4 tips for 'sandwiched' middle managers

Our Business Mentor Bart Briers kicks off: “Continuous strategic changes, business model transformations, customers demanding service levels, the shift from make-software to off-the-shelve solutions: it’s the middle manager who is always stuck between executive plans and the people doing the job.”

The middle manager has always been sandwiched between those who decide on the strategy and those who execute. In a VUCA world, accelerated by Covid, C-level is not able anymore to look five years ahead and decide on a stable long-term road map. On the contrary, they change - faster than ever - the strategic direction to adapt to the changing environment. At the same time, middle managers are still busy with managing the execution of the previous decisions, increasing the pressure on them.

The middle manager’s primary job is to deliver operations on schedule, within budgets and to customer’s specifications. Meanwhile, they are more than ever entrenched in all kinds of strategic projects. As a result, middle management is required to be more agile, more resilient in times where C-level direction and communication are often missing. The uncertainty grows amongst middle managers as they don't know where to steer their teams.

The middle manager’s agenda gets quickly congested creating lots of stress. Typical symptoms most middle managers will recognize: endless to-do lists, completely skewed work/life balance, over-emotional reactions on minor events, not knowing anymore what lives in your team, missed deadlines, avoiding questions and feedback, not telling the truth anymore,…

1. Work more bottom-up towards C-level: give your genuine input and feedback to C-level, not only on the status of ongoing implementations but also on the new strategic ideas C-level considers. C-level has to take decisions in very uncertain circumstances. They need your input more than ever as you are closer to the day-to-day reality and the end-user(s). Analyze the agenda of your meetings with C-level and check out ‘do I spend enough time on sharing my input and feedback on the way forward?’
2. Prioritize and dare to say no: decide together with C-level what’s important to focus on and what’s less important and stick to these priorities when you plan your agenda. If non-prior items pop up, dare to say ‘no’ and explain why. Ask yourself at the end of every working day: ‘did I spend at least 75% of my time on the priorities we have set?’
   
3. Book time in your agenda to connect with your team: make sure you spend enough time to simply connect with your team and/or individual team members. When connecting, don’t only focus on work, but also on personal and emotional aspects. Again, ask yourself at the and of every working day: ‘can I describe what lives in my team?’
   
4. Be fully transparent but admit when things are uncertain or unclear: share all information you have about the strategic direction but be honest when you don’t have the answer. Sometimes it is better to admit that you don’t know the answer than giving an unclear and unconvincing one. A good test is to ask your team at least once per week: ‘do you know where we are going?’ and ‘what is still unclear to you?’

You recognize what is described above and you want to put the tips into practice… that’s easier said than done. How to start? How to make sure you don’t fall back into old habits? How to make sure you stay fully in control of your agenda? Ambits Business Mentors have experience in the technology sector and therefore, understand your working context very well . They all have proven that they are able to deal with the typical ‘sandwich’ challenges of middle managers. They are available to become your sounding board, your guide to become a strong(er) leader.

Contact us to discuss this further.