By Joel Geddis
Introduction
Middle managers are often overlooked and undervalued in today’s rapidly changing workplace. Traditional views of middle management often lead to a misuse of their talents and a poor understanding of their role in an organization. This can have serious consequences and even send an organization into a downward spiral.
In this article, we argue that middle managers are critical to an organization’s success and that retaining the best middle managers is key to achieving that success. We explore the importance of middle managers, what makes a great middle manager, and the problems with traditional views of middle management. We also share stories of managers who said no to promotions and those who said yes and regretted it.
To illustrate how companies can promote stars within the same role, we look to the Waffle House, a beloved restaurant chain that understands the value of promoting from within. We share their approach and what other companies can learn from it.
Finally, we provide senior leaders with levers they can use to keep the best middle managers in place. We discuss how to offer the right rewards to valued managers and tailor those rewards to their priorities.
In short, we argue that the best middle managers are often best off staying exactly where they are. By doing so, they can continue to use their skills and expertise to drive the organization forward, without sacrificing their job satisfaction or sense of purpose.
This article answers the following questions:
- What are traditional problematic views of middle management?
- Why are middle managers critical to an organization’s success?
- What makes a successful middle manager?
- Why do many managers say no to promotions?
- How can you promote star employees within the same role?
- What levers retain top middle managers?
The Problem with Traditional Views of Middle Management
Traditional views of middle management tend to be based on false beliefs that lead to a poor use of middle management talent. One such belief is that middle managers are simply bureaucrats who exist to enforce the rules set by senior leadership. This belief leads to a lack of autonomy and a lack of innovation among middle managers, who are often not given the opportunity to use their skills to their fullest potential.
Another false belief is that middle managers are not critical to an organization’s success. This belief leads to a lack of investment in middle management development and a lack of recognition for the important role that middle managers play in driving the organization forward.
These false beliefs are doing serious damage to organizations. When middle managers are not given the opportunity to use their skills and expertise to their fullest potential, the organization suffers. Innovation is stifled, and the organization becomes less competitive in the marketplace. When middle managers are undervalued and overlooked, morale suffers, and the organization loses valuable talent.
It is time to rethink traditional views of middle management and recognize the important role that middle managers play in driving an organization’s success. In the next section, we will explore the importance of middle managers and what makes a great middle manager.
The Importance of Middle Managers
Middle managers are critical to an organization’s success. They are the linchpin between senior leadership and front-line employees, translating strategy into action and ensuring that goals are met. Great middle managers are masters of communication, able to inspire and motivate their teams to achieve great things. They are problem-solvers, able to identify and resolve issues quickly and effectively. They are also great collaborators, able to work across teams and functions to achieve common goals.
What makes a great middle manager? There are several key traits that set great middle managers apart from the rest. First and foremost, they are great communicators. They are able to clearly articulate goals and objectives, and they are able to inspire and motivate their teams to achieve those goals. They are also great listeners, able to hear and address the concerns of their team members.
Great middle managers are also great problem-solvers. They are able to identify issues quickly and come up with effective solutions. They are also great collaborators, able to work across teams and functions to achieve common goals. They are able to build strong relationships with colleagues and stakeholders, and they are able to influence and persuade others to support their ideas.
Finally, great middle managers are great leaders. They are able to set a clear direction for their teams, and they are able to empower their team members to take ownership of their work. They are able to build a strong culture of accountability and high performance, and they are able to recognize and reward great work.
In short, great middle managers are critical to an organization’s success. They are great communicators, problem-solvers, collaborators, and leaders. The challenge for senior leaders is to recognize and nurture this talent, promoting it within the same role rather than pushing it into roles for which it is not suited.
Saying No to a Promotion
While many people aspire to climb the corporate ladder, not every promotion is a good fit. Sometimes, taking a new job with a higher title and salary can actually lead to decreased job satisfaction and a sense of being unfulfilled. This was the case for Marcus, a research scientist who realized that a promotion to a VP role would take him away from the work he loved and the people he enjoyed working with.
Marcus’s story is a reminder that daily job satisfaction is more important than a higher paycheck or a more impressive title. When considering a promotion, it’s important to ask yourself whether the new job will allow you to use the skills you enjoy using and work with the people you enjoy working with. If the answer is no, it may be better to decline the promotion and stay in your current role.
Declining a promotion can be a difficult decision, especially when it comes with the promise of a higher salary or increased prestige. But as Marcus’s story shows, it’s better to be happy and fulfilled in your work than to have a bigger paycheck or a more impressive title that comes with a job you don’t enjoy.
In the next section, we’ll look at the story of Kelsey, who took a promotion and quickly realized that it was not the right fit for her.
Saying Yes to a Promotion and Regretting It
While saying no to a promotion can be difficult, saying yes to one that isn’t a good fit can be even more damaging. Kelsey was a standout manager of a big-city education center, where she hired and trained staff and interacted with parents and children. She estimates that she put in about 20,000 steps a day because she was constantly in motion. Because of the facility’s unique location, it served students from some of the best and worst schools in the city, and yet it all just worked.
Then the company was bought by a larger firm. Seeing that Kelsey was a star, a newly installed executive urged her to apply for a job as a regional manager. She got the full-court press, fancy dinner included. So how could she say no? After all, instead of being in charge of one center, she would be overseeing eight centers. That was so much more impressive, right?
One day, while Kelsey was sitting alone in her apartment checking out the latest profits and losses, her boss called to ask her about the maintenance plan at one of the suburban centers. That’s when she knew she couldn’t take it much longer. Not much later, she quit her job and applied for a teaching-fellowship program at a public-school system. Now she teaches junior-high English.
Kelsey’s story is a cautionary tale for anyone considering a promotion that doesn’t align with their values, skills, and interests. While the promise of a higher salary or more impressive title can be tempting, it’s important to consider whether the new job will allow you to continue doing work you find fulfilling and meaningful. If the answer is no, it may be better to decline the promotion and stay in your current role, where you can continue to use your skills and expertise to drive the organization forward.
The Waffle House Way
If the corporate world is still struggling to promote stars within the same role, we can look to the Waffle House, a beloved restaurant chain that gets it right. With over 2,000 locations in the US South, the chain prides itself on never closing its doors, making it a favorite of long-haul truckers and anyone with a late-night craving for waffles or hash browns.
At Waffle House, new grill operators start with the title of, well, grill operator. They learn how to make every dish to the chain’s exacting standards and master Waffle House’s shorthand for servers to signal to grill operators what to make for each plate. With experience and training, these employees have an opportunity to rise to the level of master grill operator. After passing tests that demonstrate their knowledge of customer service, food safety, cooking, and Waffle House’s lore and practices, master operators receive a higher salary and more responsibilities.
After demonstrating further mastery of techniques and safety certifications, as well as generating a consistent average of $6,000 in revenue per shift, these grill operators receive another generous salary boost and get to be known as “Elvis of the grill.” Some of those who achieve this level take on additional responsibilities to train new employees, but the goal is to keep them doing what they do best, because without quality grill operators, the restaurants couldn’t maintain their trademark dishes or 24/7 schedule.
If Waffle House can get this concept right, why can’t the rest of the corporate world? The trades, at least, have long understood the value of promoting people within the same job. Someone who trains to be an electrician is an electrician for life, beginning as an apprentice, rising to become a journeyman, and closing their career as a master electrician, with corresponding jumps in pay and responsibilities. Smart companies have been applying this same concept to technical positions by creating technical career tracks for top performers rather than promoting them to team lead roles that would take them away from their excellent contributions.
We know of one tech executive who spent years thinking that the only way he could reward his best software engineers was to move them into people management roles. When he finally realized that this assumption was misguided, he thought it would be enough to set up separate promotional tracks for the engineers. But to his surprise, this wasn’t the “build it, and they will come” scenario that he had envisioned. Leaders hadn’t made the changes management required to keep these pathways fully operational and attractive to employees. His star employees, too, needed to unlearn the idea that staying in individual-contributor roles was unacceptable. The company needed to build a new employee value proposition for its rock stars in tech who derived their energy from technical work rather than managing others’ work.
If companies want to keep their superstars in place, they need to rethink traditional views of middle management and recognize the important role that middle managers play in driving an organization’s success. The best middle managers are often best off staying exactly where they are, using their skills and expertise to drive the organization forward, without sacrificing their job satisfaction or sense of purpose.
Retaining Middle Management Superstars
Retaining the best middle managers is critical to an organization’s success. These superstars are the linchpin between senior leadership and front-line employees, translating strategy into action and ensuring that goals are met. They are great communicators, problem-solvers, collaborators, and leaders. The challenge for senior leaders is to recognize and nurture this talent, promoting it within the same role rather than pushing it into roles for which it is not suited.
Senior leaders have several levers at their disposal to keep the best middle managers in place. These include salary and bonuses, stock and stock options, a bigger sphere of influence, title changes, challenging assignments, and flexible working arrangements.
The first lever, salary and bonuses, seems obvious, but it’s really not. It’s ingrained in corporate culture to pay officers, VPs, and other senior leaders more than middle managers. But why? When appropriate, pay the best middle managers even more than your senior leaders to show how much you value them. If you hear complaints from the executives, make up the difference in equity. Compensation should be commensurate with the value a role creates.
Speaking of equity, we’ve been surprised to hear how little equity most middle managers receive. Often, it’s zero or a pittance. Let your hardworking managers share in the equity pot, or you might just see them leave for a start-up that showers them with options. Yes, those start-up options need to vest, and they might end up being worthless, but they send an important message: if you help our company succeed, you will be mightily rewarded for it.
Expanding the scope or scale of what someone manages without changing the essentials of the job is another way to keep the best middle managers engaged. School districts sometimes do this with their principals, who are—when you think about it—the quintessential middle managers. Rather than promoting them into superintendent roles, which removes them from the teacher-student action, enlightened school districts will place them in much bigger schools instead. In the retail sector, a company might move an excellent manager from a smaller store to a superstore or give them hiring, training, and coaching duties at several additional stores.
Title changes can also be an effective way to retain middle management superstars. In the case of a store manager, a person’s title might change from junior manager to senior manager to executive manager as their sphere of influence grows. But these title changes can’t be no-cost empty words. A new title can come with measurable rewards and increased responsibility while still keeping the job’s focus at the center of the action.
Challenging assignments are another way to keep middle management superstars engaged. Every great manager we’ve met always has ideas about how to make things better. Ask your best ones what they would do if they were in charge. Then, if they’re willing, put them in charge of their great idea.
Finally, flexible working arrangements can go a long way toward retaining middle management superstars. Just as middle managers can make every effort to accommodate the needs and preferences of their reports, so can managers receive that same consideration from their bosses.
To offer the right rewards to your most-valued managers, ask them what they value. Some may appreciate a bump in salary; others may value more time off. Still, others may want a coveted assignment or a travel opportunity. Tailor your rewards to the priorities of your managers.
In short, we believe that organizations will reap huge benefits if they promote stars within the same role. The best middle managers are often best off staying exactly where they are, using their skills and expertise to drive the organization forward, without sacrificing their job satisfaction or sense of purpose. By recognizing and nurturing this talent, organizations can ensure that they have the right people in the right roles to achieve their goals and succeed in today’s rapidly changing workplace.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we have argued that retaining middle management superstars is key to an organization’s success. Middle managers are critical to an organization’s success, translating strategy into action and ensuring that goals are met. They are great communicators, problem-solvers, collaborators, and leaders.
We have explored the problems with traditional views of middle management and have shared stories of managers who said no to promotions and those who said yes and regretted it. We have looked to the Waffle House as an example of how to promote stars within the same role and have provided senior leaders with levers they can use to keep the best middle managers in place.
We believe that organizations will reap huge benefits if they promote stars within the same role. The best middle managers are often best off staying exactly where they are, using their skills and expertise to drive the organization forward, without sacrificing their job satisfaction or sense of purpose. By recognizing and nurturing this talent, organizations can ensure that they have the right people in the right roles to achieve their goals and succeed in today’s rapidly changing workplace.
In short, we urge senior leaders to recognize the important role that middle managers play in driving an organization’s success and to invest in their development and retention. By doing so, organizations can ensure that they have the right people in the right roles to achieve their goals and succeed in today’s rapidly changing workplace.