Yes we require /demand more of middle managers in today’s agile business environment more than basic management skills, more than simply passing on senior managers messages, more than hitting performance targets or achieving budget cuts. But some middle managers don’t want to be more and some haven’t the ability to be more. We can’t simply get rid of all this experience and knowledge, and trust we can find managers who embrace the new middle management leadership role. Yes develop those who have the potential and desire but be realistic an agile organisation needs to also know how and when to bypass middle management to get their message direct to the front line and drive the changes.
It has become accepted wisdom to acknowledge how important it is to engage with middle managers if an organisation wants to drive lasting change. Too often in the past it is argued middle managers are not consulted but simply given top down directives about what to do and say to their staff. Experience confirms such briefing sessions are not effective in getting middle management buy in so they are unlikely to do a convincing job of selling ideas and changes to their staff. Typically the suggested solution is to better engage with middle manager, listen to their views , provide safe forums for them to express their doubts, concerns and anxiety about the messages. Yes this is good practice but once you have heard the comments of some of these middle managers , the underlying cynicism, their weariness in face of yet another change initiative, can you be confident they will do a good selling job to staff conveying the enthusiasm and conviction that you know it will take to make these changes work?
I have had lead roles in driving reorganisations in a number of organisations and in my experience there is a greater likely hood of success if you bypass middle managers and talk directly to their staff. In my experience they are less cynical than many of their managers and far more impressed that a senior manager has come to explain the plans and the thinking behind them to them face to face. I would have their middle manager(s)sitting next to me for these road shows. So as they know what I am saying to their staff, so they don’t feel excluded and so symbolically we the managers are seen as speaking with one voice. These road shows need to be participative so I would divide people into groups to come up with 3 things that their team does well, 3 suggestions for how to make the changes work and their top 3 concerns.
This model worked very well for reorganisations and culture change initiative but really came into its own in a major Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiative. When it comes to EDI managers often lack confidence in managing diverse teams, they are sometimes as confused as those they manage about the correct terminology, unable to differentiate between a personality clash and something rooted in racism or homophobia and hesitant in their management style for fear of being accused of bullying or racism. The risk is such individuals simply pass on the targets set by senior management, the changes in recruitment practices, like balanced interview panels, and the message that if you say the wrong thing you risk getting the sack. In other words a bureaucratic response which doesn’t further understanding, challenge stereotypes, convey real commitment or promote some soul searching debate.
Middle managers are very important in driving change in an organisation but being over reliant on them to get complex and nuanced messages across to front line staff can result in messages being reduced to a few bullet points with little explanation about the thinking behind them or ownership of them. Sometimes you need a bypass.
