Introduction
In the game of cricket middle-order batsmen are those who come out to bat 3-down to 6-down. They face a worn-out ball delivered by spinners, many of whom throw a ‘googly’ every now and then. A bit here and there with your footwork or timing, you are finished with a roar. They must stand like a strong wall of defense. Thus, by competencies the middle-order batsmen are very resilient. By skill, they are craftsmen. They know how to hang-on and keep the battle on. They forward-build what the openers have done, or not done…(sic) and pave way for the tailenders to display bravado.
The world of management is not far different. Here too. Middle is the core and core is strength. It is the core – whether in cricket or business – that stabilizes and controls any system of management order.
In the Middle
They are truly in the middle. Merriam-Webster defines in the middle as ‘in a difficult or unpleasant position’. In the world of management ‘Middle’ is defined as a layer within organizational hierarchies which is in ‘between the operating core and the apex’ (Mintzberg, 1989:98) and whose members are held responsible for a specific business delivery at intermediate level of the overall corporate management order. The order contains everyone from the ‘chairman to the line-man’.
Why the Middle?
Should the apex of the organization be its command center (read brain) for the order of management, the middle management then is the spinal cord. It constitutes the pathway for messages sent by the brain to the frontline organization below (the organs) and from the frontline to the apex-brain on top. The top is nothing without the middle.
Middle management is also the layer which balances the fundamentals of management – Control and Confrontation. Management is all about planning, organizing, implementation and control. Where there is control, there is confrontation – overt or covert. Middle managers are shock absorbers who absorb the tremors from top and bottom layers in their cushion of resilience, competence, and sense of role.
In the Middle: Expectations
Ever since the evolution of management thought, process, and function – the middle management perennially suffers from must and actual conflict. Those on the top think and write down prescriptions for what the middle management must do. In the middle manager’s daily managerial life what’s written down is rarely the reality.
The reality on-ground is that the middle manager is far beyond the docile coupling, transferring the force of the higher management directions obediently down frontline. They rather are critical fasteners who intelligently connect the operating frontline to the strategic apex in such a way that creates the critical success path for the organization. They are ‘fasteners’ as they understand and help interpret both ways – what the seniors say and how the frontline juniors would best understand. Not an easy walk-in-the-park for sure.
In the middle: Competencies
Most of effective ones in the middle are adept in social skills, great dreamweavers that they are – through informal discourses and arm-on-the-shoulder pep talks, they convert top-down interventions into bottom-up aspirations.
What they ‘have to face’ and take-in from the top are not what they shunt to the front liners down the line. They gulp anxieties, fear, ambiguities from top but exude confidence, positivity, and emotional intelligence. They express enthusiasm about a change which deep in their hearts is still at the level of uncertainty. They know that the way they feel is less important, than the way they make others feel viz., their top managers and their bottom layer. For, that’s the reason for their existence in the middle.
In the middle: Inevitable
Will any CEO have the courage to ask for replacing the entire middle-management layer with hundreds of direct reports? Unthinkable indeed! Look into the list of the most successful and highly effective organizations and you shall see the value the stakeholders attach to the middle-management roles.
The value or importance given to the middle managers manifest in three principal strategic action points:
- Investing in furthering the middle managers’ capability. Great organizations believe that middle is the core and core strength is real strength. Thus, capability building of the middle managers is non-negotiable come rain, heat & dust, or snow.
- Organizations that believe in core strength of the middle, are also very conscientious in doing their succession planning. They go above and beyond the mundane rituals of performance management and embark upon genuine identification process of future leaders on merit from the front lines.
- Being effective leaders themselves, the top-leaders believe that it is the middle management that is key to corporate sustainability for a future-ready vibrant and sustainable company.
This blog has been written by Satyakki Bhattacharjee, Managing Partner at GrowthSqapes.