leadership challenge of when and how to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and train your team to use it effectively and ethically. Learning about leadership is not just “one and done.”

Ideally, organizations will look at how they structure and support middle management roles so that they can contribute to growing the organization.  However, judging from the number of people I have heard from since starting this series (Middle Managers Part 1), it appears that middle managers find themselves in situations with difficult choices.  The next set of articles will explore common middle managers’ dilemmas and some action suggestions that middle managers can take to navigate them.