Management Excellence by Art Petty

Ever since terms like reengineering, right sizing and downsizing became part of the corporate lexicon; midlevel managers have been taking it on the chin.  This once populous class has been synergized and right-sized almost to extinction.  Those that remain often struggle with spans of control as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge and limited authority that is constantly challenged from above and below.  I find it just a bit ironic (and appropriate) that this much-abused class of leader may just hold the key to surviving and prospering in tough times.

In a great article in the July 7. 2008 Wall Street Journal, entitled: In Search of Growth Leaders, authors Carr, Liedtka, Rosen and Wiltbank offer the results of their multi-year study of the role that midlevel managers play in fueling organic growth.  Their conclusion: “most companies have managers who can turbo charge results.  The trick is finding—and nurturing—them.  Read the article for some great insights on finding and developing these critical midlevel leaders. (And read my post: Management By Jane: Leading Effectively from the Middle for some additional thoughts.)

The Power of Great Managers in the Middle:

• Appropriately trained and armed, midlevel managers are directly focusing on strategy execution—they lead the teams that do the work that drives performance. If your organization is failing to execute on strategic objectives, look to the middle, not to place blame, but to identify what you can do better to help your managers succeed.

• As the article authors highlight, a tremendous amount of innovation comes from the middle.  In my own experience, the managers that fuel innovation are the ones that are relentless about creating the right conditions for their associates to succeed.   Breaking down barriers and taking the heat for bending the rules are common and comfortable tasks of the innovative midlevel manager.

• The most important talent scouts and developers are often found in the middle of organizations.  The savvy manager recognizes the import of identifying and developing emerging leaders, competent role players and potentially brilliant individual contributors. While top management might want the organization to become good at this talent scouting and development, like strategy execution, the majority of the heavy lifting takes place in the middle.

Five Ideas to Strengthen Your Support and Success In the Middle:

1. Change your perspective on the midlevel management layer.  Instead of looking
at the organization chart and seeing cost to be minimized or taken out, look at this group as resources to enable strategy execution, fuel innovation and scout and develop talent.  Quit broadening spans of control to the point of ridiculousness, and begin setting goals around strategy, innovation and development, and suddenly the cost perspective starts melting away.

2. Involve midlevel managers in strategy formulation...not just in rubber-stamping the strategy formulated by executives.  Remember, the people in the middle likely understand your customers and your organization’s capabilities at a much more detailed level than those of you with V’s or C’s in your title.

3. Create systems to help midlevel managers experiment with and implement new ideas.  Provide key managers and manager groups with executive sponsors charged with cutting through corporate clutter to help get things done.

4. Reward successes, provide visibility and learn from misfires.  Easy words to write and speak, but realizing this environment takes discipline. 

5. Recognize the fact that new classes of virtual leaders…Project Managers and Product Managers have emerged over the past two decades to replace the former middle level.  These critical positions often carry tremendous responsibility burdens with little real authority across functional boundaries.  If these positions exist in your organizations, strive to create the sponsors, systems and infrastructure to allow them to perform.

6. As an executive, get over yourself.  No one said that you are required to have all of the answers.  It’s a sign of strength, not weakness if you are emotionally secure and intelligent enough to recognize that your strength comes from your ability to get the best from willing contributors. Take the time to invest in reinventing your leadership style.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

The article referenced above is must reading for every executive looking to solve the challenges of how to fuel organic growth.  Innovation doesn’t occur on command, and while good accidents happen (e.g. think 3M and Post-Its), hope as we all know is a lousy strategy. 

I teach, train and support midlevel managers in all forms of organizations and by and large, I find them generally miserable about their tasks and their ability to positively impact their organization.  The majority of their frustration stems from working for leaders that succeed in stifling the conditions required for innovation and execution to flourish.  The opportunity is in the middle…not the problem.  For the source of the problem, take a long, hard look in the mirror.