Middle Leaders - Dare to Dial Back ?

Middle leaders are in a tricky place. Are they the biggest risk takers when it comes to dialling back? This is another chance for us to put some questions out there.

LinkedIn’s post of Harvard Business Review’s weekly newsletter has just dropped. ‘Give Yourself Permission to Dial it Back’ is from a longer article by Kate Northrup dated 06 October 2021. A quick look back through my sources suggests that this could have been an early iteration of quiet quitting – but please feel free to put me right.

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It will be no surprise to anyone who follows us that I look at this from a middle leadership perspective. Kate is very clear about why we head towards burnout. Ignoring sound advice about the dangers to our health of overwork, we plough on regardless. Clear messages about how unproductive we can be as we pile on the extra hours? These don’t seem to have any effect.

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The problem for middle leaders is how their colleagues on either side of the hierarchy react. Senior leaders’ expectations and work-practices have significant impact. Do they allow themselves to dial it back? Is this part of the culture that they encourage?

Or are they the type of pace-setting leader that goes flat-out and expects the same from everyone else? ?

Maybe they dial it back themselves but set you targets that won’t allow it.?

In the same way colleagues that are in a middle leader’s team will be expecting them to set an example. Is it possible to encourage their team to not race towards burnout whilst heading there themselves??

What are the consequences of the middle manager following the example of a senior manager who dials it back whilst expecting others to not??

I’m sure there are other combinations you can add.

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In the McKinsey Oct 26 2022 podcast hosted by Lucia Rahilly ‘Quiet quitting and performance management’, talent experts Bryan Hancock and Bill Schaninger contribute to the discussion.

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Bill says the price you pay for authority is that you have real responsibilities to other people. Simon Sinek followers will recognise this. As a middle leader there are several things you need to be clear about:

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*How much is it your responsibility to make sure that your team members are allowed to dial back?

*How much authority do you have to suggest it?

*What about enforcing it – do you have backing from higher up?

*Who is accountable for the effects of burnout - what if your managers perceive dialling back as slacking and blame it for poor output?

*Do your bosses genuinely buy into dialling back – is it just being seen as the something they need to be seen doing?

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Many more to be added to the list.?

Bryan suggests managers can help by asking team members “How are you doing?”

Middle leaders’ team members need to know that this is going to be a regular question. But do their bosses ask them? If not, they need to suggest it.?

But Bryan adds a different perspective. I’ll paraphrase:

If managers aren’t there to help inspire, if managers aren’t there to help lead... then it’s not surprising if workers notice and try to get away with easing off. If you are familiar with McGregor’s Theory X, you can see some similarities. I can’t see dialling back being part of the culture in an environment where employees have to ‘get away with’ dialling back.

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Middle leaders are in a tricky place. Are they the biggest risk takers when it comes to dialling back?

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What if they encourage their team to ease off, but can’t themselves?

#middleleaders #quiet quit #risk