The Role of Middle Management is Evolving
As employees return to the office and navigate hybrid work, equally important for team members is job security due to economic uncertainty, social and political upheaval, and digitisation pressures.
Managerial responsibilities have historically been simple. Middle managers oversee staff members and provide them with feedback on how they are performing. Today, a manager must be prepared to serve as a coach, mentor, and compassionate leader. Business owners and executives should be aware of the changes in middle management and provide these executives with the tools and training they require to be successful.
Business owners don't have time to coach managers so it's up to them to learn, adapt, and face their fears and challenges head-on. The problem for middle managers are numerous, including:
Fear of making mistakes and missing important deadlines
Prioritising tasks and managing time (their own and of their team)
Thinking of others (emotional intelligence)
Having difficult conversations and handling emotions (business communication)
But, don’t despair. Managers can overcome all problems and obstacles above by incorporating these tools and processes:
Hire a business coach who intimately understands how to balance business, team, and individual objectives and help drive managers to smash past their fears and excel.
Consider project management software. Tools like Jira, Asana, or a shared whiteboard on Miro can allow managers and team members to track their work with transparency. Tools like these can help you see where projects might be getting stuck, manage capacity, and plan for the future.
It’s easy to say that we want people to treat each other with respect at work, but the word “respect” means different things to different people. The right training will give middle managers a clear idea of which behaviours are appropriate and which could harm team dynamics. Managers should understand that their position of authority comes with certain special responsibilities for their workplace relationships.
One of the best ways to help middle managers succeed at work is to make sure that they’re not overlooked. Just like people in any other role, they like to have their voices heard. They should be brought into the loop and understand the bigger strategy behind the direction of the company and the importance of their contribution to tasks that need to be carried out.