20 Aug Cultivating visionary middle management

In this blog, Craig Yeatman explores whether middle managers can craft inspirational visions, examines the psychological traits and states that may hinder them, and offers strategies to enhance middle management leadership outcomes.

Vision and Leadership

We argue that leadership cannot exist without a sense of direction, commonly referred to as ‘vision’. While crafting a vision is challenging for many leaders, middle managers often struggle the most. We are curious about why that is, what could be done to help.

We think it matters because we know that when managers add “leadership” to their skillset, they are more effective. So, if leadership is a good thing, and leadership requires a sense of direction, what is happening in middle management?

The challenge for middle management

We recently ran a leadership development program for forty middle managers. They had volunteered to join the program (they were not “sent” by their managers). We asked them to explain their leadership vision. Many of their vision statements were simply to ‘achieve our organisation’s vision and goals’. At face value that sounds great – but a little bit of digging revealed two problems:

1.         When asked to explain the organisations vision and goals, many could not remember them.

2.         Those that could remember them repeated them mechanically – as if they were passing a test.

With guidance, some participants made progress in reworking their vision statements within the limited time available. Despite working within the same organisational context, their ability to generate a personally inspiring sense of direction varied. When asked “does your vision provoke a physical response in you – does it excite you in some way,” most said no.

We are discussing this with clinical psychologist Nevern Subermoney in our upcoming conversation café “where are we going again” on 28th August – you can register here for that free, online event. If you are curious about some of the concepts we are digging into, read on!

Some causes, tentative solutions

As we work toward the discussion, we are tinkering with a few questions related to the psychological states and traits of the middle managers we expect to become leaders. Here are some factors we’re considering:

Cognitive Flexibility

We know that cognitive flexibility is useful in creating a powerful vision. Cognitive flexibility helps us to adapt and integrate multiple perspectives, making the vision more impactful for more people and ensuring that the vision is both grounded and inspirational. Could a factor be that people succeed as middle managers because they are encouraged to achieve goals that are set for them? If this is true, it would reward people low on cognitive flexibility, who work hard to achieve the goals their boss sets for them without arguing them. At face value, we hear many stories of middle managers challenging – only to be told that ‘this is already decided, and we need you on board’. When asked to create a vision, they may not be ‘ready’ to consider anything beyond the prescribed organisational goals.

Self-Efficacy

We also know that high levels of self-efficacy, the belief in one’s own ability to achieve and to “make a difference,” affects the ability to create a powerful vision. Without high levels of self-efficacy, it is difficult to imagine and contribute to a discussion on a better future. Could it be that being “stuck in the middle” of organisations, in a VUCA world, reduces the middle managers belief that they can achieve anything? Could feelings of quiet “smiling despair” and “survival” be dampening middle manager self-efficacy? When asked to create vision, they have no inner belief that it is possible to create change and so fail to find inspiration. For frontline staff, the team of Alinda Nortje and Free To Grow have had powerful results from programs that develop frontline self-efficacy in a range of African organisations.

Present Bias

Finally – what about elevated levels of temporal discounting and present bias? One a trait, and one a state – both suggest that when asked to create a vision, a person with elevated levels of temporal discounting and present bias might struggle to create a powerful sense of direction. If all that matters is the present, thinking about a different future is not felt as a valuable exercise. Given that middle managers are usually recognised and rewarded for short term results, it is possible that over time successful middle managers do in fact bias toward the present. When asked to create vision, they have a low innate ability to favour the future over the present.

While traits take considerable effort to shift, states are easier to shift. If any of our rough hypothesising is true, we could consider developmental solutions that enable future-visioning and so enhance middle management leadership capabilities.

Changing States

Short-term leadership development should focus on enhancing self-efficacy and reducing present bias. Simple exercises that deliberately build delegate self-confidence and that open consideration of the future helps middle managers to see and to believe in future-oriented possibilities. This would apply to executive offsites, planning meetings, leadership development programs and even ordinary “tough meetings.” Getting your team and yourself into the right state of mind before challenging them with future oriented work would be helpful. Diving straight into visioning can be counterproductive.

Changing states and traits

Long term leadership development can do this and more. Change can be created not only in the “one day workshop” but also in the mundane performance management reviews and in the mentorship programs, as well as in long-range leadership development programs. Finding ways to improve cognitive flexibility through tough assignments, cross-functional team projects, challenging conversations with other leaders, and a raft of reflective practices would help new leaders to develop cognitive flexibility and grow their leadership impact.

Join Nevern Subermoney and Craig Yeatman as we explore these topics and more in our free, online conversation café on August 28th. Click here to register. We will unpack these concepts and draw on delegate experience to evaluate whether any of this is true, or useful. Visit our website www.worldsviewacademy.com to find out more about our work in strategy, leadership, and teams.