Why You Should Invest in Middle Managers

The thing that comes to mind when I think about middle management is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Weird? I know. Let me start by saying that I hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Send me all the comments you want about that, but just don’t serve me a PB&J sandwich. For the record, unlike peanut butter and jelly, I do not hate middle managers, and I believe that they are crucial to the success of any organization. That is why I liken them to peanut butter and jelly. Let me explain.

In a PB&J sandwich, peanut butter and jelly are in the center and are what make the sandwich stick together. Similarly, in organizations, middle managers are at the center and are what make the organization stick together from top to bottom. They are the conduit for communication, operations, team development, and maybe most importantly—organizational culture.

While middle managers may not be the ones to create culture, they have an enormous influence on how culture is built and implemented throughout an organization.  It’s important to recognize the extreme value of middle management. They are and should be recognized as leaders in the organization.

Speaking of that influence, research tells us some important things about middle managers. They might have more impact on an employee’s physical health than that person’s own physician. They are also a huge reason an employee chooses to stay or leave.

If these key members of teams have so much influence within organizations, doesn’t it make sense to invest in them? To help them develop? To make them better leaders? To see their success as the organization’s success?

What’s more, there is a growing leadership gap as baby boomers begin to retire en masse. Using an eye for the future, wouldn’t it make sense to set up organizations for success by setting up these future leaders for success?

Middle managers don’t need to just know how to operate more efficiently and more effectively in their current roles. They need to develop leadership competencies they can learn now and strengthen later as they move into positions with greater leadership responsibility. The ability to lead doesn’t arrive just because one has a title. Leadership competencies and strengths should be built throughout a career. This is imperative in developing middle managers. Creating a leadership pipeline is an investment with a strong and long-term performance (e.g., financial, time, talent) return for the organization.

As we enter this new era with a workforce longing to be invested in, consider your middle leadership. Are you using their strengths and skills to the best of their ability? How should they be developed so they are ready for their next step in their careers and can enter them prepared? How do these leaders fit in your organization’s larger strategy? Are they a resource that is not being used to their fullest potential?

As you adapt workforce solutions to meet current demands, take a long and hard look at your middle managers and envision, not only what they are now, but what they could be for the future of the organization.

As might be the case when one eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we (you, not me) are using the ingredients we have to make something that sustains us. The same is true with middle managers. They are already in place; develop them to be leaders that sustain the organization.