You are a middle manager and come across Gary Hamel’s controversial HBR article title:
“First, let’s fire all the managers.”
Suddenly, you wonder:
Will empowered organisations still need people like me?
𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞?
Middle management will not disappear.
But the role of management will fundamentally change.
From leadership through:
– control, approvals, and supervision
– escalation and hierarchical authority
Towards leadership through:
– mentorship, coaching, and enablement
– conflict facilitation, alignment, and systems thinking
Empowered organisations still need:
– clear purpose
– transparency
– mature conflict resolution
– peer accountability
– strong processes
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭?
→ Leadership becomes less about control and more about enablement
→ Middle management becomes increasingly important in complex environments
→ But the role requires very different capabilities than in traditional hierarchies