Let’s be honest: middle management can be exhausting!
I call it the messy middle for a reason. The time I spent in those roles often felt chaotic. There were pressures from “above”: executives demanding results and strategic objectives to accomplish. There were also pressures from “below”: the team needed my empathy, direction and support. I felt a special responsibility to those I managed. They needed protection from burnout, required empowerment and deserved recognition. Most days it felt like an opportunity to practice balance and optimize skills; some days it felt like a trap.
It’s easy, in such situations, to feel like a human shock absorber. But it doesn’t have to be that way! You can thrive in middle management, and mitigate the sensation of being caught between a rock and a hard place, by mastering two essential skills: Strategic Translation and Boundary Advocacy.
Strategic translators connect macro-goals to their team’s daily reality. One of the primary causes of burnout among entry-level employees is a lack of clarity around purpose. They are told what to do, but not why they are doing it. Great middle managers act as a conduit for meaning. From their superiors, they receive the strategic goals that guide the vision of the work. Then, they connect these big-picture ideas to the daily tasks of the people they manage. This can help filter out corporate panic, while also inspiring their teams by reminding them “why we do what we do.” By translating pressure into purpose, middle managers kill anxiety, keeping teams focused and calm(er).
Boundary advocacy is just as important. Pressure within a business tends to flow downward: executives worry about the bottom line, and put the heat on their managers to increase production or cut costs. These managers then pass this pressure along to their teams, creating a situation in which everyone, from top to bottom, is stressed out! Conscious middle managers resist the urge to push pressures downward. Instead, they “manage up,” respectfully setting boundaries with their superiors that protect their team’s process and independence. After all, middle managers are much more hip to the on-the-ground dynamics at play in the teams they manage. They know they can get the best results for the company by asserting their authority as competent leaders of people, and resisting meddling from the higher-ups.
Good executives respect managers who set boundaries—it demonstrates the manager’s confidence in their own leadership, as well as in the effectiveness of their team. Using hard-earned knowledge of their teams’ strengths, needs and growth opportunities, conscious managers hold and maintain healthy boundaries with executive leadership.
While middle management can be messy, I believe it represents a beautiful hinge point: the very interface of vision and work. These managers have an excellent opportunity to make real organizational change. Yes, sometimes it feels like you’re being batted around. But when you look upward with great empathy and downward with effective coaching, you become one of the most integral and essential elements of the business strategy!
Send me an email at [email protected] if you want to develop your translation and boundary-setting skills!
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