Middle management and how to avoid it

So you've been an individual contributor for a while. You've started to grasp how teams and inter-personal dynamics effect outcomes, and you now find yourself managing a group of people or indeed managing a group of managers. Maybe you're happy with that and its working out, but how do you avoid (just) being a middle manager, and instead become a leader?

Over the years I'd many different styles of managers in a variety of types of companies. From small start-ups where the boss is basically the owner, to the BBC and BSkyB, Nokia and AXA where your boss is five or six levels away from the board. I've had managers who were nice guys, but ultimately quite weak, meaning everyone wanted to either leave the team or steal their job. I had one manager who would stand face to face shouting and swearing in your face if not enough progress has been made. I remember afterwards everyone in the meeting coming up to me and conspiratorially saying 'don't worry that's just 👨, he's a psychopath, he's always like that, don't take it personally'. I've also had managers who really turbo boosted my career by believing in me and mentoring me.

There's lot of articles and books and charts and quadrants about how to be a manager in every circumstance. You should read them first, but these are the rules of the game from my perspective.

Rule #1. Don’t (always & only) do what you’re told to do

If all you are doing is taking instructions from your manager and passing them down to those who report to you, then directly reporting up any issues, then you are by definition a middle manager. There's a risk that the value you add is questionable and expendable.

Your manager should NOT need all the context of what's going on in your area. If you have issues and conflict, deal with it yourself. That’s not to say you shouldn’t ask for help and advice but it’s just that, advice, that you will take or leave.

Given that they won’t have all the context then they should aim to be non-specific about the method of achieving the goals. Therefore it’s ok to listen to a request to do X ,Y & Z and hold off doing Z if you think its a bad move or waste of your time. If they insist, then after both taking time to share more of that abstracted context, you can resort to the classic ‘can you put that in an email’ move.

I’ve had this happen in both directions with someone I report to and someone who reports to me. On both occasions the only reasonable default is to delegate the decision downwards and trust and own the outcome.

When things are broken you just fix them, when things are motoring on nicely then consider how you can have an effect outside of your area and bring value to the organisation as a whole. Assume your boss has more important things to do than be informed of every great thing you did — if it’s that good then they will find out organically - but keep a note of your achievements for the end of year appraisal.

Rule #2. Own it and care about it more than anyone else

A leader cares or seems to care about delivery of the service and performance of teams more than anyone else. Getting angry and frustrated is ok in small doses as is being seen to not tolerate and be impatient about poor performance or attitude.

You’re not a shop steward or union official, pleading the case of those who report to you up the chain. You have to ultimately care about whether or not the service is working or product is delivered efficiently.

As with rule 1, it’s not necessary to know the context of the decision making further down the chain and you should accept being told ‘no’, but still on top of the what and the when.

However, even though you can’t expect to have or give ALL context you need to have enough reporting or data to make informed decisions. Trust but verify that what you think is happening, is actually happening.

Rule #3. If you want the credit, take the blame

It’s not usually the case that when things go wrong its because of a specific action you have taken or not taken. But if you want to credit for the culture and vibes…. man, you have to surfs the waves and falls. The higher you rise the more you are to blame for. Embrace it.

I’ve learned by doing, to avoid vaingloriously saying ‘it will never happen again’. Firstly you look incompetent when it inevitably does happen again, and secondly you end up putting too much pressure on those reporting to you to be unhealthily risk averse.

This can be taken too far, beware the manager who ostentatiously tries to take the blame for everything everywhere. That’s because he/she wants to mine the credit as well ! Things can start to get silly quickly, when everyone wants to be Spartacus.

Rule #4. Expect and require managers who report to you to do the same

You in turn should be building good managers, and in doing that you should accept that they will sometimes be making your life difficult. The manager or individual contributor who reports to you should care about the product or service they are delivering more than they care about pleasing you.

Its very easy to fall in to a trap trying to do every thing your boss wants, and then trying to get everyone who reports to you to do what you (but actually, your boss) wants but that way leads to frustration, depression and ultimately bad performance all round. To NOT be a middle manager you need to take some risks and occasionally ruffle some feathers — but it leads to accountability and empowerment which is what everyone ultimately wants.