Despite What Zappos Says, Middle Managers Still Matter

Middle managers are an easy target. They are intermediaries in an era when disintermediation is a badge of honor. Overhead, bureaucracy, administrivia; a barrier to greater productivity and higher margins.

But just as technology has changed so many other things, it has reengineered the role of the middle manager: from command and control gatekeeper to facilitator, knowledge keeper, communicator and mentor. For most people, the key relationship at work is with their immediate supervisor. If that doesnt go well - or doesnt exist - they are unlikely to be optimal contributors and they are likely to go elsewhere, often to a competitor. There can be too many middle managers in any organization, but many are beginning to find there can also be too few. JL

Jim Whitehurst reports in Harvard Business Review:

Middle management’s job is to create communication channels that allow ideas to percolate and circulate throughout the organization. In most organizations, the biggest clue that there is disagreement in the room is when nobody says anything at all.
Middle managers have not fared well. Their ranks have been decimated in many organizations, and those that have survived are often perceived as powerless or, worse, as bureaucratic sticks-in-the-mud. This is not fair and it’s flat-out wrong.
Take what’s happening with Zappos at the moment. Much has been written about their adoption of a self-management system—holacracy—with no job titles and zero managers. That move earlier this month saw 14% of their workforce choose to leave the retailer. While I applaud their effort to break down unnecessary walls, getting rid of managers is not the answer.
Middle managers are increasingly vital to an organization’s success, though for different reasons than in the past. In the conventional hierarchical organization, middle managers used to be instrumental for controlling information flows and ensuring that frontline workers were producing. Roles were clearly defined and orders flowed from the top down. Those in the middle managed the inputs and outputs. But we’re now in an era where information is far more free-flowing and hierarchical lines are blurred.
Middle managers today need different skills and play a different role than their “command and control” era predecessors. According to a Harvard Business Review study, some 67% of companies recognize that they need to revamp their middle manager development programs. And at Red Hat we support a key set of capabilities that, for our organization, make a middle manager great. With many of our stars in this group—here’s what makes them so invaluable:
Influence
Most people think that middle managers are becoming less important because they make fewer direct decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Middle managers need to be able to bridge the gap in understanding that often lies between an organization’s senior leaders and those who are responsible for its daily operations. And they can have a massive impact on performance by catalyzing direction even within the most self-directed of workforces.
Their new charge is to lead not by fiat, but by influence. “Because I said so” doesn’t work with the current workforce. Instead of pulling rank with a subordinate or deferring to an executive, today’s middle managers must build influence and gain credibility by listening to concerns and offering context that leads to better decisions. Creating context is key.
At the same time, they need to influence their peers throughout the organization to ensure that efforts are aligned and pulling in the same direction. That’s especially true in fast growing and globally distributed organizations like Red Hat. We need our middle managers to keep us all on the same page.
Inspiration
We all know that innovation and passion are critical to a company’s success. But let’s face it, you can’t force someone to be creative or passionate about their work. So the middle manager’s role has become less about making sure people do what they’re told, and more about inspiring people to perform at their best.
The best managers are those who marry their IQ with their EQ. They focus on the “whys” and “hows” rather than the “whats.” They are visionary, big picture thinkers who know how to create a sense of shared ownership and responsibility, as opposed to simply issuing orders.
Being a middle manager often means taking less pride in your own achievements than in what your people accomplish. It’s about putting the right people into the right places, looking for ways to tap into their passion and insight, and unlocking their full potential.
Inclusion
An open organization is a meritocracy, where good ideas can come from anywhere, and the best ideas win. Middle management’s job is to create communication channels that allow ideas to percolate and circulate throughout the organization.
Middle managers play a vital role in ensuring that all voices are heard, not just the loudest ones. They invite people to speak up and contribute their ideas, especially when their views diverge from the majority.
In most organizations, the biggest clue that there is disagreement in the room is when nobody says anything at all. Concerns tend to come out around the water cooler, out of management’s earshot. Middle managers can make it safe to raise objections. They can ask frontline workers questions like, “From your perspective, what are we missing with this plan?”
The new roles that middle managers must play require different skills and capabilities than in the past. Open organizations must invest to develop these leaders. It starts with explicitly recognizing their new role. Training around soft skills. Building culture that recognizes and celebrates the right behaviors.