Middle managers: your most precious resource

Middle managers often feel like the meat in the sandwich – pressure from above and from below. Yet their impact on managing and developing talent is critical.

In a report from McKinsey & Company recommend that they spend: ‘More time on talent.’  Agreed. ‘Organizations can help managers who are stuck spending time on planning and lower-value tasks shift their focus toward higher-priority talent needs.’

(I’m interested in who they mean by ‘organizations’ as this is likely to be a top-down scenario, but let’s leave that for another time.)

Every HRBP knows the importance of talent – they live it every day. They help managers to develop their people ‘in the flow’, as issues and opportunities arise, conversation by conversation.

Ironically this report highlights exactly the same challenge that’s experienced by HR people themselves – shifting to higher value work.

Supporting and coaching line managers is a real win-win for HR and delivers improved performance and therefore results. However, the partnering relationship must move on and not get stuck there.

How to grasp and create opportunities to add value more strategically has been a frequent topic in my coaching with leaders at all levels for many years. It’s also a key thread through our HRBP programmes.

If people don’t grow, organisations don’t grow. But shifting the way you operate with stakeholders takes skill as well as courage. The conversation has to change.