Middle managers are arguably the backbone of any organisation. But the job can be a tough one. Here’s how HR can help.

Middle managers are working in increasingly hybrid workforces, often geographically dispersed and requiring more flexibility than ever before. Amid a cost-of-living crisis, social and political challenges, and the long-tail mental health impacts of the pandemic, employees are coming to work seeking support for personal issues from their managers.

Middle managers are also expected to do more with less, such as boosting productivity in organisations battling employee shortages and wellbeing issues. It’s a lot to contend with on top of making it through their own workloads.  

The unrelenting pressure of working in middle management led Paul Farina towards unhealthy over-working habits. He spent a decade in the cosmetics and retail sectors in Australia and the UK, managing teams and clients across various time zones. 

Working around the clock was common. 

He would barely get home from a long day in the office when his boss would call, asking for a debrief from the day. Rather than speak up and admit it was too much, Farina handled the pressure by working harder and longer, and turned to alcohol to cope with the stress.

“When you’re in middle management, you’ve always got a boss needing monthly and quarterly budgets to be hit, projects to be met by deadline and things to be completed within budget, and all that pressure gets funnelled down to you,” he says. 

“I needed to take those directives and deliver on them while simultaneously plugging gaps and vacancies, all the while toeing the company line even when things were less than perfect in the field.” 

This dynamic meant he was constantly looking for ways to appease others, often taking work off his team and doing it himself. 

“There’s an emotional side to working in middle management as well, which comes from this feeling of being emotionally isolated and not being able to share that with anyone. 

“You feel like you’re being held hostage by your staff as well because you don’t want to lose them, which leads to isolation. If I didn’t have a couple of buddies in the trenches with me that I could trust, I would have been in a lot of trouble. We’ve all got to pay the mortgage, and, at the time, I wasn’t in a situation to just up and quit.”  

Eventually, Farina did quit, navigating his way into a role where he now counsels others in middle management. Looking back, he admits he didn’t have the education or strategic thinking to deal with the pressure. 

“I had nothing in my toolkit at the time. I should have been more assertive, and I should have held senior staff coming at me with constant demands to account. I should have learned to say ‘no’.

“I don’t recall saying ‘no’ to anything or anyone, which means I was constantly appeasing staff and external stakeholders.”

He believes the pressure on middle managers was amplified during the pandemic years. 

“Budgets are down and organisational hierarchies have become even flatter. Middle managers are carrying a lot of that load. 

“When you get under the hood, most organisations have a lot fewer people in them than you might assume.”

Middle managers are feeling the strain on their mental health

The complex work of middle management is all taking a toll on this cohort’s mental health. Not surprisingly, more than half of middle managers (53 per cent) are feeling stressed or burned out and 46 per cent are experiencing anxiety, according to the Indeed 2023 Workplace Wellbeing Report. 

Middle managers also feel neglected and lack essential leadership, communication and people management skills, found research by the Australian Institute of Management and Monash University. 

It indicated that middle managers are therefore significantly underperforming despite their key role in corporate ranks. But this doesn’t necessarily reflect a lack of capability. 

Many haven’t been adequately trained to deal with these added pressures, or don’t have the bandwidth to respond appropriately to the competing pressures put upon them. 

“We need to acknowledge that individual contributors promoted to middle management don’t come automatically equipped with the management skills needed to thrive in their role.” – Kade Brown, Workforce Solutions Director, RMIT Online

Reducing friction points for managers

Bolstering middle managers’ capabilities needs to be a key priority for organisations. 

Effective middle managers are able to reduce friction points at work, accelerate action and help an organisation work towards its goals. 

The challenge of balancing the fiscal needs of a business, managing cost and maximising profits means there is a huge under-investment in leadership capabilities, says Lorraine Farah FCPHR, Director of Leaning Forward. 

She wants to see organisations drag middle managers out of the weeds of work where they are often overworked and under-resourced.  

“Senior leaders underestimate the impact their [managers] have throughout their organisation,” she says. “The shadow they cast by the behaviours they demonstrate impacts not only engagement, but, importantly, all aspects of delivery of the business outcomes.”

Coupled with this, managers and leaders often deprioritise development and training in their already over-committed roles and seem unwilling to find time to upskill, she says. 

As well as time constraints, she lists three main issues holding middle managers back from utilising their full potential:

• A lack of commitment from leaders to prioritise managers’ development as a core capability.
• Structurally, the span of control of middle managers often sees them stretched too thin. They have too many direct reports, combined with complex processes, leaving them burnt out just trying to get the job done. 
• Managers aren’t usually rewarded for being a good manager. It may be acknowledged, yet it’s not always encouraged nor rewarded in a way that delivering on business results is. Managers will focus on what is measured and rewarded, and make choices on which work to prioritise when pressed for time. 

Farah wants to see commitment at an executive level to consistent, non-negotiable leadership development for middle managers. 

For example, providing access to leadership development topics right in the moments they need it most – such as how to conduct performance reviews, manage conflict, create space for innovation, seek and provide feedback, etc., in addition to established leadership programs.

This just-in-time training approach helps keep learning highly relevant for middle managers, so they are able to bake it into their workflow rather than viewing their upskilling as separate to their work or as an addition to their to-do list.

Research from McKinsey & Company shows that companies that invest in their human capital yield more consistent earnings through times of crisis. In fact, organisations with effective middle managers in the top quartile produced up to 21 times greater total shareholder returns than others in lower quartiles, according to 11 measured management practices used to define an organisation’s health.  

“The correlation between trust and the relationship between employees and their direct manager is strong and leads to better outcomes,” says Farah. 

How technological development will impact middle managers

While the role of middle managers will continue to evolve with technological advances, it’s unlikely the layer will disappear entirely, says executive coach Smita Das Jain.  

However, the specific responsibilities of middle managers will evolve alongside the adoption of technology as routine tasks and administrative duties are automated.

“Organisations [should] stop and take stock, and adopt technology to automate many of the tasks middle managers perform, such as training, employee performance, generating reports and making decisions,” says Jain. 

This frees up time for middle managers to focus on higher-level strategic planning and decision-making, she says. 

Rethinking traditional managerial roles

As organisations shift and become more complex, middle managers may become more vital than ever, says Murat Tarakci, Professor of Innovation Strategy at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

He cites findings that attribute 22 to 30 per cent gains in productivity and innovation to effective middle management. In a separate academic paper he recently published, he illustrates the challenges middle managers face by quoting one middle manager at phone company Nokia admitting: “We knew the iPhone was coming out about a year in advance. We had pretty good specifications for it. The CEO forwarded the email to his subordinates, writing ‘Please take action on this’. Yet, middle managers folded, and opted to sugar-coat the stalled process, causing Nokia to lose the competitive battle for smartphones.” 

“Middle managers are constantly coping with, adapting to, or even resisting contradictory demands and pressures,” says Tarakci in his paper.

“As new technologies emerge, rivals flood one’s turf and customer preferences reposition… these shifts require rapid and effective organisational responses to adapt to an ever-changing environment,” says Tarakci.  

While changes in the business landscape often necessitate extra support for middle managers, the simple elements of work can also create friction points. For example, an excessive number of direct reports can overwhelm managers, hindering their ability to provide adequate coaching and guidance, says Kade Brown, Workforce Solutions Director at RMIT Online.      

“Conversely, too few direct reports may indicate inefficiencies or questionable promotions, leading to underutilisation of managerial talent,” he says. 

Empowering managers to focus on the right tasks is critical, he says. This involves identifying and streamlining low-value bureaucratic activities, leveraging automation and outsourcing where applicable. 

“By reducing administrative burdens, middle managers can allocate more time and energy towards fostering a supportive environment, nurturing talent and addressing the needs of their teams,” says Brown. 

“We need to acknowledge that individual contributors promoted to middle management don’t come automatically equipped with the management skills needed to thrive in their role. They require intentional and targeted upskilling in three key areas: business acumen, structured problem-solving and people leadership.”     

As such, middle manager upskilling initiatives shouldn’t focus just on theory, but on embedded practice and behaviour change. 

“It’s imperative to design or procure upskilling solutions that enable managers to integrate new skills seamlessly into their current world of work,” says Brown. 

This strategic realignment enables managers to focus on driving impact and promoting a culture of engagement and growth within the organisation. 

“The pace of change, disruption and transformation in the world of work isn’t going to decelerate any time soon,” says Brown.

To alleviate the cognitive load on middle managers, the best thing we can do is to equip them with the tools and skills they need to cope with this new reality. 

This article was first published in the April/May 2024 edition of HRM Magazine.

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