The Case for Middle Management Coaches

Companies often get coaches for their top folks, “Executive coaches” to help them learn how to lead the large teams they have inherited. But not so much the middle folks … isn’t that a little bit like waiting until the team’s in the playoffs - “oh, maybe we should start coaching them now?”

I understand why.

Coaching is an investment. So, it’s easier to wait and see who rises to the top, and then jump in and fix all the bad habits they’ve developed along the way.

If you’ve met me, you know I’m no athlete. But I do know this, no one reaches elite levels of the sports without continuous coaching to learn, improve, and eliminate bad habits.

In fact, I’d venture to say that we rarely ever see what’s possible in the realm of great leadership because, by the time people reach the upper echelons, they are already too set in their “successful” ways to try something different.

Even worse, we might be cutting the best leaders from the team way too soon. At least in sports, people are selected for natural talent in the sport in question. But, in leadership, we cut people from the team based on their level of natural talent for functional skills rather than leadership abilities.

Who knows what’s been lost in the process?

So here’s my case for middle management coaching:

Why the current approach doesn’t work:

The traditional way of coaching middle managers is to let senior managers coach their people. It’s cost effective.

Unfortunately, it’s also ineffective in many cases precisely because the senior leaders were never coached themselves. As a result, either 1. they are naturally talented and have a hard time passing along what they instinctively know, or 2. they have developed bad leadership styles and habits that work, essentially, through “brute force” and “fear.”

Where middle management coaching can help:

By middle management coaching, I’m referring to two levels of coaching support: 1. Coaching the middle managers themselves, coupled with 2. Coaching the people who lead them.

The first type of coaching ideally focuses on giving the middle leaders a framework for understanding their roles as well as specific training and on-going reinforcement in defined skills for managing up, leading teams, and influencing organizations.

The second type of coaching focuses on the managers of middle managers, giving them an understanding of the transformation they must inspire in their employees, an understanding of milestones and pitfalls to be aware of, and an “accountability partner” who ensures that they aren’t perpetuating bad habits or lapsing into absentee leadership with the middle folks who report to them.

Justifying the investment:

Bad leadership is about checking off tasks. Great leadership is about creating a multiplier effect that leverages not only the talents, but also the brains of the whole team rather than just the leader.

Creating teams that constantly learn, grow, improve, and innovate almost certainly will more than cover the investment in coaching.

But I know that’s probably not good enough, so here are a few thoughts on how to get the most out of an investment in middle management coaching:

• Coach senior leaders to become middle management coaches rather than just focusing on their skills - ie make self-perpetuation of good leadership the actual goal rather than a byproduct. Once they know what to do, then the traditional approach will start to work.
• Coach middle managers in groups - this not only makes the coaching more efficient but also more effective as middle leaders learn from each other.
• Create a culture that values, expects, and rewards middle level excellence rather than just focusing on “the top” or “high performers” - i.e. develop leadership for the sake of leadership rather than just focusing on shifting out the “elite few” who are “good enough” to move up. In other words, align existing incentives to the desired outcome.

I truly believe there are a lot more great leaders out there than we realize today, diamonds in the rough that get lost in a broken process who could really shine in the hands of the right attention.

Find this article and many others at JeffSigel.com or find my book on Amazon (The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers).

And if you’re interested in middle management coaching for yourself, your middle leaders, or your senior leader, reach out to me directly on LinkedIn at [email protected]