Middle Managers: Why the Focus?

For those of you reading my blog, you know you can expect an array of leadership insights each week. But at the core of BVC is a belief: the belief middle managers are essential to your organization. Just how essential? Let’s explore.

Imagine a budding company of 100 people. There is a healthy C-suite – from CEO to CRO, making up less than 10 percent of the company. Then imagine the VPs; there are four departments whose VPs report into the C-suite. Now, let’s skip a level and go to “worker bees” – the junior support staff, budding savants, what have you. Not too long ago, when the company was at just 60 people, those then juniors knew little about managing. Yet, they are now the tenured professional, managing a team of two or more (these individuals are now the big group we skipped moments ago!).

With such scale, is it probable the new managers received coaching and/or training? For their area of expertise, perhaps. But for management? Unlikely.

There’s no question that top management, namely executives, play a significant role in setting the overall direction of the company. I’m not debating this. But I am shedding light on the fact companies invest a lot (we are talking billions of dollars) on executive leadership or “executive coaching” as it’s coined. I’ll be the first person to share this service is helpful; we should all continue to grow, learn, and evolve. I also know some awesome executive coaches if you are in the market. But to that point, we should start this self-exploration and education far before we wear the VP or C-suite title.

The best managers are able to work closely with their teams, and simultaneously offer valuable contributions. These managers are not only equipped with the technical skills, but they encourage an environment of consistent feedback, acknowledgement, and respect. Unsurprisingly, these are the leadership elements we spoke about a couple weeks ago.

Middle managers are not only responsible for their team’s production, they are a primary driver of performance! Since this is the case, managers must be equipped with managing conflict — 30 percent of a manager’s time each week — and promoting cohesion. Decreasing conflict through effective management, by even 10 percent, is monumental to time effectiveness and results.

Middle managers have incredible influence. Not only on culture, but on productivity. Again, they are essential to the business(!), and are worth the investment.

Vision + Structure: For the Directionally Challenged

When you are driving to a place you’ve never been, you make sure you have directions. For most of us that means we are using our phone’s GPS, myself included. [I was raised to use and read a map, but learned quickly motion sickness ensues. Thank goodness I have this little technological wizard telling me where to go!] And that’s the point: we need to know where we are going. Without direction, we get lost, arrive late to our destination, or miss the opportunity all together.

Similarly, we need to know where we are going when it relates to our business and be aware of how we guide those who work within.  

Creating a vision.
A vision is a mental model of an ideal future state. Do you want your team to be functional and the depiction of strength? Or do you want a disjointed group of people running in oppositional directions?  

A vision plays a central role in many of the common theories of leadership. It’s the glue to an organization and its culture. A vision can be conveyed in a number of ways: through a picture, a significant change, value structures, a map with noted goals, or a defined challenge with correlated steps to conquer the feat!

How is a vision articulated and implemented?

• Adapt the vision to the audience.

  • Have the framework and know what you want – but portray it in a way your team(s) can hear you.

• Highlight the values of the vision.

  • Values drive us – they’re the intrinsic motivators that guide us to behave a certain way.

• Choose the right language (words) and symbols that are motivating and inspiring.

  • Remember, we all learn differently! Get creative.

• Walk the walk.

  • Do what you say and say what you do.

• Set expectations.

  • We keep coming back to this (it’s important). If your vision is the driving force behind your company – as it often begins, but your intent is to keep it that way – make sure your new hires embody the values you’ve put forth. Maintaining and reinforcing expectations will keep you on track for the output you desire.

Along with vision, comes setting the tone.  

Tone.
In order to do this, provide structure to your team members – almost like providing a blueprint. It gives meaning and a sense of security or direction. (Examples include a code of conduct or a company manual.)

Next, clarify norms and build cohesiveness.

Clarify Norms.
Norms are the rules of behavior that are established and shared by group members (e.g., starting meetings on time and staying on task). Sometimes we think norms are common sense – but they’re not! They need to be defined and articulated.

Once norms are defined, cohesiveness can prevail. It’s the “we-ness” of a group. It’s associated with consistency and is linked to increased participation, as well as better interaction. Better interactions yield higher innovation and encourage uninhibited creativity.

When we look at the journey of the vision as an overarching theme – with achievement at the end of the spectrum – we realize how essential all facets of this process are to an organization. Once the vision is firm and norms are defined, cohesion is underway but there’s still room for expressed and implied standards of excellence. In fact, there are six key factors essential for members to function effectively. These include:

• Skills

• Initiative

• Expectation of treatment

• Deadlines

• Goals

• Consequences  

If your team is struggling, assess whether you’ve reiterated the vision, the norms, and the expectations. Then look at the aforementioned list. What can you do to improve their contributions? Odds are there are multiple steps you can take (many included here!) to help lead your teams in a helpful, purposeful, direction.

Remember: There's a Person Behind that Screen!

It’s been a burning question – and coincidentally one I have been hearing more from HR generalists at growing tech companies. “How do you create an effective virtual team and digital culture?”

Expectations.

Set them. Even if you have a laissez-faire approach to management, your team needs structure. (In fact, structure can help you be more effective with your day.) Expectations get a bad rap… But think about quarterly/annual reviews. It’s unfortunate we structure these formalized reviews in such a way that enable a once-in-a-while conversation to assess – and often critique – performance. Instead, shouldn’t performance, and correlated expectations, be fluid? If your employee receives a lackluster review, but you never speak with them about their professional shortcomings, do you think that’s their weakness, or yours?

Expectations are all the more essential with a virtual team. There’s something about being able to see a person each day (or even, each week). That eye-to-eye lock, the handshake, the 3-D elements that make us human. Yet, as I shared with you last week, this whole virtual management thing can be done (and done well). Our technology has caught-up to enabling virtual employees. We just need to know how to effectively use it.

As an expectations example, and to demonstrate the ripple effect it has, let’s say it’s important for you to hear from your virtual team members during Monday-morning meetings. Unfortunately, you’re left feeling frustrated because the virtual members often don’t contribute to the conversation.

Ask yourself:

1. Are you using technology conducive to their inclusion?
2. Did you convey that you want each virtual member to speak-up? In what capacity?
3. Have you shared the value with your on-site team members that there is in hearing from their virtual colleagues? (And even more essential – have you requested the onsite members be cognizant, and considerate, of those “present but not physically present”?)

If you’re frustrated by an absence of engagement, it’s probable the situation isn’t a one-way street.

Setting expectations, especially with thorough communication, results in behavioral change – and it’s those behaviors that construct (or reconstruct) culture. With expectations, there’s minimal ambiguity; this aids in communication efforts as well as accountability.  

Transparency.

Is the ethos of your team to be candid, forthright, and truly honest? Technological advances allow for just that. Take pay grades, for example. Historically this is a very sensitive topic. But what if it wasn’t anymore? What if there was a resource for earnings, and calculated measurements of justification (e.g., education, experience, etc.).  

Transparency doesn’t have to start with such grand gestures i.e., above... But, it should be omnipresent. We have social tools, chat functions, video technologies, and the like, to communicate. Is there a new release? Is there a policy change? How will that information be disseminated? Coming up with guidelines (yes, the notorious expectations) for how information is communicated, and how often it’s communicated, will ensure consistent transparency, even amidst rapid change.

Your People.

I realize you may not always be able to choose your team. However, when you can, take this into consideration: effective virtual team members typically have higher-than-average emotional intelligence, writing aptitude, and strong communicative tendencies. Yes, there are always some challenges (hence this list of guidelines) but this type of individual will likely not cause a lot of virtual headache.

Open Door Policy + Trust.

Without fostering trust among your team you’ll have a much harder time achieving resolve (and results). Practice a true open-door, honest exchange, policy. Actively put forth effort to engage the virtual team member.

A couple ideas:

• Ask them for a 60-second tour of their work space so the team can envision what their day-in-the-life looks like.
• Implement a five-minute “pre-business” discussion about anything other than work, on weekly calls.
• Initiate the distribution of surveys to measure team inclusion.
  • If the team feels disconnected, or there’s a defined line between the in-group and the out-group, change is needed!

It’s particularly important to significantly invest in your team early on in working together. That’s when the foundation is built for trust, rapport, and an exchange of ideas. Put aside your task-based leadership brain (temporarily), and engage the relationship-based leader!

There are a lot of helpful technological tools we have access to; but have you ever thought how you use them may affect the intended outcome? “Is this a Skype, Slack, Video chat, email, or phone type of conversation?” I recently published a cheat sheet for one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S. on the topic. Interested? I’ll gladly share it with you.

[OH! I almost forgot. Make sure people know how to use the technology that you’ve implemented. Whether that’s through company-wide training or one-on-one sessions for those who need a little time to adjust, do it without anyone needing to ask. Having resources at an arm’s reach will not only support adoption, it will encourage a culture that lacks apprehension to learn new things.]

Age of the Standing Desk & the Virtual Team

As I stand here, writing this blog, I’ve realized how normalized the standing-desk phenomenon has become. I remember interning in undergrad. The back closet/office/ice box did not afford such a stylish leisure! But, now we know why standing is helpful for our health and why sitting all day is “out.”

Similarly, virtual teams did not exist prior to the geographical expansion of companies – this big booming occurrence of globalization, paired with technological advances. The digital culture isn’t going away – in fact it will only continue to rewrite office dynamics as we know them.

So. How do we get virtual teams right?

Teams comprised of individuals in varying locations continue to rise. I repeat: they aren’t going away. If you want to scale your company but think you have all the talent you need in your backyard, good luck to you. Our virtual world of laptops, wi-fi, chat tools, video, etc., allow people to work from anywhere (and be effective).

Benefit to employees?

• Flexibility.

• Global interaction with colleagues.

• Efficiency (nothing says “kill the productivity,” to me, like a shared space of noisy banter).

Benefit to companies?

• Spend more money on the talent, not the real-estate.

• Empower employees by trusting them. (Hip-hip hooray for the empowerment culture!)

Hold the phone: When we re-write the rules of workplace interaction, there will also be downsides, unquestionably. Client expectations can fail, tasks get lost in the ether, and workers feel overwhelmed by the number of communication forms. [Uh, Sally, I sent that to you… I think it was via Skype – no actually email… Hm, no, actually slack?]

Without rules of virtual engagement, expectations can slip through the cracks. We all make the joke: the hardest part of our “Gotomeeting” is getting it to work before our call begins. When people don’t show, there’s background noise, reception is poor, or you’re half-engaged, problems will arise.

However – and virtual grumps pay attention(!) – well-managed dispersed teams can actually outperform those that share office space. They can also increase productivity, according to an Aon Consulting report, by 43 percent.  

If you’re still a mis-believer in how successful a virtual team can be, I’ll help you through (but not until next week). Stay tuned.