Why Middle Management is the Hardest Job | Simon Sinek
The middle management team is stuck between strategic and tactical thinking - they're the translator between the two. Things break when we don't train people how to lead OR the senior leadership's focus isn't aligned with the people below them.
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Simon is an unshakable optimist who believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Simon teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. With a bold goal to help build a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single day feeling inspired, feel safe at work, and feel fulfilled at the end of the day, Simon is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. Simon is the author of multiple best-selling books including Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, Together is Better, and Find Your Why. His new book, The Infinite Game, will be released in 2019.
Simon’s WHY: To inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that, together, each of us can change our world for the better.
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Middle management was all the responsibility and none of the credit or freedom to make impact decisions in my experience. It can be a horrible place in a company.
I'm a middle manager but feel systems of rewards are crucial: if a female team member does well, I'll pay for her to go to my spa (facial etc), if a bloke hits his targets, I'll bring him in my office for an old fashioned gear and whiskey session. It's worked for me but understand it is not conventional.
Ok so if middle managers are just yes men to executives and have no real power to make decisions why do they always act like they DO have power and instead of discussing issues and finding solutions are just massive roadblocks. I've had so many middle managers that just get in the way of my job instead of supporting me and helping me get things done quickly, they act like drill sargeants telling you what needs to be done but when its time do any actual work they cant support the people who ARE ACTUALLY doint the work.
@@BillClinton228middle management are literally just leeches, they get paid more to just suck off the big boss and be his good little attack dog. Terrible people usually
I try to avoid being given responsibility for something without also being given the authority to make it happen. I just become frustrated and it benifits no one.
Exactly. If I make a decision only for another manager to come by and tell me to completely redo it, then I don't want the job in the first place.
Yup, thats the downfall in some jobs. Responsibility without authority is crazy hard if you dont have the perfect staff, or are great at getting them great fast.
Responsibility without authority is the worst thing that I experience at work. When you know 2+2=4 because of all your prior experience, but now you are being told 2+2=5, and you can't do anything about it. Bureaucracy, red tape, and ego are the enemy of a strategist. I have left companies based on this, and I am considering leaving the one I am currently at.
“Be the leader you wish you always had”
And then get shown the door for not being a good "yes man"
Don't... Just do what Romans do when in Rome. Get your promotion and keep it moving. You don't need people do love you, just be tolerable.
I like to keep my team on their feet. Some days I am erratic, impulsive and aggressive, some days I am kind and caring. Other days I berate my team for being morons, then I shower them with treats (could be a bag for the women, gear for blokes etc). Its this that works so well and keep my team working.
@@clegsmegson2627 so basically you suck
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I definitely disagree with him on the "What do I do when my boss is terrible and doesn't get it?" statement. I've done the be the "leader you wish you had" action. You just end up working crazy hours cause you're doing 2 jobs now and you're in an organizational structure that doesn't value the extra you're bringing. That's the reason why your boss is your boss; if they valued what you were generating your boss wouldn't be your boss. Find a company that rewards and appreciates what you do and go work for them.
Not to mention, the first thing that happens is your boss will try to take credit for all your extra work
Good point.
Yeah - I think quit was his first response and is best!
Well he did mention quitting so... there’s that
he did mention quitting is one of the options... you have multiple options...
In my organization, the problem is not with middle management. The lives of middle managers are hard because the people above them don't know how to let go of the action. I've been a senior manager in a smaller part of my organization, and my team was so successful and happy that they all threatened to quit when I was transferred, because they were afraid of what would come next. Now I'm in a larger part of the organization as a middle manager and my problem is not with leading, it is with having no authority and insecure bosses who can't let go. I have no idea how to deal with this. People like to blame middle managers, but now that I'm here and have already been on top, I can see it is more the senior's responsibility.
I have never agreed with anything more in my life. This is my current life, and it is the hardest thing I have ever done professionally.
Gene Clark - Self Development Quest same here Gene, at least we’re here watching these videos trying to Improve ourselves for our team at work. Best of luck to you!!
Agree. Having been in the most senior role, middle management roles and junior roles, Simon is spot on.
I’m right there with you Gene. Tough position to be in. I really felt that shit when Simon explained having to translate up and down the leadership chain.
I hate to hear that guys. Some of the things that have helped me are investing in my own leadership journey. I have done this by reading a lot of leadership books and employing what makes sense and getting rid of what doesn't. My favorite books are Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, Extreme Ownership and Dichotomy of Leadership by Joko Wilink and another book called Servant Leadership (forgot the author's name) and Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss (great for learning to negotiate) as well as Atomic Habits by James Clear. I also attend the Global Leadership Summit (depending on who is speaking, some of the speakers are too agenda driven so I research who they are and what they stand for and represent before I buy a ticket). I also listen to a podcast called the Craig Greoschel Leadership Podcast (start at the beginning). What I learned in the first 6 episodes took me 20 years to learn in life. I wish I'd have found that information sooner. Hope this helps folks. Lead from where you are and let the investment in those you lead be what motivates you.
I've seen this happen so many times. Middle managers have to be part visionary, part leader, part accountability partner, and be able to have a very strong self confidence. The biggest thing I've learned is to help teach middle managers leadership skills. Thank you Simon!
It is almost impossible to be a good leader without the right level of emotional intelligence. Luckily we can do a lot to increase it and make it stronger.
Well you can’t, that’s why it’s EQ, its a inbuilt.
My experience is as an Electrician your expected to be an Electrician, be a supervisor, be a project manager all in one. All the things the project manager should be doing is put onto you. And you can’t concentrate on being a supervisor because your still trying to do the electrician role at the same time. This is why I no longer work as a supervisor. It was making me ill.
People are usually shocked when they find out I'm not a very good electrician.
@@emc84 It takes a bright spark to get this joke :)
Simon’s making the assumption here that those ineffective middle managers used to do the job they’re supervising, but in my experience in banking that was rarely the case. I’ve seen it again and again that middle managers have very little experience and/or technical knowledge, but have got into their position on expert arse kissing and bullshitting, deemed to be ‘leadership potential’. Then what happens is that their subordinates (I hate that term) suss them out immediately and end up working independently, the middle manager realises they’re out of their depth, and then take credit for their subordinates’ work whilst simultaneously stabbing them in the back because they feel threatened by the fact that their subordinates are more knowledgeable than them. And all whilst the middle manager is kissing their boss’s arse whilst trying to clamber over them on the corporate ladder. I’ve seen it so many times.
That's really interesting... and gives me "even more faith" in the institutes that handle my money. I worked as a scientist in industry and academia and in marketing and in so far in all cases, it was as Simon Sinek describes it.
I’ve often wondered why this is seemingly rife in banking rather than industries and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because it’s an industry that people don’t ever, or rarely, aspire to be a part of, and is something that people fall into by default (much like myself) as they’re not capable of anything else. So what happens is that you get swathes of people of mediocre intelligence and conscientiousness who will do just enough not to get fired, and if they stick around long enough almost get grandfathered into some position of authority based purely on longevity. And you can see it.....people know they’re not very good at their jobs and will never be clever enough to do a ‘complicated’ job, so they suss out very early on that the only chance they have of progressing (quite often to a VERY well paid position) is to play the corporate game.....throw out lots of buzz words and terms, have lots of pointless meetings, stab the back of those below and kiss the arse of those above.....hey sesame, a banking career! They know they’ll never be SO senior as to actually have to do anything important, but as a manager/supervisor/project manager, they can quite comfortably earn close to six figures and still leave the office in time for power yoga. And I wouldn’t worry about your money.....all banks/investment managers invest in exactly the same stuff based on the same research anyway. The markets are almost like self-fulfilled prophecies and nobody dares deviate from the norm.
@@tchai91 I love the insight! It's a world that is quite foreign to me. I only observe the effects that it has on the real world and how it also affects the behaviour of other people. Btw would love to sit down with you and pick your brain for an evening, but in the absence of that possibility, here's something I don't understand that you maybe can clarify ;) I met people working in banking that are highly educated, e.g. PhD level mathematics etc. This particular guy worked in credit card security. What is the reason they don't make it to the top? Is there only one particular reason? It's curious because banks are not part of the government, so underperformance should lead to being laid off rather than just a waiting game and being 'promoted away' to a positron where you don't cause too much damage...
Well I don’t profess to be an expert at all, but I’m going purely on what I’ve observed at every bank I’ve worked at over the last 20 years. As for your friend, obviously I don’t know his particular circumstances, but I have seen it where very, very talented and highly qualified people get trapped in certain jobs. I wouldn’t put myself in the talented or clever category, but it’s happened to me too, and if you have a particular temperament, it’s very difficult to extricate yourself from that trap. Let’s say that your friend is incredibly good at his job....very knowledgeable, brilliant problem solver and incredibly industrious. An employer’s dream and also a dream for his/her manager. Okay, so given those set of circumstances, why on earth would his/her boss ever promote him/her? There would be no motivation for them to do so, as their boss effectively had no managing to do, they look great to their boss, as all the work is being done quickly and efficiently, and they are possibly/probably taking the credit for it and receiving the financial benefits of your friend’s efforts. And I’ve seen particularly nasty bosses make things up about their staff just to make sure that their position isn’t threatened. To paraphrase Simon Sinek, they manage up, not down. If your friend is anything like me, then I was brought up to keep my head down, don’t complain and work hard, and you will receive the rewards and credit you receive, which unfortunately just does not work in the corporate world, as you will just be ignored. People tend to think that if you’re hard working and quiet and don’t complain, that you’re not actually doing anything, whereas it’s those people who moan incessantly about how busy they are who ironically seem to do well.
Oh, and to answer your question about why these people aren’t laid off.....in my opinion is generally because they’re great actors and expert arse kissers and will do and say the right things when their boss is around. There’s also the cost element of laying people off, especially if they’ve been at a company for 15/20 years. I suspect that many companies hope that these people will leave of their own accord due to boredom rather than paying them off.
The classic issue is senior management are scared of holding each other to account and try to force the issue by using people below them to be the messengers.
This is very true, and the worst practice in some large organisations. It creates a poisonous atmosphere with teams or departments battling each other without support from their leaders, in fact effectively encouraging opposing positions, when it could all be resolved at the senior management level. The board should be seeing this and resolving it but presumably the senior management are back stabbing each other and the board don't know who's to blame. This can lead to an entrenched culture. I worked in a large broadband and cable TV company with this problem...
I’ve talked about this at a lot of orgs I’ve worked at with bad middle managers. It frustrates me that high performers get upgraded to a manager and left to drown rather than given the education they need to support their team and org. Which usually causes them to default to what they did previously leaving a team to lead themselves. Which can be chaotic if it’s not a good group.
I just can't thank you enough Simon. You're helping me so much during a really difficult season - you just can't know how much you've helped me on dark days. God bless you Simon xx
Love how Simon Sinek can do a short explanation that better explains my beliefs about middle management when I tell my own managers why I internally fight and push back against them about being promoted myself.
Thanks so.much, Simon... for finding my WHY. As internal Auditor (ISO 9001 Quality Management System). I have the privelege to be allowed to dive deeply into processes of our global company (in Europe)... and to adress opportunities and risks.. without having a fear to loose my job.... cause internal audits are a must to get the cerificate. I am soooo in resonance with your mindset... and your videos help me finding much better words and pictures to encourage our people to stand up for their visions how to improve "crossfunctional process orientation" and to avoid silo thinking. How to fullfill "Customer first" by serving and helping each other. It is all about human communities to "survive". And today... had an Audit follow up meeting... and I am so happy to see how the invitees are so engaged to work together to overcome the identified issues. And the most root causes for issues... to my experience... are a lack of real face to face communication. Our meeting today was so succsessful cause we were sitting together in one room... no virtual skype meeting. My WHY is serving my colleagues to create a much better human working world for themselves and their teams. The audit results encourage especially the middle management and give them the permission to speak up, be creative, doing networking, to feel own power and strength to overcome the issues. My job is "helping others to help themselves" and to make them proud to go through challenges and fix problems.....with loving co-operation. Without this Auditor Job I guess I would have been totally burned out in that shareholder value driven company.
Thank you for your books and training. I had this experience and did exactly what you mention in the video. Ours is a small company and now rest of the groups want to work with our group/team. Not only that, my team is excited to work not because they have to but because they really want to!
Thank you for taking the time to share your insight Simon, much appreciated
I can relate to this sooo much. It's hard to be in middle level management.
This really explains a lot of what I've experienced myself, really insightful
Thank you for this great video! As a middle manager this definitely is the biggest challenge I have. Simon Sinek, you always inspire me. 🙏
So true, breaking down the longterm strategic goals into micro routine and milestones is difficult. Thats why I try to educate myself with exactly these core skills and knowledge, to one day become this layed back perfectly skilled leader people look up to and people like to work for and give 100% for. Enthusiasm needs to be created at work. its not there from nothing.
Well said! When there is no good leadership, you can either 1) quit or 2) take on the challenge and be the leader you wish you had, and take care of those under your care. It’s then the bosses job to take care of you if you’re doing well. But yea, I agree with Simon if you have a strong and solid leadership team, word will spread and attract talent!
Amen. Leadership must be learned especially how to deal with people. Most people in higher positions forget about how they were in the positions below. 🙏 ❗
This is so true. I have said for a long time now that the first-line leader (a.k.a. middle manager) is the most valuable AND most overlooked asset in any organization. The person in that role, if properly supported, can - as you say in the video - make SUCH A DIFFERENCE for the people who work for them and for the company as a whole. I am not one iota surprised that everyone wanted to come work for that team whose leader was trained and supported in being a true leader!
@joshua7878 Sadly - that's often true. BUT in my view, that's a judgment on the more-senior leadership. One should not be handcuffed in that role, one should be encouraged and enabled!
Be the leader you had, always ask yourself to do something that you want someone to do.
I used to think that I already know all the things in the world from my formal education and many self-help readings, until I became a middle manager for a division of 40+ colleagues. Now I’m in this position for almost 7 years, it’s a journey of bitterness and sweetness, hatred and loves, betray and loyalty.... Finally, I now realize it’s a great journey only a lucky few can value. Thank you Simon!
I serve in the army and I totally agree with you. It takes time to learn your own way of management style with very stressful time, some even leave and get another career.
I've been saying the same thing for years, though for different reasons. The pattern I've seen if that the lower levels of an organization are primarily responsible for supporting the people below them (managing down, AKA: leaders), but the higher levels are instead primarily responsible for supporting the people above (managing up, AKA: managers). This leads to an inflection point in the middle, typically closer to the bottom, where either there are people who need to manage both directions simultaneously, and get burned out, or the organization is left with a complete disconnect between the "up" and "down" sides of the organization.
Interesting notion, but unsound. E.g. employ a larger amount of people to be in that middle part supporting both sides and that relieves the pressure.
@@wizard7314 the trend in most companies is the opposite; hollowing out of middle management. Try reading the Atlantic article "How McKinsey Destroyed the Middle Class"
Yep, I did 30 yrs. In the Army... big difference between leadership and management. Civilian organizations that recognize this are successful, those that don't tend to fail for the very reasons he speaks about.
I was so lucky to receive a special training for that purpose (pharma industry) ...and still I broke in the middle. Called burn-out. The training was good (analytically speaking) but lacked the follow-up training for those skills you mention here. Today I specialized on that process in order to develop those skills. Everybody has them. Can be difficult to access due to unconscious beliefs & emotions. Today I provide the tools for you to dissolve those inner obstacles so you can unleash your full potential.
This perfectly describes my situation now. I was given less than a days worth of training before taking up my position and am expected to know as much as managers who have decades of experience.
You don't have to take the job. And how come you got the job and the rest knows tons more.
Upper management is usually made of paper people. They chase paper, they only care if employees look good on paper, and their skin is made of paper.
Hey Jordan, sorry to hear that you had the same experience. How is the situation now?
I was given advice by someone who worked for a leadership company. My company is very small and it’s just me doing bodywork. There’s no advice for that other than find continuing education to find answers, or self-autodidactic. But, what he said about “be the leader you wish you had” does matter.
This is an interesting topic as for every CEO there are thousands of middle managers and they tend to be ignored in leadership books.
There is a book covering 80% of middle mangement (between CEO and teamleads). It is called "Bullshit Jobs".
The fact there are thousands of middle managers in the first place is the issue
@@OriginalKKBliterally just leeches that suck the boss off and stroke their ego. I hate everyone in middle management they’re all two faced narcissists with massive egos
I saw this problem in practice at a car dealership. No joke, they just take the best car salespeople and expect them to be good leaders. From what I saw the very same traits that make someone a good salesperson can make someone a bad leader.
Really true..I had managed it the way it was explained ..But when the there is an unrealistic pressure that caused bcz of poor planning of TOP management trying to cross the boundaries that was build to manage your won team...You have no option to clash with Top Management..that may lead to quite your job and join else where and pull the good team members.
I did it for years before starting my own company. You are the filter from the director speak that the shop floor would not understand. Not because they are stupid - but because upper management talk in jargon, and often abstract everything. They aren't interested in detail and practicalities of a production cycle unless there is a problem. "Next month we need more of product A, D and R" Ok. Different tooling, different skill sets, different raw material requirements and timings. A lot goes into making that change. The shop floor also don't want to know about that detail. They turn up, get an hourly pay rate and expect (quite rightly) to have the tools, raw materials and instructions in front of them to get on with the job... whatever the job is that day. Middle management sort out the bit in-between. Often while also acting as diplomats between teh two extremes "You tell those feck wits upstairs that this doesn't work and we need longer to do X. Y or Z" and "We need these changes tomorrow, go downstairs and tell the shop floor to swap over to A, B and C" It's hard to keep friends in middle management. You are often both sides whipping boy. The bearer of bad news in both directions and appreciated for nothing.
This !!!
So true, we miss leaders.
Thank you! Promote these all over the world, so we can be heard.
Middle management exists only because the top management wants a middleman to do the part of the job they hate. All corporations should head towards a more deflated hierarchy if they want a fast adapting and less bureaucratic culture.
Middle management exists because of the volume of work lol
@@Aliktren Which should be automated as much as possible.
@trufiend138 I am in management. 150 is too few in my company. We have at least 300x of that number of managers, directors and VPs globally. And yes, I know very well the kind of trash administrative tasks that I am compelled to do for being part of the management team even though I would prefer to spend time with my team on brainstorming new ideas and create more solutions.
@@lsw2519 I'm only two steps from the CEO. My juniors are only three. This is pretty much the least inflated hierarchy that exists in a large business. The tradeoff is the the organization is wider to account for all the work that isn't being done through additional levels of hierarchy going upwards. You can't automate a lot of these jobs, so this is what we get in the meantime. If you cut my nearest four peers, I would need an additional 10 engineers to make up the difference, most likely. There's a real business cost to having fewer leaders, as well as a strategic cost.
@@allenklingsporn6993 The key is to find the most optimum levels of hierarchy but not to the point of causing a bloated organization where decisions take forever to be executed. The organization I am working for has about 14-15 layers in total so you can imagine the insanity that goes on everyday. Visions from the top get twisted into completely different agendas by the middle layer and innovative ideas from the bottom also get killed off before they reach the top layer.
So true. You're trying to keep the employees under you happy. Because if they're unhappy, you're gonna have a bad time. But you're trying to please your bosses too. Because if they're unhappy, you're gonna have a bad time
0:00 “The middle management is the hardest job in any organization.” 00:30 “...the problem is they don’t give you any training to do that.” 1:14 “...there are 2 factors..we don’t people to lead..” 1:57 “...why on earth do we think we could promote someone to a leadership position without showing them how to do it.” 2:16 “...to be the leader you wish you had...” 3:29 “...diamond in the rough...”
Currently dealing with that the past 3 months in my company... it's definitely tough
I recently started a business because im currently a middle manager and im slowly growing tired of being everybody’s scapegoat. I really hope my current venture works out because my attitude towards my current position isnt sustainable over long periods of time and that same attitude naturally worsens over time regardless of who you are.
True words. Experiencing this since a few years.
Hence you end up with the Peter Principle, where people gets promoted to their highest level of incompetence.
Absolutely spot on 👍
I would think to continue being the better leader, even if the higher ups don't "get it" or appreciate it. The ones you work around more often will appreciate you more and eventually you'll get recognized for it, and hopefully others will start to follow suit as well
I'm in middle management and today nearly burned out. So yes, I agree it's an inconvenient place. But I don't agree that they are no training organized about leadership for middle managers. I even feel that every top manager always ask for trainings for middle management and most of the time got it. But the problem is, in my opinion, that the job is difficult because you have to manage AND to lead at the same time. You are asked to do a lot of reporting, showing results without having the ressources to reach your goals, and in the same time really take care of your people or your team. And then you attrackt people, which is good but often without the competencies you need in your team, zo you train them, which take time and diminish your results and so on... I've not yet figured out how to make it a vertueuse circle...
This is a fantastic video. It's clear and easy to understand your explanations. Thank you for providing this information.
I've seen this issue happen at almost every company that I've worked at. Senior managers do not hire people they think will be a threat to their job. So they hire mediocre middle managers who do enough of the job to not get fired, but aren't great at it. This way they aren't a threat to the senior managers role but it doesn't help the company.
I used to watch undercover boss a lot. What I found interesting was that whether the CEO ran the company well, or ran it very poorly- they typically were rather bad at the lower level jobs within their own organizations, even garnering complaints from their coworkers! Knowing what those jobs do, and the ins-and-outs of how things are organized is all a leader needs to know. Working those jobs for a while is useful, but being the best at them is unnecessary.
I work for a large tech company and his comments are so true.
Wow... the ending is amazing.
Fully agree. Simple concepts most of the time missunderstood 👍👏
As a manager, one year I read 18 books about Leadership. I'm not sure my Director has EVER read a leadership book. So right on. Love the message of motivating oneself 💗
@ScienceVideosFan absolutely yes. Lots of strategies for keeping myself positive
I was this person. I started in the company as a garbage man in the stewarding department at a bar restaurant. I worked my butt off and made it through to management in 2yrs. The company was thriving so much that the owner made me the General Manager a year after. I never went to college just a high school graduate. I was self thought reading management for dummies and following your videos. I’m no longer the GM after Covid began.
Brought to you by the American Middle Management Association.
I can relate this with a friend of mine. He has his idea of a perfect pursuit but peers find him to be too authoritarian thus uninterested to work along. Yet same situation with Steve Jobs at helm, everyone would have agreed with the leaders contrarian views. He is unable to effectively communicate
This is true ... great thanks
They get grief from above and below. Never wanted that job.
My managers want to promote me and I keep saying the exact same thing to them. I keep telling them I was management 10 years ago and it wasn't my strength. I explain that organizational and strategic thinking about efficiency is my strength and it's ignored. I tell them I want promoted... But not to their position.
I learned this lesson years ago in the Army. I'm glad someone who has a voice is teaching it.
Which lesson exactly?
@@harshvardhanwagare5663 the importance of middle management, in the Army the NCO corp, and that the path to good leadership is to be the leader you wish you had.
@@harshvardhanwagare5663 That your team is only as good as you are. Give your employees a reason to put in the extra effort other than a paycheck. As I told someone else in this thread... You don't wait to see if your "new hire" workers are worth it. You show them that your worth it. "Regard your soldiers as your own beloved sons, and they will follow you to the deepest valleys" -Sun Szu, 'The art of War'.
@@thepsychicspoon5984 Yes I've to learn a lot and keep it up thanks for that :)
Another issue is that the responsibility of middle managers is far larger than what they get paid, so alot of them just do the bare minimum and teams suffer for it
I highly recommend the book The Manager's Manager Strategies and Tactics for Effective Leadership
Overheard middle management at a company i used to work for talking to each other about how difficult they find managing the workers under them as in their own view the company was taking advantage of the lowest paid workers, but at the same time they have to enforce a work culture that said "we care" when not even middle management are really cared for.
Reasons I got into and the out of middle management... was it worth it. I am much healthier and sane , and this guy isn't selling it :) if upper management dont care, you are suppose thanklessly. Quitting is a great way to show uppermanagement there is something drastically wrong if they arnt listening to your efforts
Really helpful to watch this. Thank you.
Best speech ever :) good job simon
You have got the right point!👍☺
This explains it perfectly
Peter Principle. People are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
When I went from coder to manager , it was extremely hard and took 5 years until I really felt like I “got it” because of all the new things I had to learn. I find it funny when people on KZhead say managers aren’t needed, as I’ve found the culture super dependent on the management to lead exactly like explained in this video.
Training people how to lead is critical. Thank you Simon!
Thank you sir..
“Get trained how to do you job” not always the case. Sometimes you just get onboarded with the expectation to know it all and have no reference on what exactly to do.
I think tactful more than tactical. And you are right, lack of training and lack of interest from the bosses. It needs to change.
The biggest problem is that the most lowly manager is seen as more important than the most expert specialists. You reach the peak of your speciality and suddenly the only way to get "promoted" i.e. get paid what you deserve, is to step down into management. I've never met a specialist who was happy making that move. So if they all hate it it's no wonder they do a shit job. And where did this idea of management class superiority come from? The military, in which all the posh boys were made officers.
I love how Simon tells a story and pitches his service in the same conversation.
Ask A Walker with Keller Williams Kingstowne you mean growing his business? Yeah, that’s super weird.
I am an Extrovert and that is my personality. There are times I become an Introvert in crowds of people or a group workers who work on things because I feel my thoughts are worthy.
And what is the most annoying is that those at the top have most of the time never been in the middle...... or forget what it was like if they had.
Hmm... Simon I love when you put words to these kind of important things. I’m the middle manager who is the avid student of leadership and such.. It’s fun and really hard and I try to be the leader I always wanted for myself and use what I can get to succeed incrementally. Most love it some don’t.. can’t win em all eh? :)
Thanks you for sharing 🙏🙏
The real difficulty in the middle is that the ones below care about anything BUT themselves and the ones above either only care about the bottom line OR they don't see the reality at the bottom.
Brilliant, as usual, Simon. Thank you! Be the leader you wish you had ;) LOVE that!
I'm trying to figure out why Simon is not cringe. Not like other career coaches. I love Simon!
Be the leader you wish you had is a start, but a better approach is be the leader your people need because your people may not wish they had the same things you wish. We’re all motivated differently. Know your people
“Most things break in the middle.” This is why I spend so much time doing core workouts 😆. I agree tho, the middle gets banged on by the bottom (can I get more time off, raise, etc) and the top (can we cut costs, increase production, efficiency) and it’s super hard fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. Also it would be awesome if we stopped calling management, management. Think about when you use the word manage: how did you make out? “I managed” or “somehow I managed to...” Doesn’t sound very inspiring does it? Sometimes just relabeling something reframes the behavior around it and changes how it gets interacted with. Also teaching leadership is a pretty good idea too 😉
So what do you reframe the 'Managememt' to?
I agree with your point though.
Top Gun Pilot that’s a really good question. It funny I have thought about it, although haven’t really THOUGHT about it. I believe the name of the position should be more of a verb so it becomes more actionable than a noun. Easiest example would be leader. Like what does a manager do? They manage. What does a leader do? They lead. One is easier to visualize and see than the other. I once went whitewater rafting, and we had a guide ( there’s another good word we could use) to literally guide and show us what direction to go in to make it down the river, what to avoid and where to specifically position the raft to get down the river. I imagine if we had a “raft manager” it would have been a lot less confidence inspiring to pilot this big inflatable piece of rubber down a raging river with us in it. I know it may be just semantics, maybe not tho. I also like Sensei, even tho it may not technically a verb, I like the symbolism behind the true meaning of that word. It’s actually 2 words, aen meaning before
...sen meaning before and sei meaning born, so it literally means born before, or I have gone before you therefore I have gained some knowledge that you haven’t yet. I feel it doesn’t setup hierarchies like I am better than you( like some of our position titles can do), it just means I have been doing it a little longer than you. Could be just because I do martial arts tho 😉
Training the next generation of leaders is the military's core organizational skill after warfighting. Everyone gets the importance of senior NCOs and Company leadership.
Good one Simon 👌👍
Listening to this makes me believe that the Empire Strikes Back is the most accurate movie representing corporate: Vader promotes Imperial officers without showing them how to lead and then "removes" them when they don't do a good job. Hell, the only one who showed leadership skills was captain Needa, but after taking charge and taking responsibility, he was "removed". Why the hell would anyone want a promotion? It truly is an insane analogy of how things run in the real world (minus force choking)
I've seen corporate versions of the force choking too... Psychological rather than physical but just as humiliating and painful when done in front of colleagues. Love your analogy!
Reason I left middle management. I had zero training in supervisor duties but was expected to hold up the whole team while they were all quitting from being overworked and not getting help soon enough. Talk about stress. Seeya back to the original position.
Mid management is hard due to begin able to deliver the vision, brand and values, while commanding a load of competitive rabble that must command and deliver revenue within the vision and branding from the top.
I agree with the first paragraph of your description, but no - things break where they are weakest, not "in the middle". Those who can, do. Those who can't, manage.
I dreamed I forgot to adjust something, turning inventory out at retail as fast as we get it in, so yes we are running low/mid/high management as fast as possible now, thank You
I am 6 months into my new job as an admin officer for an accounting firm. Initially it was simple tasks and basic day to day things I could do on repeat, NOW I find Im multi tasking multiple lodgements for over 100 companies, responding to managers requests constantly, responding to emails that come through, handling phone calls, ordering food and supplies for the office, making ATO calls and processing tax returns, allocating share structures etc. Tbh Im overwhelmed. Im not an accountant and do not wish to be but I feel more of my work crosses over with finance and accounting.
OMG!!! I could not agree more
It is very telling that when complaining about those above middle management (at 2:40) Simon refers to them as senior "management" instead of senior "leadership."
Great topic. It’s a huge problem. I have found that the best sales people usually don’t make the best sales managers. Management needs to pick one of the better sales people, but this person also needs to know how to TEACH the job to less experienced people. Sometimes the tasks must be retaught in a new way in order to for the employee to learn the task. Never reprimand. Reteach. The middle manager also needs to get to know his/her people and know their personal goals. Motivation must be geared to the individual. Doing this job well must be linked to the individual’s personal goals.
well said Simon :)
Demand and supply factors applies at all stages of firm. we are also products. Develop quality means , increase efficiency, which means more output or decrease cost of production. There are factors like boss and behavior, which are other factors in our growth equation. Point comes , where individual somehow perceive Boss as an organization, and that exactly what happens. The exercise is how to upgrade our skills and be in demand. The speaker is therefore right, by saying that mid manager needs support.
I've masterred 'the middle' before I've joined the workforce. How I did it? Scouting. Scouting tought me all the needed skillset. Now I need to understand hoew not to get 'stuck in the middle' 😅