Everyone, it seems, wants to be a leader. But a middle manager? That’s rarely an aspiration heard in the workplace or during goal-setting exercises.
Talent-starved companies are trying to change that, saying the middle layer of management has been most acutely hit by a labour shortage in the organized sector.
A survey recently released by staffing company TeamLease shows that employers plan to make the largest number of hires this quarter in middle management—an increase of 10% over last quarter. And last week, Futurestep, the middle management recruitment division of Korn/Ferry International, announced plans to launch in Mumbai and Bangalore, after Futurestep India’s office in Gurgaon recorded 300% growth over the last 18 months.
“In emerging markets, recruitment is still very immature,” says Tim Nelson, president of Futurestep Asia Pacific. “There’s a gap in the market for mid-level managers. You have everybody competing for the same people.”
The gap results from workers, who previously would have been promoted after three, five, seven years, leapfrogging positions and heading straight into senior roles.
Some also shun middle management as too low on the corporate food chain, displaying an overconfidence that might perhaps be masked by a booming economy. “We have a very ambitious generation,” Nelson says. “Title is very important, brand is very important. Employers are being held to ransom.”
Redefining the middle
A podcast called The Cranky Middle Manager Show defines the middle layer as “stuck between the idiots that make the decisions and the morons who won’t do as they’re told.”
Crass, perhaps, but partly true, concedes Jyotika Dhawan, the director of Helix-HR, a human resources consultancy. “It’s pretty sad,” she said. “Responsibilities fall to the top management and the delivery is through the juniors. Middle management is all about people management. At the end of the day, it’s the middle manager who bears the brunt, from top line to bottom line.”
But, if workers are encouraged to see middle management as the meat or cheese of a sandwich—the best part—they might come around. When a 24-year-old was promoted at Bharti Airtel, Dhawan recalls that his seniors made sure he understood how important his role was. He was offered regular mentoring and brought into monthly strategy meetings. “A prestigious forum,” Dhawan adds.
Whether they become team leads or account managers, young workers are finding that they need to negotiate several conflicting factors at once—managing up, managing down, respecting elders while also guiding them. Gurpreith Kalra, a 26-year-old manager at a large telecommunications company, says he tries to play it cool. “I am not going to shout wisdom at you from the mountain tops,” he says. “At the end of the day, I’m not a teacher, I’m not a trainer. I am more of a peer.”
Often, the way to satisfy people in mid-level management is to dangle possibility and potential before them, so they never feel stuck.