Hi folks! Today I want to touch on a topic I’ve not discussed in depth in a little while- Leaders in the Middle (LIM). I realized this as I was writing last week’s post about the bad client service at that fancy schmancy store. I never added that the manager, aka, the LIM, offered little to no help in the situation. That relationship would not have soured so much had they properly served out to their client and coached down to their staff. It’s important leaders in the middle recognize that they are the most powerful leaders out there.
The Leader in the Middle MUST Coach Down
All great leaders are not great coaches, but all great coaches are great leaders. This is true because coaching is more about what you do with your employees and being a great leader is more about who you are.
Coaching down is a very selfless but necessary act for you to succeed, and for your team to stand out. It’s not just on the training department or a great Sales Coach *wink* to show your staff how to do the job you manage. You are the link between the clients, staff, and senior leadership. Situational awareness is key here because you are by and large the expert and champion of your team. If not you, then who? No one.
When leaders in the middle coach down, they lead by example. In your position, it’s important to understand the concept that teaching a man to fish is better than catching the fish for him. No one else will know the ins and outs of your shop more than you. Senior leadership can often be located at entirely different locations. Even worse, if you are all in one location, but your team has to run to them for help (instead of you who is situated right beside them), well friend, you may not have that job for long. You’ve essentially made yourself redundant.
To avoid embarrassing situations like those described above, you can integrate a few simple actions to be the best leader for YOUR people.
Simple Coach Down Actions
Borrowing from my book, Serve Up, Coach Down:
- Embrace that coaching is a number one priority; you can’t fit it into your schedule. It must be the core of any leader in the middle’s schedule.
- Commit to your coaching activities – one-on-one sessions and practice meetings- by making them a priority. Don’t let less important but ‘urgent stuff’ become excuses for not doing them.
- Lay out cultural laws that ensure a successful team. Believe in them and expect others to as well.
- Provide expectations and hold every team member accountable to them.
- Allow people to be themselves, but have zero tolerance for bad attitudes, gossip, or excuses.
- Write down what you desire to achieve from all of the above; know your desired result!
Science Shows Leaders in the Middle are the Change Makers
A study on middle managers, leaders in the middle, conducted for a period of six years and covering 429 publicly traded companies that hire over 450,000 employees, demonstrated that leaders in the middle are vital to organizational success.
But is that really so surprising? Not at all. Once again, when you think of your role to serve up to senior leadership, coach down to staff, and serve out to customers, YOU are the ONLY link. While staff will talk to clients, they do not directly report to senior leaders. A client may know a senior leader, but you are still the middle link for any and all transactions; it is your team that will directly process it. Furthermore, no one else knows your staff like you or the nature of the job; you are the sole person who can effectively coach down to them.
Always remember:
Final Thoughts
Being a leader in the middle is the most powerful leadership position because you are the link between multiple areas of the organization. Staff to manager, client to manager, department manager to department manager, and senior leadership to manager. To refer to that Fancy Schmancy store, if the manager had resolved the issue with the client, that store would not have lost all the potential sales that the client (and their friends and family) would bring in. If there is no selling by staff, there is no profit to be made, if there is no profit to be made, there can be no business. As the leader in the middle, YOU are that link.
See ya next week.
