MANAGING PEOPLE

Despite What Zappos Says,Middle Managers Still Matterby Jim Whitehurst

MAY 28, 2015

Middle managers have not fared well. Their

ranks have been decimated in many

organizations, and those that have survived

are often perceived as powerless or, worse, as

bureaucratic sticks-in-the-mud. This is not

fair and its flat-out wrong.

Take whats happening with Zappos at the

moment. Much has been written about their

adoption of a self-management system

holacracywith no job titles and zero

managers. That move earlier this month saw

14% of their workforce choose to leave the

retailer. While I applaud their effort to break

down unnecessary walls, getting rid of

managers is not the answer.

Middle managers are increasingly vital to an

organizations success, though for different reasons than in the past. In the conventional

hierarchical organization, middle managers used to be instrumental for controlling

information flows and ensuring that frontline workers were producing. Roles were clearly

defined and orders flowed from the top down. Those in the middle managed the inputs

and outputs. But were now in an era where information is far more free-flowing and

hierarchical lines are blurred.

Middle managers today need different skills and play a different role than their command

and control era predecessors. According to a Harvard Business Review study, some 67% of

companies recognize that they need to revamp their middle manager development

programs. And at Red Hat we support a key set of capabilities that, for our organization,

make a middle manager great. With many of our stars in this groupheres what makes

them so invaluable:

Influence

Most people think that middle managers are becoming less important because they make

fewer direct decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Middle managers need to

be able to bridge the gap in understanding that often lies between an organizations senior

leaders and those who are responsible for its daily operations. And they can have a massive

impact on performance by catalyzing direction even within the most self-directed of

workforces.

Their new charge is to lead not by fiat, but by influence. Because I said so doesnt work

with the current workforce. Instead of pulling rank with a subordinate or deferring to an

executive, todays middle managers must build influence and gain credibility by listening

to concerns and offering context that leads to better decisions. Creating context is key.

At the same time, they need to influence their peers throughout the organization to ensure

that efforts are aligned and pulling in the same direction. Thats especially true in fast

growing and globally distributed organizations like Red Hat. We need our middle managers

to keep us all on the same page.

Inspiration

We all know that innovation and passion are critical to a companys success. But lets face

it, you cant force someone to be creative or passionate about their work. So the middle

managers role has become less about making sure people do what theyre told, and more

about inspiring people to perform at their best.

The best managers are those who marry their IQ with their EQ. They focus on the whys

and hows rather than the whats. They are visionary, big picture thinkers who know

how to create a sense of shared ownership and responsibility, as opposed to simply issuing

orders.

Being a middle manager often means taking less pride in your own achievements than in

what your people accomplish. Its about putting the right people into the right places,

looking for ways to tap into their passion and insight, and unlocking their full potential.

Inclusion

An open organization is a meritocracy, where good ideas can come from anywhere, and the

best ideas win. Middle managements job is to create communication channels that allow

ideas to percolate and circulate throughout the organization.

Middle managers play a vital role in ensuring that all voices are heard, not just the loudest

ones. They invite people to speak up and contribute their ideas, especially when their

views diverge from the majority.

In most organizations, the biggest clue that there is disagreement in the room is when

nobody says anything at all. Concerns tend to come out around the water cooler, out of

managements earshot. Middle managers can make it safe to raise objections. They can ask

frontline workers questions like, From your perspective, what are we missing with this

plan?

The new roles that middle managers must play require different skills and capabilities than

in the past. Open organizations must invest to develop these leaders. It starts with

explicitly recognizing their new role. Training around soft skills. Building culture that

recognizes and celebrates the right behaviors.

Jim Whitehurst is the president and CEO of Red Hat, the worlds leading provider of open sourceenterprise IT products and solutions, and the author of the book The Open Organization (HBR Press, 2015).

Follow him on Twitter at @JWhitehurst.

Related Topics: MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS | ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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Stephen Hayden 3 days ago

Zappos is just leaving behind the label and general approach of a manager, replace managers with leadersin most of your article and Zappos would be doing much of that and still absolutely values that and willhave to leverage leaders to get through the dip of moving forward their new org structure the way theyhave. Theoretically with the new org more people will be involved in new processes and more leaders willsurface as a result. Constructs like policy help with things like keeping people on the same page orworking towards the same endeavours and the tension processes are there to help resolve day to daybusinesses.

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