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Interviewer: Are middle managers still important levers in high-performance companies?
Eric S: Middle managers constitute the critical link between what's happening on the front lines - with customers and other stakeholders - and the direction set by senior management. Middle managers induce "pull" deep within the organization by creating clarity, capability, and commitment.
Interviewer: As corporations restructure and position for growth, haven't they downsized middle management?
Eric S: Yes, there are fewer middle managers, and their workload keeps growing. Their companies need them to focus on all the drivers of productivity, and go beyond the role of task executor to leadership for results - with all the capacities that that involves.
The reality of fewer workers and more work means that middle managers are expected to build high-performance teams to maximize contribution while keeping close watch on costs as well as customers and employee clarity, motivation and morale.
Interviewer: What capabilities are central to the new performance leadership role of the middle manager?
Eric S: Now, middle managers are expected to "connect the dots" in linking strategy to the work that needs to be done. By communicating the "why" behind the "what" of assignments, middle managers strengthen team clarity and commitment and ensure that the projects they lead are aligned with strategic outcomes.
Relationship tools -facilitation and take charge of change- are important to performance leadership as middle managers assume accountability for a more significant role.
In managing "up," middle managers need to effectively pull out the management group hows and whys embedded in the strategies and give feedback to management.
In managing "down" they need to lead their team members in ways that help each employee's aspirations connect with goals, and invigorate each one to contribute his or her best.
Interviewer: How would you summarize the performance leadership role of middle managers?
Eric S: Transforming organizational performance requires transforming the individuals within it. Changes in today's unforgiving market environment can't take three years. In addition to their people, middle managers need financial, production and operational levers to deploy change management. Middle managers are the critical link between what an organization wants to do and actually getting it done. If alignment means everyone clearly understanding strategic direction and mapping their individual hopes and dreams around it, then middle managers are the ones to make it happen.
Supported with resources to be leaders, middle managers are in a position to see the business or institution clearly and harness the power, idea capability and contributions of all employees.
So if you've got an elegant strategic play in mind or a big reorganization, or are sustaining profitability, count yourself lucky if your middle managers are trained performance leaders. Because these middle managers will mobilize the organization to out-think and out-execute the competition.
Interviewer: How does management help middle management?
Eric S: We work with management and middle managers to transform their businesses into well-designed and accountable organizations where people have clarity, capability and commitment for results - align accelerate transformation . In many cases, we're brought in to help teams manage through major events, such as mergers, changes in strategy, renewal and reorganizations. In other cases, we're engaged by senior leadership frustrated by middle management's weak accountability and persistent politics and turf wars. Our consulting includes a tool box of tools and competencies that help middle managers do their difficult jobs better.