Leadership vs Management? What is wrong with middle management?
Copyright by Stephan Klaschka 2010-2024
From my series on how to build a successful BRG.1
Conflicts of a BRG Leader
As a leader of a Business Resource Group (BRG), there are aspects of leadership and management you will need to master daily. You can easily find yourself acting as ‘middle management’ that connects the executive level with the grassroots of the organization.
So, naturally, ‘middle management’ can be found at the heart of friction in an organization. It is the middle managers that need to translate, balance, and mitigate conflicts of demand and supply along the hierarchy including meeting the lofty goal set by leadership at the top of the organizational hierarchy with the limited resources available towards its bottom.
What is wrong with ‘middle management’?
Bluntly in my experience, middle management gets blamed all around for many things that happen or don’t happen, and even more so for the disconnect between executives and the staff and managers in the trenches.
Is there a systematic flaw that affects so many organizations? I don’t think so and here is why:
Management versus Leadership?
The confusion originates from misunderstanding or a lack of clarity over the roles: We need to look first at what the difference is between a manager and a leader; is there one at all and are these roles exclusive or do they overlap?
Don’t be mistaken, significant differences exist between managers and leaders; yet an organization needs both, managers and leaders. It is necessary to distinguish these roles since their focus and goals are quite different. Not only can they conflict to some degree, but they actually have to for the better of the effective organization overall. ‑ Let’s take a close look at both roles:
Management role
A manager typically supervises a unit that produces an output consistently (such as a product or service). The manager’s job is to improve the input (resources) and output (deliverables) and make tactical adjustments. Most changes are moderate and of an evolutionary character focused on optimization by refinement of the here-and-now.
Given their tasks and responsibilities, managers do have a professional tendency and even obligation to resist changes that disrupt their well-oiled and optimized “machine” whose output is also their immediate measure of success in most organizations.
For an effective manager, it is all about “doing things right”. The ways often get documented in procedures to solidify and guard the established processes to guarantee the reliable delivery of results. Focused on preservation and functional optimization, managers can also easily fall into the trap of judging too soon and then making an adaptive decision too late.
Leadership role
In contrast, a leader takes a step back and looks at the bigger picture that aims strategically at the organization’s future. The effective leader shakes up the established structures and “does what is right” by bringing about change that will position and optimize the organization for future success through transformation. (More on this at Innovation Strategy: Do you innovate or renovate?)
Leaders must stay flexible and willing to deviate from the current path to drive the needed change to successfully shift or even turn the course of the organization. Consequently, the leader must take into account major disruptions of otherwise smooth and sub-optimized operations. (Read more on How to become the strategic innovation leader)
The farther a leader is removed (usually way up in the hierarchy) from the level where the output is produced, the more abstract the work appears. It becomes easier for leaders to make game-changing decisions flexibly that may turn out unfeasible on the factory floor or other real-life business settings or that confuse the staff.
A good leader follows guiding principles and keeps the staff in the loop to prepare them for upcoming changes. Removing elements of surprise where possible is an effective early step of successful change management when it comes to implementation.
We need both!
The goals of leaders and managers conflict and create a constant tension field. It requires active balancing and healthy negotiation to prepare the organization for the future while not sacrificing the ability to deliver results reliably as the organization moves ahead on the bumpy road of change and uncertainty.
This makes clear that an organization needs both, effective managers and visionary leaders. It also makes clear though that both roles may not be best united in one person to avoid a conflict of interest that compromises the best results for the organization overall.
Where middle management gets stuck
As you move farther down in a hierarchy from the leadership level and closer to operations, the harder it becomes for managers to balance the high-flying leadership vision with the demanded production or service targets on the ground.
So here is where you find the clash and overlap between leadership and management: The middle management gets caught in the middle, literally!
Middle management needs to bridge the gap even for self-preservation by negotiating and brokering between the workers and the leaders. It’s a tough job! Middle managers deserve some sympathy as they get torn by the conflicting needs of the organization every day and often enough not fully included by leaders while yet having to make sense of the dilemma and translate it for their staff.
Can’t do without…
Thus, there is no ‘systematical flaw’ but only the reality of conflicting needs of an organization that requires both, effective managers and visionary leaders. This comes with accepting the entailing tensions and conflicts to deliver results reliably and consistently while readying the organization for meeting the challenges of the future – which puts middle management in the hottest spot!
Stay tuned for my next post on: Generation Y for managers – better than their reputation?
From my series on how to build a successful BRG (=Business Resource Group) group, i.e. a business-focused ERG (=Employee Resource Group) first published on OrgChanger.com.