Senior leaders and business owners today have to adapt enterprise strategies and objectives for growth amid pandemic-induced changes and uncertainties. Frontline workers have had to contend with the pandemic’s impact on their daily operational work too.
One group in particular that has struggled the most during this disruption is middle management, or the “frozen middle”. As the hinge between senior leadership and the frontline, these middle managers are tasked with communicating and translating strategic decisions taken by the top leadership to the frontline and managing workflows, all while grappling with their own project backlog.
The frozen middle frequently faces opposing demands from the top and bottom, leading to operational inefficiencies and underperformance – further compounding already low productivity levels seen before the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The result: increased levels of burnout for middle managers, compared to other levels of management.
In fact, The Straits Times reported that 61 per cent of middle managers in Singapore put in extra hours at work daily, while a global survey of over 9,000 knowledge managers by instant messaging platform Slack showed that this group of employees were the most stressed during remote work.
Something has to be done to thaw out the situation for better work outcomes. For one, middle managers are not middlemen or messengers, but a crucial and important part of an organisation’s strategy and culture, especially with respects to growth.
By engaging and empowering middle management, senior leadership can create a multiplier effect that drives a whole-of-organisation transformation at scale.
