In Praise of (Good) Middle Managers

Much has been made of the Great Resignation, (or is it a Great Reset, Great Reshuffle?, or Great Something Else?); whatever noun you insert after the word “Great,” something big is clearly happening. Quit rates are near record highs in many rich countries. Many people are leaving not only their jobs but their industries.

Companies are responding in ways not seen in generations. For example, a recent Wall Street Journal article describes how some larger firms are building entire communities in order to retain and attract workers by providing affordable housing.

But, what if you work at a startup, or even a midsize organization, which can barely afford to hire people, let alone fund company-provided housing? Can you do anything in this inflationary environment where people are leaving for unheard-of salaries?

Hint: the answer is not to throw more money at the problem. Although it is tempting, it is seldom a good solution. Setting compensation is table stakes. If you pay below market, your turnover will certainly tell you — employees will not stay for long when they can get a higher salary at a competitor.

Speaking of turnover, you may have heard the saying that people leave managers, not companies. There is some truth to this conventional wisdom. Survey data can pick this up, but it probably undercounts the issue, especially if the surveys are internal. Few employees will be comfortable enough to tell their companies that they had a poor relationship with their manager.

So if managers can push employees away, can they also help keep them? And, are managers at all levels likely to have the same impact on their people’s decision to stay?

Let’s take the first question. In my 15-year experience as a subordinate and as a manager in the business world, I do think that good managers can make a difference in retention. All else equal, a fair and empathetic first-line manager can compensate (to an extent) for difficult working conditions and broader business challenges.

Secondly, the level of the manager matters. Notice that the title of this article is about middle managers. Management gurus often chatter about how leadership is different from management. Yes, it is. However, it is precisely management that impacts talent retention and matters so much right now.

This is because front-line and junior staff need middle managers to translate on behalf of the organization’s top leaders who set strategy. Managers convert corporate objectives (and corporate speak) into plain English and specific tasks with deadlines.

Assigning time, controlling tasks, monitoring, providing constructive feedback, are all the basics of middle-management. And yet, these fundamental tasks are seldom taught formally to managers. First-level and middle managers are promoted and expected to know how to do these things by default. However, as with any other skill, management is built through learning and experience. Being a strong individual contributor is not a guarantee of successful people management — these are fundamentally different skill sets.

So, the next time you wonder how to lower voluntary turnover at your company (the symptom), take a good look at your managers (the potential root cause). You may be surprised just how much opportunity you have to start solving the real issue.