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Middle managers are the key to healthier, more connected and more productive workplaces, as well as more satisfied employees—the kind who stay with an organization to grow their careers.
No one at marketing and creative agencies uses the term “middle managers.” However, the director-level creatives and account leads who occupy the layers between executives and individual contributors are in the middle.
Agencies are known for their high-stress, high-turnover environments and the folks in the middle, specifically, have especially hard roles. They must mind the billable hours, client expectations and work quality of their teams—while also contributing themselves. They’re pressured to ensure employees have five-star satisfaction with work at a time when employees’ mental health challenges are high.
The superhuman who can manage all of that successfully is rare. Here’s how leadership can provide support and recognition to the people leaders who are fostering talent for companies today.
Elevated but not supported
Research backs up the importance of middle managers—particularly to employees. “Relationships with management, in particular, account for 86% of workers’ satisfaction with their interpersonal ties at work,” according to research on bosses from McKinsey & Company. The 2023 Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report concluded that the No. 1 thing companies can do to improve employee productivity is “give them a better manager.”
Many organizations, agencies included, are missing the mark when it comes to support. In a McKinsey report, just 20% of managers “strongly agree that their organizations help them be successful people managers.”
Often elevated from the ranks of individual contributors into an oversight role, they typically get zero training to help with the transition. They aren’t seen as a distinct employee cohort requiring specialized communications, support or recognition.
Pave their path to success
The first thing is to recognize the importance of these employees to the health of your organization and then create the conditions for them to succeed. Here are a few ways for CEOs and CMOs to grow their middle managers’ potential.
Include middle managers in overall comms planning: This includes strategy updates, significant client acquisitions, CEO changes, reorgs and so on. With any major announcement, it’s your people leaders who need to translate the news for their teams and give them more details. Don’t leave them to echo high-level messages.
Before or after any major announcement, help them anticipate employee questions and give them real information, additional talking points or materials to share with employees.
Support their well-being: Positive, healthy managers will manage people better. If your managers are always working late to meet deadlines, flying off the handle or don’t have time to do their jobs, they can’t show up for their teams.
Ask them what they need. Consider extra benefits for managers. Remind them regularly that their well-being matters and make them feel valued.
Invest in first-time managers: With a few exceptions, great managers are made, not born. Give young managers a management mentor. The real value is in managers helping managers through open, trusting conversations.
Provide training and resources: Develop a regular communications series or training program where managers come together to share and learn. Managers need more than videos. They need active workshops, tool kits and other opportunities to focus on the people-management side of their jobs.
Include middle managers in the employee feedback loop: If you want to get the pulse on the culture of an organization, look to them. They have their ears closer to the ground. Give them an opportunity to share their perspectives on how employees are faring. Plus, asking for their input makes them feel valued and valuable in their roles.
Provide tools for onboarding new employees: A critical part of any retention strategy is giving new hires a seamless, positive onboarding experience. Managers are the most important people in making that process successful. Give them an onboarding guide that charts the communications flow, provides a guide to building team connections and more.
Reward positive attitudes: Identify the human qualities you expect managers to uphold. A great manager is a positive coach. Put these qualities in their job description. Create manager recognition programs for those who exemplify these values.
Give managers time to manage people: “Companies treat middle management as a catchall,” McKinsey says, “requiring managers to spend much of their time handling non-managerial work and navigating organizational bureaucracy, rather than allowing them to focus on the most important role at an organization: fostering talent.”
Investing in people leaders has a positive multiplier effect on the culture of your entire organization. Taking time to understand what middle managers need, helping them develop positive relationships and addressing their challenges can have a big impact on your company culture. High-quality middle managers are the secret to making workplaces feel and function a whole lot better.
