Where is middle management headed?

By:

“Management is like smoking. You know it’s unhealthy, but you still can’t stop.”

A friend said this to me. Sounds tough, right? Perhaps also wrong. Unfortunately, it’s not. In volatile, rapidly changing environments, the old decision-making processes are far too slow. Escalating from the bottom up no longer works. Neither does handing down decisions from the top down.

Hierarchical barriers cause delays and hinder change.

“You are fired.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk strongly prefers a flat organizational structure, which aims to reduce bureaucracy and improve communication efficiency. He considers middle management to be a dispensable factor.

Hmm, whatever you think of Elon Musk—the “old” concept of management is obsolete.

A lot of managers hold on to it because they just can’t let it go.

The new understanding of leadership is focused on enabling. We need enablement—and thus enablers. Enablers provide guidelines for development and personal growth, help teams to learn continuously, work better collaboratively as a team, and remove obstacles from projects. Enablers are servant leaders—and sought after as such.

Suppose you work in middle management and are wondering where your future lies—it’s right here: enablement.

“Okay. I got it,” you reply. “But how exactly do I proceed logically and strategically now?”

We ask back: “Seriously, are you ready for a change?”

Your will to act is the only precondition that must be met.

Then we can set off together.

Sources and further readings:

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=managementfacpub&t

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35831857/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206310380462?t

https://www.regent.edu/journal/international-journal-of-leadership-studies/team-effectiveness/?t

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8476984/?t

https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/ceos-should-be-chief-enablement-officers?t