Five ways CEOs can empower their middle managers
So-called "B-Suite" leaders are sorely needed.
Only 38 percent of CEOs have faith in their mid-level leaders (DDI), 90 percent of middle managers are burned out (Ceridien) and their intention to stay is dropping faster than anyone else (Qualtrics). They have an unparalleled opportunity to improve the performance velocity of your business – to solve complex problems, make critical decisions, breed engagement and drive transformative results.
However, my research shows that one of the key barriers to middle managers achieving this level of impact is empowerment. CEOs are frustrated that their middle managers aren’t stepping up and middle managers are frustrated that they are not being empowered to make decisions. The truth lies somewhere between.
Here are five ways to empower middle managers to start operating with C-Suite impact.
Strategy
Most mid-level leaders have never been taught how to build a strategy, which stops them from being strategic.
Many mid-level leaders feel they are at the mercy of everyone else’s agenda.
In the context of corporate strategy, and faced with the reality of a fast-changing business landscape, they need to be empowered to create their strategy and re-strategize rapidly and seamlessly. Many mid-level leaders feel they are at the mercy of everyone else’s agenda. CEOs need to show them how to create their own.
Negotiation
Mid-level leaders have been trained to say yes to everything for most of their careers, and they are poor at negotiating expectations, prioritizing and pushing back.
To support them to shift this ingrained pattern of behavior, the purpose behind each of the corporate priorities needs to be made 100 percent clear to them. Without the why of their workload, they have no fallback to challenge or negotiate expectations.
This permission to push back is key to greater autonomy, which is a major driver of empowered leadership.
Decision-making
Certain decisions traditionally have been the domain of the CEO, but today decisions are being pushed down the hierarchy in favor of speed.
CEOs codifying and sharing their decision-making criteria and making it clear what should still be escalated is an essential foundation for empowering leaders.
Middle managers who are used to escalating certain decisions will be understandably nervous about the risks associated with getting it wrong, and they will need to learn from CEOs what decision they would make in certain situations.
CEOs codifying and sharing their decision-making criteria and making it clear what should still be escalated is an essential foundation for empowering leaders.
Engage and include
Empowering middle managers requires open communication channels that go far beyond an annual survey.
CEOs should regularly engage middle managers on the evolution of policies, initiatives and strategic direction and regularly seek their feedback during and after implementation.
Middle managers are sufficiently senior to understand what CEOs are trying to accomplish and can give them valuable feedback on the capacity and capability of their workforce to deliver it, so CEOs should use them as their viability counselors.
This missing step is why so many initiatives fail to deliver their projected return on investment; engaging those responsible for making it happen will mean that your plan is significantly more viable from the outset.
Step back
An empowered B-Suite requires one last thing – for the CEO to stop dipping down, stepping in and helping out.
Once a CEO has given them the permission, framework and skills to be more empowered, they actually need to cede them the authority by taking a step back and doing nothing. This means the CEO resetting their approval processes and decision-making delegations, so the middle manager is not still hardwired to the CEO.
A CEO’s processes and leadership style can undo all their hard work and leave everyone more frustrated than when they started.
It also means checking that the CEO’s executive leaders are actually ceding authority and encouraging accountability. A CEO’s processes and leadership style can undo all their hard work and leave everyone more frustrated than when they started.
Rebecca Houghton, author of Impact: 10 Ways to Level up your Leadership, is a Leadership and Talent Expert and founder of BoldHR. Rebecca builds B-Suite leaders with C-Suite impact by working at an organizational, team and individual level. For more information about how Rebecca can help your team, visit www.boldhr.com.au.