Swallowed-up by the Messy Middle

Mistrust is growing. Last year Gartner shared that 53% of employees trust their employers. And vice-versa, only 63% of employers trust their employees!

Strikes, on-going negotiations with unions, mass lay-offs across multiple sectors have been common feature in news for months. And even within organisations and teams, the divides have felt bigger – those in the office, those out. Those who are gifted with flex, those who, for whatever reason, aren’t. Those able to cope with the increasing demands of always-on hours, more work, fewer people, and those who struggle.

For many, work and life (because we can’t really separate the two now) has created anxiety. Will I have a job at the end of the month? Can I develop the new skills required? What will happen if I can’t meet the expectations? Tensions are high, and people feel frazzled and lost.

Why has it got so fraught?

Setting aside the context of a complex and fragile world for a moment, I think there’s something fundamental we’ve forgotten to do.

To do what we do best as humans. To seek understanding, to learn and appreciate different perspectives, to communicate and prioritise building relationships.

Whilst everything around us has changed, possibilities multiplied, technological capabilities soared, many of us have got lost, perhaps even swallowed-up by, the Messy Middle.

Portfolios, experiences, chapters, moments

Alongside significant changes to how we work, what people want, need, and expect from work has changed too. Once a degree of security is in place, finding opportunities to enable autonomy, meaning and growth has emerged as the priority. In this era, the moments that matter are often buried in the day-to-day experiences organisational life throws. And, the clock starts ticking the moment an employee joins. LinkedIn research revealed an employee is 12% more likely to stay if they move internally within their 1st year, and 19% more likely to stay if they move internally within 2 years. How we move, explore, and grow within an organisation is possibly more important now than how we get in.

People have greater choice – where they work, when, who they work for, for how long – and whilst life and career stages play a role, more frequently it’s the navigation between an organisation’s objectives and an individual’s priorities that gel or create tension. This is the Messy Middle – because it isn’t set in stone, varies from person to person, and can look and feel different, depending on your perspective.

A consistent strand, however, is the power it has to make or break experiences and shape actions and decisions. A poor experience can feel like a dead weight around your neck, ultimately becoming something you can’t shake without deciding to start afresh. At the other end of the spectrum, a positive experience can determine loyalty, drive motivation, hard work and advocacy.

The weight of the unsaid and misunderstood

In these conditions, building understanding of people as individuals is the only way we successfully develop positive and trusted relationships.

I have seen many people swallowed-up by the Messy Middle, and sadly, employers didn’t even realise it had happened. Trust starts to break when commitments aren’t clearly shared or aligned. The psychological contract we create can be a positive force, but equally damaging if it isn’t proactively managed.

For example, a Project Manager joins on the promise of an exciting project landing. It lands, but their colleague is given the lead role. Unless directly addressed and discussed, this eats away at the individual, causing resentment and eroding trust.

Or, when an employee’s Mum is suddenly taken ill. Their manager is supportive, but has little experience dealing with such scenarios, and despite them being a long-tenured, valuable employee, provides flex by offering part-time hours and wages. The pressure on this individual financially is too much, and they feel let-down. A few weeks of flex with their existing terms in place is probably all they needed to work through this difficult phase.

Shape Moments that Matter

At Make it Human, we have identified 8 key moments that matter in the Messy Middle of work today.

These 8 questions can provide a good starting point for finding yours, but they could vary. Taking time to identify the moments that matter in your team or workplace can provide a strong foundation for shaping positive experiences.

But the real differentiator are talented people managers, who have the skills, tools, and structure to really understand their teams members on a 1:1 basis. These managers focus on establishing strong, trust-based relationships with their teams. They understand that solutions are not one-size-fits-all, and bring the optimal blend of understanding, challenge, and support to help people to give their best to the team. They work hard to uncover areas of misalignment – exploring the unsaid, the assumptions that grow legs and arms, and the expectations that need constant re-visiting as people and context evolve.

They are caring and compassionate, but also courageous and challenging. They don’t shy away from difficult conversations. They tackle them as soon as possible, because they know letting the Messy Middle become even messier will be detrimental for everyone involved.  

A map of the moments that matter for your team and business, combined with people managers who lead with transparency and empathy, can light-up the networks of trust, fuelling a powerful, agile and durable culture ready to tackle any challenge in our rapid and complex world of work.

Find these insights helpful?

Join the Make it Human Club and access our Guide to Building the Case for Culture providing data and insights to get your business case across the line. It's completely free, and could give you the edge you need when it comes to nurturing team and workplace cultures where people and business thrive:

Make it Human is on Instagram!

Follow for more visual and video content on making sense of work, careers, management, leadership and culture: