Middle managers are a productivity ‘roadblock’

| February 22, 2014

Too many middle managers are unloved, unskilled and often unwanted. Tony Gleeson, executive general manager of the Australian Institute of Management, has solutions to improve the productivity of middle managers.

There’s a clear solution to one of Australia’s most pressing productivity challenges – how to boost the productivity and commitment of our nation’s half a million middle managers. Survey research by the Australian Institute of Management in conjunction with Monash University confirms the performance of middle managers is hurting many Australian organisations.

A large number of middle managers are unloved, unskilled and in many instances, unwanted. The survey participants said middle managers in their organisations are significantly underperforming across the range of key indicators including people management, communication and leadership.

The solution is to equip middle managers with the skills, responsibilities and freedom to lead and manage their direct reports. For many organisations that requires a vastly different mindset. In these organisations, middle managers are not embraced as genuine members of the management team – they do not participate in the development or discussion concerning organisational objectives, strategies and work plans. They are simply told what to do and are not trusted to show initiative or to exercise their own judgement. Not surprisingly, many of these middle managers become a ‘roadblock’ to organisational change and productivity improvements. Overtime, they identify more and more with the attitudes and expectations of the people below them than they do with those above them. In that regard, middle managers play a crucial role in shaping organisational culture.

The survey, ‘Middle Managers – Evaluating Australia’s Biggest Management Resource’ involved 1,898 business people ranging from CEOs and business owners to middle managers and aspiring managers.

People management is ranked by survey participants as the most important middle management skill ahead of communication and leadership. However, the majority (52%) of middle managers’ skills in people management are average or below average, according to their non middle manager colleagues who participated in the survey.

Middle managers are ranked even more poorly by their colleagues on their communication and leadership skills. Fifty-five percent of participants say the communication skills of middle managers in their organisations are average or below. On leadership, 59 percent say the skills of middle managers are average or below. Further, despite the critical need for middle managers to show leadership, just 24 percent of middle managers say their leadership performance is being effectively measured.

The worst ratings for middle managers from their colleagues relates to ‘strategic influence’ (70% said skills were average or below) and ‘change management’ (69% said skills were average or below).

What these findings tell us is that most people are promoted into the ranks of middle management based on their technical skills but from then on their need for broader management skills are not being met by their employers.

As the CEO of leading Australian exporter, ANCA, Grant Anderson (FAIM) said in the Australian Financial Review (18/2/14 p 3):  “Over the years, we’ve all been critical of middle management, but that’s a senior management problem. It is senior management’s job to pick people who have the potential for leadership roles and train them appropriately. Quite often people come up from the shop floor but have never had management training.”

Middle managers need to be ‘right skilled’ for their tasks and then let off the leash and held to account for their performance!

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0 Comments

  1. Clive Leach

    Clive Leach

    February 26, 2014 at 10:14 pm

    Building high performance mindsets

    Great post Tony – you highlight a real lack of focus on enhancing the engagement and well-being of middle management within so many organisations. Achieving a 'higher performance mindset' is entirely possible through including a range of coaching and positive psychology interventions within management training. There's increasing evidence this works. Happy to share.