Employers are not investing enough in middle managers and their development, despite this group being crucial for the long-term success of organisations. This is according to a global survey carried out on 1,000 businesses by Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), a business management resource for managers, educators and corporations.
The research findings showed that almost half (46.2 per cent) of businesses admit to poor investment in their next generation of leaders. In fact, 81.6 per cent of respondents expressed increasing concerns that their leadership pipeline would suffer without further investment targeting the middle management layer. Since the beginning of the economic downturn, leadership investment for this group has declined by a staggering 20 per cent, revealing a significant disparity between the value companies place on middle managers and the investment they are willing to make. In response to these findings, Ray Carvey, Executive Vice President, Corporate Learning and International Ray Carvey said: “The link between a strong leadership pipeline and long-term market leadership is critical for any European organisation. Unfortunately, their commitment to development has not [been] carried through to mid-managers. Europe is facing a challenging economic time, and it is vital that firms ensure the leadership development of mid-managers, as they are critical for the future.
“The frozen middle has not just been under-served, it has been ignored. With the economic situation meaning organisations are de-layering, and doing more for less, it has been less a case of managing the performance of middle managers than about whether they are just managing to do their jobs. The problem is that if middle managers are not being developed, it creates a bubble of risk inside an organisation. There can be a lack of oversight as well as meaning the talent pipeline is being cut off,” Carvey maintained.
Finally, the majority of respondents strongly believe that their investment in leadership development should increase over the next one to three years for mid-level managers, which indicates a clear awareness that they may have neglected this sector for far too long, and now recognise its importance for the future. Justin Dunn, Head of Organisational Development, BG Group, remarked: “The ‘frozen middle’ is often a missed opportunity for companies. Managers who sit between the operation and the senior leadership team feel increasingly isolated. They have so much to give but are frequently ignored. The ‘frozen middle’ however, is the backbone of any organisation and companies need to listen to their needs to help give them the tools and techniques to help drive the company forward.’’
In her article entitled: Flattened: we ask too much of middle managers Tacy M. Byham, Vice President of Executive Development for Development Dimensions International’s (DDI) Executive Solutions group explained that when middle managers become disengaged, there is a higher risk of them turning over. She quoted a study carried out in 2010 by DDI and the Human Capital Institute that revealed that 41 per cent of HR leaders indicated that the engagement level of their organisation’s mid-level leaders had “dropped noticeably” over the previous 18 months, against just 14 per cent who said that mid-level leader engagement levels had increased either noticeably or substantially. What is more, the research, which surveyed 2,001 mid-level leaders, shows that 54 per cent said they would rather take a demotion to a non-leadership role for the same amount of money. What is more, a significant portion of mid-level leaders said clearly that they have had enough. Indeed, 16 per cent of them said they are ready to take a demotion to a non-leadership role, even if it meant taking a cut in pay.
In response to this scenario, Byham explained some of the steps that organisations must take in order to provide their middle management with the support, resources and development they need to deliver the business strategy during these difficult times. These are:
Differentiate between high
potential and high performers – and invest in both
High-potential leaders, of course, represent the organisation’s strategic future. But a far larger and arguably more important population is those mid-level leaders who can be classified as “high performers”. These are the middle managers on whom the organisation counts to excel in their roles indefinitely, not as a means to preparing them to step up to the next level. While high-performing middle managers typically will not be good candidates for the limited number of special development opportunities that must be reserved for those with high potential, they do warrant a holistic development approach to make them optimally effective. This differentiation also needs to extend to assessment. While high potentials may require the deep assessment that can be provided only by a day-in-the-life assessment centre, high performers will also need to be assessed to determine their strengths and development needs, but not in as much depth. Multirater (360-degree) tools are a good solution, as they can be administered to a large population of leaders for a relatively modest cost. Regardless of how the data is gathered, what matters is that the company is assessing middle managers to provide the data and insights needed to guide development planning for the individual as well as the mid-level leader population.
Take a business/role/self approach to development
While mid-level leaders, like frontline leaders, must develop strong leadership skills, their development should be grounded in a business/role/self approach that emphasises both personal growth and business contribution. Such an approach takes into account the need for a comprehensive understanding of the business, total clarity about the leader’s role within the organisation and the contribution he or she needs to make to support the organisation’s strategic priorities, and a realistic understanding of oneself in terms of relevant experiences, capabilities, and personality factors.
Essentially, this means that while a comprehensive competency-based leadership development curriculum is a great start, it will not be enough to address the entire business/role/self dynamic. Especially important is emphasising the idea of development as a “learning journey” that treats the job itself as a practice and experimentation lab, where skills and knowledge are applied repeatedly and translated into sustainable behaviours. Of course, leaders need to learn and practice the right skills, whether they are those required to coach, challenge the thinking of others, partner with other business units, or drive team-member development.
Mentoring is another approach that can support development, and when the mentor is a senior leader within the organisation, the business and role aspects can be emphasised.
And avoid selling short all that middle managers can learn from each other, whether it is finding out how a peer in another part of the organisation deals with a similar challenge or engaging in team “action learning” experiences in which leaders work together to solve a problem or develop a new approach or solution for an improved process or product. The networks they build and the connections they make with their peers can help to promote middle managers’ own job engagement and morale, while also giving them a valued chance to interact and work with counterparts with whom they may not come into contact on a regular basis.
Finally, it is critical to give mid-level leaders opportunities to step away from the daily rigours of their work in order to reflect. Self-insight tools such as the Index of Emotional Intelligence or the Change Style Indicator can make middle managers more aware of their own personal leadership styles. These insights help individuals to focus on specific areas for development and can motivate them to take action or seek support from their manager, peers, or their team, as well as from individuals and resources from outside the organisation.
Driving success:
a role for everyone
In organisations that are successful when it comes to developing and supporting their mid-level leaders, we see some common best practices. For one, senior leadership not only acknowledges the importance of strong middle managers, it provides budget dollars and sends the clear message that the organisation cannot perform if its leadership pipeline is prohibitively empty in the middle. Executives are also visible in their support, taking the time for activities such as “kicking off” formal learning sessions or serving as mentors.
HR best practices include designing and executing the right development initiatives for both high-potential and high-performing mid-level leaders. As discussed above, these initiatives integrate assessment and development and take a business/role/self approach to ensure that middle managers are getting the full range of learning and growth they require. In many organisations, HR also takes the lead in constructing meaningful career paths for mid-level leaders in which the career ladder of the past is recast as a “career lattice,” with skills, knowledge, and experience gained through lateral career moves as well as through promotions.
Finally, mid-level leaders themselves also play a role by taking charge of their own development and, ultimately, of their own careers. They manage their own development plans and take accountability for not only acquiring the skills, knowledge, and insights they need to target but also for changing their behaviour in order to be more effective in their roles.
Finally, Byham believes that, given the flatter organisational structures and the demands of an increasingly complex and competitive global economy, the need for strong, effective middle managers has never been greater, arguing that even if a mid-level manager is committed to staying in the job, that doesn’t mean he or she is effective. As he so rightly puts it: “The current state of middle management is not only bleak – it’s unsustainable. No one is suggesting relieving pressure by reinstating organisational layers, but companies, starting at the top and stretching down to the leaders themselves, need to be more aware of the challenges facing mid-level leaders and more active in addressing them. If these people really are the ones responsible for actually executing key plans, they deserve consideration, resources, and recognition.”
Angele Camilleri is a researcher at the Foundation for Human Resources Development