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Redefining the role of the middle manager can help businesses thrive

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Making over middle management

In the news

•

Managers and mental health. Postpandemic, workers’ personal and professional lives remain intertwined. Companies’ focus on mental health and bringing the authentic self to work requires managers to create an inclusive environment without overstepping personal boundaries or acting as therapists. Training managers to engage with their employees and directing them to assistance programs—according to a recent poll, nearly 33% of workers don’t know how to access their company’s resources—could help managers be supportive without getting too personal. [Fortune]

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Rewriting the manager’s story. The identity crisis inherent in middle managers’ roles (as leaders who are situated between executives and frontline workers but aren’t in either camp) has resulted in the trope of the ineffective bureaucrat. That story is changing, however, as the pace of business has blurred the lines between “B-suite leaders” and visionary executives. Smoothing out organizational dynamics such as reporting structures—so that middle managers don’t have to navigate divergent agendas—and limited influence can help these leaders focus on retaining talent and engaging employees. [CEO Magazine]

“Our research shows that administrative work is now a quarter of managers’ work. We need more time for managing as we look at productivity going forward.”

On McKinsey.com

•

Help middle managers manage. Historically, middle managers’ primary role was as the go-between for leaders and frontline employees. Technology has blurred those lines, but middle managers remain inundated with administrative and individual-contributor tasks, leaving little time to manage people. On a recent episode of the McKinsey Talks Talent podcast, McKinsey partners Emily Field and Bryan Hancock , and alumnus Bill Schaninger—authors of Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work—found that at one bank, having a direct report put more than 100 tasks on managers’ to-do lists.

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Focus on people. Administrative tasks may never go away, but reducing them through automation, elimination, and making them self-serve processes can give managers more time to spend developing their direct reports. In addition, leaders may consider that not every successful employee wants to be a manager. Creating career tracks for technical areas that don’t require managing people can keep workers in jobs that give them energy and purpose. Listen to the podcast to learn how leaders can clear the path for middle managers (and their companies) to succeed.

Maximize middle managers’ potential

— Edited by Gwyn Herbein, editor, Atlanta

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by "McKinsey On Point" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 12:30 - 30 Aug 2023

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Redefining the role of the middle manager can help businesses thrive

Making over middle management

In the news

“Our research shows that administrative work is now a quarter of managers’ work. We need more time for managing as we look at productivity going forward.”

On McKinsey.com