Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization

The definitive playbook for driving impact as a middle manager

Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization delivers an insightful and practical guide for the backbone of an organization: those who have a boss and are a boss and must lead from the messy middle. Accomplished author and former P&G executive Scott Mautz walks readers through the unique challenges facing these managers, and the mindset and skillset necessary for managing up and down and influencing what happens across the organization.

You’ll learn the winning mindset of the best middle managers, how to develop the most important skills necessary for managing from the middle, how to create your personal Middle Action Plan (MAP), and effectively influence:

Up the chain of command, to your boss and those above themDown, to your direct reports and teams who report to youLaterally, to peers and teams you have no formal authority over

Anyone in an organization who reports to someone and has someone reporting to them must lead from the middle. They are the most important group in an organization and have a unique opportunity to drive impact. Leading from the Middle explains how.

From the Publisher

It was a yellow fish with bright blue stripes, unlike any other in the aquarium, that drew my attention.

Regally, intentionally, it circled the center of the glass encasement at a measured pace, surrounded by myriad other fish darting wildly about. My coworker, sitting next to me at a noisy work-dinner party, asked what I was staring at. I brushed the question off and reentered the fray of conversation, albeit half-heartedly. At a time when I felt frazzled in my middle management role, I kept stealing glances at the Pisces protagonist, my mind lost in association.

I was that fish.

Maneuvering in the middle of an oversized fishbowl, all eyes privy to my every movement. Surrounded, yet lonely. Pressure from all sides; the weight of water. Watching other fish with their own agenda zip by while I labored to remain steady and purposeful in the middle of it all.

Such is the plight of the middle manager, of those who lead from the middle.

Sound familiar? Then, Leading from the Middle is for you.

Why is the middle so messy?

The middle is messy, full of contradictions and opposing agendas, and couldn’t be more critical for a company’s success. And it’s you. Those who lead from the messy middle work in spots higher or lower in the organization, from Vice Presidents, General Managers, and Directors to Sales, Marketing, and Design Managers, and many more. They have a boss and are a boss, at any level. It’s anyone who has to lead up, down, and across an organization.

I asked more than 3,000 managers who lead up, down, and across their organization what the most challenging thing is about their position. Nearly three-quarters of responses had to do with the scope of their responsibility. Within that broad, daunting scope lie five categories of unique difficulties those leading from the middle face, captured in the acronym SCOPE.

Leading from the messy middle means dealing with Self-Identity, Conflict, Omnipotence, Physical, and Emotional challenges.

Let’s spend some time illuminating each of these difficulties.

Self-Identity

When you lead up, down, and across you wear more hats than you can keep track of. It requires constant micro-switching, moving from one role to the other, all day long. The net result is exhaustion, frustration, and confusion about who you really are and what you should be spending your time doing which is further exacerbated if you’re working in a poorly defined role with unclear expectations and uncertainty about how far your authority extends.

Conflict

When you’re surrounded on all sides, it’s impossible not to experience conflict. But the leader in the middle has the dubious honor of trying to manage it all. There are natural tensions in the role and pressure that comes from all sides. You constantly make trade-offs relative to expectations and reconcile priorities with the capacity and talent you have to do the work. And then, you’re rewarded for great work with more unexpected work.

Omnipotence

No one expects frontline, lower-level employees to know everything; they’re too inexperienced or too new. Senior managers are excused from this standard because they don’t need to know everything, that’s what they have their middle managers for. Besides, they make big bets all day, which means big mistakes, which among senior leaders are often seen as a badge of honor. So where does that leave those who lead from the middle? You have to keep one foot in strategy and the other in day-to-day operations and tactics. You should know your business inside and out and know your competitors just as well. You’re expected to know how to grow others despite a lack of investment in you, and without time to grow yourself.

Physical

You’ve probably heard the term “monkey in the middle.” Researchers from Manchester and Liverpool University studied this exact subject, spending 600 hours watching female monkeys in the middle of their hierarchy. They discovered that monkeys in the middle of their hierarchy experienced the most social and physical stress because they deal with the most conflict, you guessed it, up, down, and across their organization. This directly corresponds to what researchers find in the monkeys’ slightly brighter cousins, human beings. In fact, a study of 320,000 employees found that the bottom 5 percent in terms of engagement and happiness levels weren’t the people with poor performance ratings or those so new they hadn’t moved on yet from an ill-fitting job, but five to ten-year tenured employees in mid-level roles with good performance ratings.

Emotional

Being in the messy middle means dealing with some unique emotions. It can mean a sense of alienation, isolation, and loneliness, as being in the middle makes it hard to really be a part of anyone’s group. Employees can stay at arm’s-length, as can bosses, and yet the middle manager attracts and absorbs discontent from every angle, adding to the emotional toll. I’ve heard many of those who lead from the middle describe feelings of being overworked and underappreciated, expressing great frustration over wanting to change things around them but being unable to do so, not feeling like they can control enough of their destiny. Not to mention that middle managers are often the target of layoffs or can be displaced on the promotion path by outside hires, which can take a huge emotional toll on one’s self-esteem and sense of fairness in the world.

Reframework

While the scope (SCOPE) of what makes leading from the middle so messy can feel daunting, it doesn’t have to. Through decades of research and experience Leading from the Middle can share with you a framework, or actually a reframework, to help you adapt the way you see, experience, react to, and ultimately resolve each of the specific SCOPE difficulties. This book takes you through the SCOPE acronym again, this time arming you with reorienting insights to help reframe and reshape the way you view the inherent, unique difficulties associated with leading from the middle.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (May 18, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1119717914
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1119717911
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches