Middle Management – Episode 035

The plight of The Middle Manager is a recurring topic in our office- and hierarchical culture. Is this position doomed, or do we need it while re-imagining work?

In this episode John and I argue whether or not we should skip the “middle” layer, and why we shouldn’t. The reasoning moves from allowing use to pass over this layer of managers because they are usually promoted beyond their competence, or that they have settled on this position for several reasons. And they might be getting in the way of any effort to really change a company. After all, the weakest link tends to determine the strength of the whole.

But, us being us, we do try and look at the positive side of things, and we do try to reason towards a solution where we do not have to “get rid off” anybody.

This conversation is partly based on my Middle Management and The Digital Transformation article.