If you have become appointed to a middle management position, recently: Congratulations! However, you also have become the sandwich wedged in between your superiors and the team leaders below.
My recent series of interviews with middle managers showed that their # 1 concern is being sandwiched in between:
- a very visionary and ambitious upper management level that is pushing hard to bring their area forward but is mostly removed from the actual implementation of their plans
- Team leads and their teams, who have to deal with the realities of implementation, operations, ongoing projects, and restructuring. On this level, not everyone has the appetite to rise to upper management and some prefer the contractually agreed 9-5 and 36 days of holiday.
As the sandwich, you'll have to buffer and connect these two worlds, which may
- burn your bread (i.e. friction with both layers),
- squeeze your lettuce (i.e. you keeping the pressure from your team leads and absorbing it yourself),
- and drying out the once juicy tomato (i.e. working long hours to compensate for what is not performed by your teams and give the required inputs and feedback to upper management).
Hans-Peter*, told me in the interview that he went within one year from completing an iron-man to barely running. What an unfortunate downgrade in life quality!
Obviously, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, however, here are some proven tools that can help you out. Why not pick one or two and try them out:
- Setting clear boundaries with superiors and teams, e.g.: "It's OK to introduce new strategic directions and add new projects to the list. It's not OK doing these without (re-)appointing the required resources and allowing for appropriate timelines." "It's OK to criticize the change of priorities, it is not OK to not propose a solution of how this can be accomplished by the team." Having a clear and aligned expectation on what everyone will deliver is crucial.
- Regularly feel into your limits, e.g.: "recently when I come home on the weekend, I do not have the energy anymore to do anything meaningful with my friends and family". This is definitely a sign that your body battery is low and it's time to negotiate a break.
- Define your private peaks e.g.: "I will run my next triathlon in Spring." or "me and my wife will plan a road trip through Island" Private goals will create a balance between your private and working life. If you have no private goals, you run a strong risk that work goals will take over your entire life.
- Regularly talk to your partner about the issue to ensure that you are on the same page on what they expect from you and what they can expect from you within the next 3 months.
- Use the Prioritization Matrix, e.g Steve Covey's Time Management Matrix, also known as Eisenhower Matrix (e.g. https://humanskills.blog/time-management-matrix/
). Although most of us know this matrix, I have seen only very few if any, actually using it and making time for "Quadrant II" activities (i.e., important but not urgent) and delegating or eliminating Quadrant III and IV (i.e. unimportant) activities.
- Find a new job. Many people reading this will cry out at this suggestion but I will suggest it anyway. Why? First, there are some rare instances in which companies consciously take into account that their people burn out. If that's your company: it's better to find a new job than find health again. Second, considering what you are not willing to do (i.e., change your job) can boost your creativity in what you are willing to do to change the situation in which you are. Thinking the unthinkable will open your solution space.
After all, you have the right to be healthy and your company needs you in the best shape you can be. Sometimes realities come into the way of that.
It's your responsibility as a middle manager to find solutions to not be eaten from both sides.?
