When you need to shore up your middle managers: 5 actions to inspire happiness
We've spent the last few weeks talking about "happiness" and the little things that can promote it and detract from it. So, how do we help those in higher-level roles? I have heard many times in my career that those at higher levels get paid more, and therefore are getting paid to deal with stress better.
Hmm....yes. They do get paid more money. And yes, they should have the emotional intelligence and fortitude to handle conflict and drive through any ambiguous situation, but we sometimes neglect thinking about those who are at a high level but not the highest levels of the organization. These are the middle managers who manage teams, departments, and sometimes other managers. They are leaders but not the C-Suite. They are managers but not junior-level employees.
So, what about this layer? This layer is critical to supporting and driving culture, ensuring priorities are aligned, and providing an environment to support productivity and engagement among team members.
I have managed my fair share of organizational change initiatives from M&A to system changes to reorganizations, and the common thread between them for success is the active sponsorship and advocacy of this layer. Any major changes or strategies get made or broken with this layer.
I find that communications, strategies, and changes get communicated down to this layer, and then they get stuck. So, why do they get stuck? Because expectations are not usually set appropriately.
I once joined an organization as someone who was to lead certain projects and efforts and was told that since I was hired as a leader, I was not going to get any direction or goals from above. If I was worth my salt, I would have to figure out what to do and what aligned with the company's mission on my own. OK...I have no problem doing my assessment and proposing what we should do, but I was told explicitly that I was too high level to receive any feedback on my proposal and I should just "know" what to do.
Being brand new to an organization, brand new to this type of role compared to the rest of my career, and brand new to this industry, I was not afforded any feedback or the ability to even socialize my ideas. I did not succeed in this role and ended up leaving a few months later.
We sometimes think leaders should just "know" what to do, they may not need much support or feedback, and they don't need much attention to stay engaged. I can't stress how wrong this is. Middle managers/leaders need help too to engage, participate, lead, and find their happiness at work.
Here are five things senior leaders can do to shore up that middle layer.
Set clear expectations.
I don't care how senior you are, expectations need to be clear and set whether this is from a board, the CEO, or VP levels. Everyone needs clarity on the results they are trying to achieve and how their team fits with others to achieve those results. The higher level you are, the more control you may have over how those results get achieved, but there needs to be agreement on what. Middle managers should take responsibility for fleshing out the how in terms of strategies and tactics. But these should be in the form of proposals where they get input from above and even from the side, if relevant. Just as I wrote last week, clarity is front and center no matter what your level in the organization.
Share the direction.
The quickest route to disengagement and unhappiness is being kept in the dark, guessing what strategies and projects you and your team should be working on. I have been there and it is highly frustrating to know there is something big brewing but you have no idea what it is and what impact it will have. Indeed, some things need to be kept confidential, but there is a point where the middle layer needs to be brought into the fold to ensure work and focus are in the right places. The key is being transparent about what you share and what you can't. There is nothing more frustrating than working on something that will be completely irrelevant in 6 months because of a major strategic direction change.
Act as a sounding board.
In contrast to the manager I mentioned above, middle managers also need feedback. Feedback on approach, focus, objectives, and performance. Being in the middle can be quite lonely as you feel like you have a huge obligation to your team and those above you, but you forget about yourself. Middle managers need input, feedback, and development opportunities. We need to apply some of the same tactics we implement with individual contributors and front-line managers to middle managers.
Get out of their way.
Everyone has different values, but if I was in Vegas placing a bet, I would most wager that middle managers value some level of autonomy. So, senior leaders need to know when to be the sounding board and when to get out of their way. Second to being kept in the dark is being micromanaged at a higher level, which I have also experienced. Today, senior leaders should embrace, promote, and model transparency and autonomy. These two factors are fundamental to being happy at work.
Give them a break.
Middle managers are people too. They burn out, they get frustrated, they have personal lives, and they need breaks. I have worked for organizations where the middle managers rarely took vacations to cover for their staff who did. This is just wrong. I see middle managers and leaders burning out all over the place today...even more than front-line workers. You risk losing these key players on your team if they can't work flexibly and have breaks. When they go on vacation, this opens up an opportunity for a team member to lean in and be the interim leader for any issues. This builds your bench and allows someone else to grow and be more visible.
We can sometimes neglect this middle layer who are leaders but not the top of the house. Their role is critical to business success and they need certain levels of support tailored to them. Clarity, purpose, transparency, autonomy, and well-being are at the forefront of what they need. I hope this can be a retention strategy organizations look to define and implement this year and into the future.