In many organizations today, too much emphasis is placed on leadership and too little on management. This results in overinvestment in senior leaders and underinvestment in middle managers. Let’s remember, the best executives are good managers first.

Managers are the backbone of every organization. They are responsible for executing strategy, managing work, and guiding teams. They are on the front-lines of hiring, engaging, supporting, and retaining the people who do the real work of the enterprise.

In a recent study, executives reported that managers should focus on things like facilitating transformation. Really? The managers themselves reported more practical needs, like preventing employee burnout and getting the work done. True, there is a balancing act here. But first things first.

Organizations need to invest more in the fundamentals of what good managers must consistently do well:

  • Define clear expectations, responsibilities, and priorities, and provide available resources to do them.
  • Use metrics, standards, and feedback to share performance information and openly discuss opportunities for improvement.
  • Apply standard operating procedures for core work processes, with the right amount of flexibility, while also engaging people to improve them.
  • Appreciate, recognize, and reward people for their contribution and growth, while also holding them accountable for results.
  • Mitigate conflict, minimize drama, reduce stress, and address bad behavior in fair and constructive ways.

These competency bundles reside at the intersection of emotional intelligence, work execution, and performance management. They create the conditions for people to do their best work and help build a high-performance culture. And they are essential regardless of the whether the workplace is on-site, remote, or hybrid.

The return on investment in management capability is clear. More effective managers improve the collaboration, performance, and retention of people, which increase the capacity, quality, and productivity of teams, which drive overall results of the enterprise.

Managers are the key to sustained success in both for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. How is your organization investing in the coaching and development of middle management?