C
Catalyst | Comment
Stuck in the middle of innovation
change-induced stress. In
the UK alone, more than 15
million people suffer stress
at work, 8% attributing it to
change, and 14% to the lack
of managerial support.
So middle managers
are entrusted by the top
with the implementation
of change (a stressor) and
are blamed by the bottom
for not supporting them
enough through change
(another stressor). They find
themselves in an impossible
double role.
It is in this dual role
– of leader of their staff
a n d f o l l ow e r o f t o p
management– that the
difficulty lies. In embracing
duality, middle managers
need to empathise with
enthusiasm for change from
the top, but also, often, with
resistance to change from
the bottom; they need to stick
to the strategy at the top,
while granting exceptions
for implementation at
the bottom, depending on
departmental needs.
In other words, in being
effective followers of one
audience at the top, and
effective leaders of another,
at the bottom, they are
constantly engaged in
performing two roles
which pose divergent, even
contrasting, demands.
While much has been
said about managers and
leadership, we do not know
much about managers and
‘followership’.
Airport lounges are full
of books on how middle
managers can be good
leaders, winning the trust
of their employees through
demonstrating authenticity,
and transparenc y, by
inspiring them and
developing them. Yet,
much less has been said
about middle managers as
followers, influenced by
top management and in
need of managerial support
themselves.
What can companies do
to ensure they have middle
managers in place who are
effective leaders, but also
engaged followers?
In terms of whom to
promote into these roles, one
strategy might be to favour
the best empathisers, rather
than the best producers;
those who can connect
emotionally with the needs
of people across hierarchies,
and departments.
Provide them not just
with leadership training,
but with training in
emotional intelligence and
in followership. Training in
followership can develop
their capacity to influence
and inspire upwards, so they
feel like engaged agents of
innovation, rather than
recipients of change.
When it comes to
performance management,
Zahira
Jaserer
“Middle managers
are constantly engaged in
performing two roles which
pose divergent, even
contrasting, demands”
another strategy might be
to do this not only around
financial targets, but for
the capacity to have
courageous conversations
with people at the top, as
well as the bottom.
This will ensure you have
more resilient, emotionally
intelligent bridgers and
‘bufferers’, able to respond
with flexibility and courage
to constant fluctuations.
In the presence of
constant change, driven by
innovation, the most useful
skill for middle managers
to develop is an integrated
capacity to lead and follow,
like a courageous diplomat.
This is at odds with the
current anxiety-inducing
trend, promoted in much
airport corporate literature,
that aims to foster a
middle- ranked army of
would-be Steve Jobs and
Cheryl Sandbergs.
When I teach leadership
to executives and MBAs,
what they most want to
know more about is how to
follow courageously, and
how to deal with the pulls
and ambiguities of a role in
the middle.
Dr Zahira Jaser is
assistant professor at
the University of Sussex
Business School where
she teaches leadership
and organisational
behaviour.
Issue 3 - 2019
55