Most organizations have three management levels: line supervisors, the middle management level, and executive management; 

These managers are classified according to a hierarchy of authority and perform different tasks. In most organizations, the number of managers at each level defines the organizational structure. 

Middle management is as it’s defined �" the middle of the organizational structure, being subordinate to executive management but above the lowest levels of structure. 

Middle Management Functions May Include: 

• Designing and implementing work groups
• Defining and holding accountable subordinates to performance indicators
• Diagnosing and resolving problems within and among work groups
• Designing and implementing reward systems
• Supporting corporate values and ethics
• Reporting performance statistics and participating in strategic development with recommending strategic changes 

Coach �" Manage �" Motivate? How? 

Since middle management dwells within the middle of the organizational structure they must support, comply and execute corporate directives but at the same time they must coach-manage and motivate their own subordinates.

Often times this involves conflicting personal objectives. Middle managers are accountable to top management for their department's function. They provide guidance to lower-level managers and inspire them to perform better.

This can become difficult when receiving strong directives from upper management that can become demotivating to lower level employees that don’t share the overall vision or who have not been adequately communicated with by executive management. Often this lack of communication includes the middle managers themselves which makes their job even more difficult. 

Communication 

Next to employees, communication is the most critical element to success, whether the company is in a growth mode or facing challenges to maintain market share. Failure to communicate is like a virus that can lead to total failure. Communication is essential to developing trust. Trust is necessary to middle managers to reach down deep inside and give everything they have under the most difficult circumstances. Trust will allow people to give their discretionary energy to meet objectives. Trust is critical for employees to maximize their power of profitability. 

Senior leaders should start by clearly identifying the key business drivers for the success of the company. Once the leaders have identified these main factors and resources necessary for business success, HR can then use this information to identify the competencies that middle managers will need to possess. 

Middle managers have unique developmental needs. Further, because of the tendency of organizations to overlook this level of management, some middle managers have gaps in their management and leadership skills. Standard organizational development programs that: 

1. focus heavily on entry managers
2. develop only the middle managers being groomed for advancement, and that
3. focus heavily on senior managers leave the developmental needs of other middle managers unaddressed. 

Organizational development programs for middle managers need to be as varied as the group of middle managers themselves. An effective practice is to develop these programs from assessment results that identify critical performance and skill gaps. 

How Do We Cope? 

Create an intentional communication strategy. Your Management team must understand and support a common vision. This requires clarity. Clarity begins with effective communication. Make sure communication from your Management team reaches all employees. 

• Create team ownership in the decision making process but it’s not management by committee. Avoid group think by making sure that individuals express opinions openly without intimidation. Responsibility must be accompanied by authority and accountability.
• Build trust and respect by giving trust and respect. Act as a coach or mentor and not a boss.
• Create off site team building activities quarterly. Social gatherings, athletic activities, laser tag or other activities that build unification and trust in each other.
• Don’t just talk about empowerment and delegation, believe in it and demonstrate that belief by allowing the team members to make decisions and take independent action.
• Take complex plans and strategies and assign accountability and ownership. This creates more efficiency and leverages creativity. Assign responsibility according to individual passions.
• Brainstorming must be encouraged to release team innovation. Bouncing ideas off one another stimulates creative thinking which leads to creative solutions. This in itself bonds individuals into a common purpose.
• Ask for solutions assigning both responsibility and empowerment. Ownership of ideas and initiatives builds commitment. Involving the team in creating direction and solutions through empowerment generates commitment to the tasks necessary to meet objectives.
• Challenge your management team. Reliance on team effectiveness minimizes risk by being more flexible and adaptive than relying on a single individual. No one individual alone can jeopardize success. The loss of one team member can be overcome without losing sight of the objectives. 

Being in the middle is tough! Middle managers frequently struggle with delegation. They also need effective communication and interpersonal skills as they have to create alliances to affect operational challenges beyond their immediate scope of control. Finally, middle managers need negotiation and emotional intelligence skills to influence senior management when needed. 

Actively Engage and Inspire Middle Managers to Meet Business Needs 

There is no easy solution for engaging middle managers. Individual managers have different needs. You may try using the “Situational Leadership” approach to increase engagement and understanding.

Key factors you must recognize is the middle mangers needs for: 

• Autonomy and feeling empowered and appreciated
• Opportunities to develop new skills and build a career path
• Recognition for their achievements which should include some form of reward
• Team participation and leadership
• Opportunity to provide input or participate in organizational strategy 

Let me repeat, there is no easy solution. You will face some significant challenges engaging middle managers, it is not an impossible task. But, you cannot afford to give up. Remember the saying… “If you can’t change the manager --- Change the manager!” 

Creating the right attitude is paramount to structuring an environment of success. Getting your employees to work with you and join in the search for better ideas, new methodology and higher profitability will transform your company from passive individualists to intelligent action takers. 

Rick Johnson, expert speaker, wholesale distribution’s “Leadership Strategist”, founder of CEO Strategist, LLC a firm that helps clients create and maintain competitive advantage. Need a speaker for your next event, E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com. Don’t forget to check out the Lead Wolf Series that can help you put more profit into your business.

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