LOOKING OUT FOR YOUR MIDDLE MANAGERS

I wrote earlier this year about the importance of looking after your middle managers. Our middle managers are our successors in training. They hold the day-to-day operation of our schools in their hands. They oversee delivery of curriculum and student well-being services; they run our vast co-curricular programs, and they have a significant influence on school culture and student character development.

Yet, as Leadership and Management journalist Sally Percy suggests, middle managers may feel apathetic and under-motivated. Even unnoticed and unloved.

And it may, at least in part, be our fault, because we perhaps overlook, or fail to recognise often enough, just how crucial their contribution is to the life and work of our schools. One possible outcome of this, Percy points out, is that they gradually become less productive, less engaged, and maybe even less willing, to continue to give of their best. Percy cautions they may even become disrupters.

Middle managers perform a critically important role within organisations, Percy avers, in How To Thaw The “Frozen Middle” Of Management, in FORBES, 28 Nov 23). According to Percy, in order to succeed, organisations liked your school need their middle managers to be dynamic individuals, with an appetite for constant learning, who continually strive to inspire others. They are the vital link between the senior leadership team and the front-line workers who make things happen on a day-to-day basis, she continues, yet while middle managers have a huge amount to contribute to organisational success, they can sometimes be accused of being unimaginative, inflexible blockers to progress, and it is this perception that has resulted in them gaining the moniker ‘The Frozen Middle’.

So, what are you doing to deter your middle managers from letting you down? How can you thaw your ‘frozen middle’, if you have one?

1. Change the context???????????????????????????????

The key to thawing a frozen middle – middle managers stuck in their own ways of doing things – is to change the context they work in, Percy claims, citing Nik Kinley, co-author with Shlomo Ben-Hur, professor of leadership and organisational behaviour at IMD business school in Switzerland, of Changing Employee Behaviour. This is because the single biggest determinant of sustained behaviour change, Percy explains, is whether the everyday context that people work within supports the new behaviour desired.

Percy bluntly reminds you that the biggest contributor to this everyday context is a middle manager’s leader, and what that means for you is that you might need to focus less on how to change the frozen middle, and more on changing the layer above them. In your situation, together with you, the responsibility for ensuring that your mid-level leaders, your Heads of Academic Departments; your Heads of Wellbeing, your Heads of Co-Curricular Activities, are nurtured and supported in their everyday context rests with your Executive Staff.

The traditional approach to driving change in middle managers is to send them on training courses to teach them new ways of doing things, Percy’s source Nik Kinley explains, but we all understand as Heads of Schools that sending people off to do a couple of days’ PD is not the answer to bring about enduring change in behaviour. Kinley echoes this: This kind of approach is unlikely to yield substantial sustained change unless the professional, day-to-day context of these mid-level managers changes as well. Better results, Kinley asserts, can be achieved by teaching the bosses of these middle managers how to create a working environment that encourages, enables and evokes the change required in their teams.”

2. Nurture growth mindsets

Another way of saying this, if you do not like the ‘mindset’ jargon, is ensure your middle managers learn something new every day. Make sure the senior staff member to whom they report directly encourages their personal growth as well as their professional development. Ask your Executive Staff to give mid-level teacher leaders opportunities to demonstrate their expertise, as well as their gifts and their talents, and to offer them new challenges and new responsibilities. Show them you have confidence in them. Percy asserts that senior leaders can thaw the frozen middle by modelling growth mindsets, rewarding openness, flexibility and agility, and acting as coaches to challenge and change restrictive mindsets, referencing Paul Anderson-Walsh, chief executive and co-founder of The Centre for Inclusive Leadership.

Anderson-Walsh says that managers may stagnate for several reasons, including skill obsolescence, limited advancement, being in a comfort zone, shifting priorities, fear of change, burnout, or a lack of vision, Percy reports, adding that Anderson-Walsh posits that once frozen, managers rarely auto-defrost without external influence.” ?A key problem is the limiting beliefs that constrain their self-view and potential, Percy infers. Inclusive leadership is the regenerating nutrient capable of transforming how managers perceive themselves and develop their teams, according to Anderson-Walsh. “Inclusive leadership exemplifies, promotes and rewards a growth mindset,” he explains. “Crucially, inclusive leaders don’t view humans as resources. Instead, they are constantly asking how they can best resource humans.” Inclusive leaders therefore prioritize coaching and mentoring and aim to build trust rather than take control.

By taking this inclusive approach, leaders can empower their managers to think and act more equitably and effectively, says Anderson-Walsh, unlocking both their own and their team’s potential.

3. Provide a clear sense of direction for your mid-level leaders

In the absence of a clear compelling direction from senior leadership, mid-level leaders are often left to pick up the pieces, Percy claims, citing Darren Ashby, co-founder of purpose, strategy and culture consultancy businessfourzero ?and co-author of Every Team Actually Doing Better. Instead of considering their own performance in this space, senior leaders can sometimes be rather quick to point fingers at their middle managers, identifying them as cynical, overly technical, or unambitious,” Ashby says, rather than asking themselves whether they have done what is required of them first and made clear what they expect.

What is sometimes called 'being frozen' is actually a loss of agency, a deep-rooted sense of futility, Ashby attests. Percy says this may mean trying to make sense of complex ‘strategy’ slide decks, or trying to second-guess misaligned senior decision-makers. Mid-level leaders are then asked to deliver more and more short-term ‘priorities’ alongside the so-called strategic ‘priorities’, that inevitably are always changing. Ashby challenges, Why would a mid-level leader want to take any personal risk to change, when their leaders can’t get their act together?

4. Create dissatisfaction with the status quo before trying to change things

Percy draws on thoughts expressed by James Scouller, author of How to Build Winning Teams Again and Again, to illustrate the importance of this. ?Scouller believes that too many senior leaders launch into change projects by describing their vision, without grasping that people must want change before they’re interested in any new endgame. ?Remember, most of us don’t like change, Scouller continues. It’s hard work. It forces us to learn new things. It feels uncomfortable and it threatens our feelings of security, which can make us doubt our importance or ability. And mid-level leaders are especially vulnerable to this, not least because they know from experience that it is they who are going to have to make it happen! No wonder they freeze!

Scouller recommends that leaders find a way to bring dissatisfaction with the status quo to the surface at all levels, especially amongst the frozen middle. How? Well, if for example you’ve sensed a major issue, but your metrics haven’t picked it up, why not change them to make the problem visible?? he suggests, adding, or you can encourage candour with the way things are by speaking plainly, admitting your mistakes or omissions in public, especially with those in the middle layer, and not shooting the messenger, which will encourage others to give you the unvarnished facts. Do that and they’re more likely to engage with you. These steps also assist mid-level leaders to develop a greater sense of ownership[ of the change and its likely success.

It's also essential that you practise what you preach, Scouller argues. You must embody the change you want in your mindset and behaviour, he goes on. If you, as a senior leader, think others will change based on what you say, not what you do, you’re kidding yourself. You can’t just say, we are going to do this, and then walk away. People in organisations – especially the middle layer – take their cue from what you do and where you place your attention, Scouller declares.

5. Prioritise your mid-level leaders’ wellbeing

Finally, Percy recounts views expressed by Dr Audrey Tang, chartered psychologist, mental health broadcaster and author of The Leaders’ Guide to Wellbeing. Organisations need to reflect on their wellbeing strategy, and employee engagement with it,” Tang encourages, adding, where there are mental health concerns, rather than just offering lunchtime yoga, the cause of the concern needs addressing.

Tang states that organisations need to support the wellbeing of middle management to ensure they get the best out of these critical workers and encourage progression. If employees – especially mid-level leaders - are feeling?apathetic and undermotivated, she suggests that leaders should reflect on their organisation’s wellbeing strategy to ensure they are engaging and inspiring this cohort effectively. What is key is that leaders should consider taking a psychological approach to health and safety. Don’t just teach teams to avoid stress, Tang advises; try to minimise the cause in the first instance.

Maybe over the break you might spend a little time bringing your mid-level leaders to mind. Consider each one. What does each bring to the table? What are the unique and special ways in which they individually contribute to your school’s daily work and life? How well do their immediate direct reports know them, and in turn, how well do they care for their immediate subordinates?

Our mid-level leaders are our successors, the future executive staff members and Principals for our schools. We need to ensure we nurture them and foster their gifts, supporting and facilitating their personal and professional growth and development. I guess it is because most of them are really good at what they do that we might sometimes be guilty of overlooking them, but we neglect them at their peril. Percy’s strategies may offer you a suggestion or two to help you re-focus on your mid-level leaders in the 2024 school year!

They deserve it!

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