Seth Godin’s recent blog post says that when you are in a leadership position you are in a command-and-control situation. “You get to tell people what to do.” This is the way many see it.
 
Seth argues that a better way is to align with the people you lead. This can be seen on hundreds posts on here. And a lot of us agree with that.
 
“Trust and the benefit of the doubt are more powerful and resilient than command and control.
It’s more difficult to earn this leadership role, and more valuable once you have it.”
 
How do you earn trust?
When do you arrive a place where your team and your managers give you the benefit of the doubt? As Seth says, these are harder to earn but once you get there, they are far more valuable.
 
Have a look at what we have posted here. It isn’t meant to be a simple “Top 5” type of list, but some starting points to think of the difficulties. A lot will depend on the people you work with and your organisation’s culture. That’s why we never claim that this is the ultimate problem solver.
 
The problems can only be solved when adapted to where you work because you know the dynamics.
 
How can you:
Gain the trust of your team?
 
By being fair. This includes being aware of perceived favouritism.
BUT - You’ll get some jealousy from people who think you are favouring a particular colleague. Avoid it.
 
Having team members’ backs.
BUT - get this wrong and the trust you have earned from your managers could be blown away. this can be difficult and not seen as a right.
 
Encouraging input into decision making.
BUT - only if you don’t always ignore the suggestions!
Too often we hear of people who are regularly encouraged to come up with ideas, only to have their managers do the opposite – or the thing they were going to do anyway.
 
Address any concerns promptly.
BUT – this is where your prioritising skills come into play. Be aware that is often the case that a team member will think their problem is more important than someone else’s. 
 
Lead by example. Be a good role model.
BUT – this is exhausting and what you are modelling might not be a good fit for your team because they are doing a different job. For example, being positive and always enthusiastic about your work might be fine for someone with a nice office, company car and international travel but not so easy for the frontline workers who are working in a booth and dealing with irate customers.
 
Trusting your team. Delegating responsibility is a common strategy to show this.
BUT – you’ve got to get this right. Do you have the authority to delegate? Does everyone want responsibility? Are colleagues going to be happy with extra workload? Unlikely.
 
The next thing to look at is how you gain the trust of your leaders.
 

​Things like performance review data, new targets, KPIs... your team is expecting important data. They are waiting for you to send it but you have not been given it or maybe you haven't had the permission to release it yet.

Your team nag you and start getting uneasy - understandably.

How much can you nag your boss?
Do you tell  your team what the delay is?
Do you stay loyal to your boss and cover their slowness?

Connecting people and tasks is a regular issue we hear about and help to solve. Communication flow is probably the Number One gripe we get from middle leaders. In particular: when they are waiting to pass on some information to their team, but this hasn’t been released by those higher up.

This raises questions:

Are senior managers holding back for a legitimate reason or are they just being slow?

Are they being slow because they don’t appreciate the urgency, or that they don’t care?

How does the middle leader approach them? Or can they?

What does the middle leader say to their team? Do they criticise the senior leaders? Do they stand up for them? Do they openly empathise with one side or both?

 
A lot depends on the culture of where you work and its different expectations. So have this in mind when we suggest this as a starting point when keeping your team notified:

"I totally understand how frustrating it is for you. I am in the same position. I am in regular contact with the senior team and have let them know that a quick resolution will be appreciated by all of us. They are not being awkward but only want to ensure that the information is accurate."
The important thing here is letting your team know that their criticism has been noted. They are not being ignored.
But what if you believe that your requests are being ignored by your manager?
That's something for next time. Any ideas?
If you want to contribute but prefer to keep it out of your manager's sight, send a PM.

There's been an increase in articles about middle leaders and managers who are promoted but don't really want the job. Sometimes they are referred to as "accidental leaders".

It's  common.

The problem is often caused by organizations who want to reward their talented employees,  but the money is not available unless that person is promoted to a leadership and management pay scale.

A key factor is not everyone is cut out to lead people or prepared to do so but they find themselves having to. Turning down the chance of a pay increase is a tough decision for a lot of us.

It's a tricky one because good organizations want to recognise and reward their best performers . But get it wrong and the damage can be significant.

For example, you will be taking a high performer away from what they are good at. Can they be replaced by someone as good? Difficult in the short-term, that's for sure.

Then what about the damage caused by their inadequate leader and manager skills?

This can wreck team performance, and cause resentment among team members.

How can we sort this out?

Find out if there is any way of transferring funds from the leadership and management budget to enhance a higher band of non-management workers. Okay. I can hear the howls of laughter! But has anyone asked? Or are expectations of this too low- do you know?

Avoid it in the first place

• Check if potential leaders are comfortable with the expectations of their new role.

      e.g. Will they be confident about dealing with conflict or delegation?
If they aren't then it's a red flag. Will a leadership preparation programme be the answer, or is it deeper than that?

​What if they are already in the job?

• Identify  training that fits their specific needs. Again, will this be enough?
• Don't overload them with too many direct reports; let them focus on what they're good at. Could this be retaining a good part of the week still carrying out frontline work and cutting back on the leadership side?

Watch out here. This often leads to a massive overload if not managed carefully.

Recognition without being promoted to manager: In larger organisations it might be possible give these star performers a training role across other departments and branches.
This is proper Change Agent work.

This will be enhanced by sending them to national conferences. Maybe even international ones. They are your organisation’s representatives. They can have a prestigious title like Global Ambassador.

The next impact will be allowing them to feedback to key personnel about the conference.


As usual, we are not trying to give a list of perfect answers. These are starting points for discussion and thought.

​If none of our ideas will work for you, that's cool. But let's modify and adapt to your workplace.

​Middle leaders: not just a conduit but people who can shape the culture of an organisation. From strategic drawing board to frontline application.
Middle managers are often seen as a conduit between C-suite and frontline. But this isn't utilising them enough. The brightest people in the middle can bring a whole new perspective to things.

Understandably, those at the top are required to have a broad, strategic view. It's in the job description. Middle leaders can tease out the intricate details and make them clear to those at the top. This will help senior managers make decisions that will work.
Done properly, it is a perfect jigsaw.
But it can only work if:
senior managers allow and encourage these conversations
middle managers have the trust of the frontline
middle managers have the communication skills to put their case


Sylvia Rohlfer, Abderrahman Hassi and Simon Jebsen point to research that suggesting empowered followers take a more proactive approach to what is happening at work. Bosses who encourage this benefit from team members coming up with things that senior staff might not think of.

A danger I can see is when leaders at any level feel threatened by what might seem to be a loss of control. It goes further.
In Global Leadership Perspectives, Asha Bhandarker and Pritam Singh highlight the evidence that millennials - and, I now suggest Gen-Z employees are looking for their managers to be more like coaches and mentors rather than order-givers.
All this suggests that we are heading for a time when the traditional top-down autocratic approach does not work.
Is this a new role for middle leaders: being the coach and mentor that helps the senior management's strategic message get put into practice?

‘Fight for your team’ seems a magnificent thing to do. Commendable.
But as an increasing number of posters here have said: unrealistic.

It is the classic middle leader dilemma.

But there’s no reason they can’t ask their seniors to be very clear about why they are issuing instructions or introducing initiatives. Suggesting that clarity is needed in order to enhance deliverability by reducing friction is a possible way forward.

It is not confrontational, it’s setting out your aim of making things work.

The best middle leaders will predict what their team will need to know. If they don’t, they will find out.

It’s about being authentic. This is not simply about fighting for your team, but having an acute  grasp of senior management’s perspective as well. Expectations in both directions should be agreed and genuinely understood.

Not sure about expectations? Find out. edit.