If you want to predict the future of an organization, you must always look at the quality of its middle management. Middle management is the glue that holds things together in an organization. Middle management is where strategy thrives or dies. Middle management is what influences organizational culture. Middle management is the maker of organizational momentum.
Middle management also forms the future of the organization’s top management. Yet, top management often fails to synergize with middle management. The role of top management is to constantly communicate and delegate vision to the middle management. It’s middle management that refines that strategy to fit the realities on the ground. Middle management has a more grounded/more nuanced view of things without losing the strategic oversight and insight that comes from this closeness.
A Steven Floyd study on Middle Management revealed that; “firm performance was associated with more uniform levels of downward strategic influence, and more varied levels of upward influence among middle management cohorts.’ It’s thus crucial for all organizations to prioritize a high-quality middle management. It’s the highest predictor of firm performance.
What eventually separates two organizations (all other factors held constant) is the quality and output of their middle management. Most firms also experience the highest turnover among their middle management. Has your firm safeguarded its middle management from attrition?