In football it is said that very few teams can win without a good midfield.
Midfielders have to do it all, they have to win and hold the ball, they must complete passes, motivate the team to play well and work hard. Midfielders play a decisive role and can change the nature of the game through an imaginative pass or a ruthless tackle to crush a sudden counter attack. With a curling free-kick the midfielders can also score and change the game on its head.
The middle managers in the organization are a bit like the midfielders. It is virtually impossible to deliver a strong performance or execute a strategy well without good middle managers. And often significant attrition in the middle manager ranks can upset implementation of strategy. For high performance teams it is important to lure great midfielders and so it is for high performance organizations. Working as a team instead of individual players, midfielders can be the glue that holds everything together.
And yet it is so easy for the organizations to sometimes forget the role & strength of its middle management. And unlike football which has seen a host of celebrity midfielders like Platini, Zidane, Maradona etc. most organizations do not celebrate the strength of their middle management. To make it worse organizations do very little to involve middle managers in strategy development, strategy communication or organizational alignment.
Middle managers translate strategy. They create alignment and ensure that the front line is focused. Middle managers play a critical role in linking the vision of top managers to the day-to-day realities of front-line managers. They do so by building ‘a sense’ or a comprehension through information exchange with others. Middle managers' need abilities to build strong collaborative relationships, identify problems and shared interests, and provide each other with support and resources. In that sense teamwork and collaboration at the middle management level is ‘mission critical’ at the middle management level. A bunch of midfielders with little role clarity and teamwork will make it exceedingly hard for a soccer team to succeed.
A vital question for a performing organization therefore is how to encourage collaboration in the middle management ranks ? Influencing others in the organization to think, feel and act differently is a critical managerial activity for middle managers. Like a football field, they can determine the tempo of the game.
Good middle managers control the tempo of business performance. Middle management need to be coached and developed to be effective tacticians. It is almost a cliché that for any strategy to succeed, tactics have to be good as well. Knowing when to distribute the ball on an immediate counterattack or when to retain possession and slow the pace down is an important part of being a good midfielder for soccer.
It is critical therefore that middle managers understand the strategy of the organization and also buy-in into the execution plan. They need to own the performance goals and also be extremely clear of the milestones.
Being on a daily touch with the frontline, the middle managers can relay the feedback and provide vital inputs which relates to strategy and execution. Since they are a vital introclutors , almost like a trading post for ideas and implementation plans (between the leaders and frontliners) , middle managers can influence top management's perceptions and actions, providing them with new ideas for accomplishing an organization's vision and strategy. Midfielders are the most influential when creating strategic passing plays and envisioning potential scenarios even three passes before they occur.
Organizations need to empower middle managers provide opportunities to lead various tasks, projects and taskforces that may be part of a strategy roll-out programme. They need to encourage ideas and initiatives that the middle management wants to champion. It only then the middle managers will develop skills to anticipate the ball, to know ‘where the ball is going to be’.
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