Emily Field, a partner at McKinsey & Company and co-author of *Power to the Middle*, discusses the often-overlooked significance of middle managers in organizations. She reveals the unique challenges they face and argues for recognizing their role as critical to employee engagement and overall success. Emily emphasizes the need for senior leaders to support middle managers through job rebundling and talent redistribution, transforming these roles into empowering positions that enhance productivity and workplace culture.
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insights INSIGHT
The Importance of Middle Managers
Middle managers are often called the "permafrost layer" because they are seen as resistant to change.
Empowering middle managers and selecting the right people for these roles is crucial, as their impact on employee satisfaction is significant.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Optimizing Manager's Individual Work
While the "player-coach" model can be useful, ensure managers focus on individual work they uniquely can do.
Avoid assigning them tasks their team should handle or tasks they pick up due to understaffing.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Promoting Within Middle Management
Promote top middle managers within their roles rather than out of management entirely.
Create destination roles in middle management, rewarding those who excel in people leadership.
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In 'Power to the Middle', Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, and Emily Field argue that middle managers are uniquely positioned to connect company strategy with ground-level operations, making them vital for navigating complex change and driving innovation. The book offers a new model for hiring, training, and rewarding these managers, emphasizing their role in talent management and organizational agility.
Multipliers
How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
Liz Wiseman
In 'Multipliers,' Liz Wiseman explores the differences between two types of leaders: Multipliers and Diminishers. Multipliers are leaders who bring out the best in their teams, amplifying their intelligence and capabilities, while Diminishers are those who stifle their teams' potential. The book outlines five disciplines of Multipliers: Talent Magnet, Liberator, Challenger, Debate Maker, and Investor. These disciplines help leaders create an environment where team members feel valued, inspired, and empowered to contribute their best. Wiseman's research shows that Multipliers get twice as much from their people compared to Diminishers, who often leave their teams underutilized and demotivated.
Impact Players
How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact
Liz Wiseman
In 'Impact Players', Liz Wiseman identifies the key differences between high-impact contributors and typical contributors. Based on a study of 170 top contributors, Wiseman explains how small differences in thinking and acting can make a significant impact. She outlines five practices that distinguish Impact Players: figuring out the real job to be done, stepping up to lead, moving things across the finish line, adapting to change, and making heavy demands feel lighter. The book provides insights and practical tools to help anyone contribute at their highest level and shows leaders how to raise the performance of their teams.
Emily Field: Power to the Middle
Emily Field is a partner at McKinsey & Company. She works with leaders to shape data-driven organizational strategies designed to achieve business objectives, establish talent management as a distinctive advantage, and secure the human resources function as a driver of business value.
Emily has worked with companies across industries, leading initiatives to transform the way organizations work. She puts particular emphasis on helping to establish a talent-first approach, instilling a high-performance culture, and adopting effective people-analytics approaches. She is the co-author along with Bill Schaninger and Bryan Hancock of Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work*.
As anybody who’s worked in middle management can attest, it’s one of the hardest jobs you’ll ever have. Too often we take middle management for granted, but organizations that learn how to better support middle managers can leverage their power and expertise to do a lot of good. In this conversation, Emily and I highlight the challenges of middle management, the unique value the middle managers bring to organizations, and the steps senior leaders can take to better support middle managers.
Key Points
Middle managers often have less power and control than the people who report to them. This results in them not feeling like they are set up for success.
The “player-coach” model of managers doing individual contributor work can be useful, but it’s critical for organizations to be mindful that the work is uniquely suited for a manager to do.
Rather than promoting the best middle managers out of their roles, promote from within. Reward top middle managers who decide to make their positions a destination, not just a waypoint.
As technology and AI changed the nature of work, middle managers are uniquely qualified to know how to best rebundle jobs and redistribute talent.
A key question for senior leadership to answer: What do we want middle managers to be doing?
Resources Mentioned
Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work* by Emily Field, Bill Schaninger, and Bryan Hancock
Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
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How to Multiply Your Impact, with Liz Wiseman (episode 554)
How Top Leaders Influence Great Teamwork, with Scott Keller (episode 585)
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