Exposed and under pressure: why mid-level leaders aren't prepared for today's challenges in Asian Management Insights Vol 4 (1) 2017

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Singapore Management University
Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
Asian Management Insights Centre for Management Practice
11-2017
Exposed and under pressure
Saumya SINDHWANI
Singapore Management University, saumyas@smu.edu.sg
Jerry Connor
Howard THOMAS
Singapore Management University, howardthomas@smu.edu.sg
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Citation
SINDHWANI, Saumya; Connor, Jerry; and THOMAS, Howard. Exposed and under pressure. (2017). Asian Management Insights. 4,
(2), 32-37. Asian Management Insights.
Available at: h>p://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/ami/90

INDUSTRY WATCH
By Saumya Sindhwani, Jerry Connor and Howard Thomas
Exposed and
Under Pressure
When speaking to HR leaders,
one often hears them say, “My middle
management is not stepping up, I
need them to be ready for bigger
roles, but how?” On the other hand,
a closer look at the middle manager
reveals a different story—they are already
feeling stretched and overwhelmed. As
responsibility is delegated downwards,
middle leaders are taking on tasks
that used to be done by people
far more senior. At the same time,
they are being asked to play an
increasingly important role in shaping
and developing the organisation’s talent
and strategic positioning.
But are middle leaders prepared for
the roles they are expected to play?
Are they coping well? Are businesses
preparing them? These are critical
questions and if the answer to one or
more of these questions is a ‘no’, then
they have to brace themselves for
deep problems.
So how do we know if middle
managers are coping? Probably the
best perspective on this comes from the
middle managers themselves. But not in
a set of interview questions when their
guard is up and much of what they tell
you is politically correct. In order
to understand what is really on their
minds, we explored these challenges
in one-on-one coaching sessions. And
unfortunately, the news isn’t good. These
most valuable, critical, potential leaders
Why mid-level leaders aren’t prepared
for today’s challenges.
simply aren’t being prepared adequately
for the pivotal roles they are taking on.
Behavioural shifts
Leadership and coaching literature
suggests that there are multiple shifts
an individual goes through during
the journey from junior to senior
management; some stop making those
shifts and become comfortable where
they are, and hence restrict their
growth.1 We focused our analysis
on two critical behavioural shifts,
which we call ‘empathy shift’ and
‘resourcefulness shift’.2
The empathy shift refers to the
challenges associated with learning
to influence others and being
able to adapt. It is about being able
to step into the shoes of the other
person and influence them to do
what they should do or, are otherwise
reluctant to do. The resourcefulness shift
addresses the issue of self-awareness,
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impact on people and situations.
We focus on these shifts because
of the impact they have on a manager’s
work and success, and also because
leadership literature suggests that these
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undergo in order to better understand
themselves and their purview of
influence. The key reason why these
shifts are the most critical is that, as
managers advance in their career, the
The most valuable,
critical, potential leaders
simply aren’t being
prepared adequately
for the pivotal roles they
are taking on.
most significant impact they have is on
the people they work with, and how
they work with them. These shifts together
capture that transition.
Empathy shift
Some of the common challenges that
people go through when struggling with
the empathy shift are demonstrated in
the following situations:
Person A is worried about having a
conversation with a colleague about
the impact of their behaviour. He had
been avoiding it in the hope that the
top managers would deal with the issue
and had assumptions about how the
colleague in question would react.
Person B was seeking to be more
influential. She recognised the need to
listen more and take a broader perspective,
or, in her own words, to “worry less
about being interesting and more
about being interested”.

Person C wanted to engage a diverse team. He recognised that he
needed to slow down, especially under stress…when his temptation
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Nearly 36 percent of middle managers surveyed were
struggling with such issues. These challenges were all about
learning to influence others. Time and again, the coaches’
notes made it clear that the leaders were entering into these
conversations with their own lens and paying too much
attention to the things that would motivate them. They
weren’t getting into the shoes of others and adapting to
them. In conversation after conversation, the insights about
not having assumptions, listening more, and becoming
curious about the other person sat at the heart of the change
the leader needed to make.
Is the empathy shift really a problem that needs to be
fixed actively? An interesting perspective on this issue
comes from comparing this data with insights from coaching
first line managers. Do first line managers face similar or
different challenges? Is there any evidence that middle
managers have learnt and are dealing with issues in a
different way? Or are we seeing middle managers making
the same mistakes as first line leaders? We found that the
empathy shift is the most common problem amongst first
line leaders. In our sample, 52 percent of front line leaders
were struggling in this area. While it is still the most
common challenge, it is at least less prevalent—36 percent—
in middle leaders.
Literature would suggest the issues we are seeing as part
of the empathy shift are typically encountered when one first
becomes a manager.3 By mid-level, leaders should be dealing
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promoting collaboration and building other leaders. These
challenges require a higher level of emotional intelligence.
And yet, while 36 percent of our sample is still struggling
with the more basic empathy challenges, only seven percent
are facing them. In fact, our data finds that when exposed
to such challenges, middle managers tend to avoid them or
procrastinate in dealing with them. When we take equivalent
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three times as many focusing on these challenges as the empathy
type ones. Thus mid-level leaders don’t seem to have made the
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senior leaders have.
Resourcefulness shift
The second most common challenge facing mid-level leaders
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own impact. Here are some examples:
Person D realised that impatience was the key obstacle to his
effectiveness. He was responding to the pressure of the role by
moving fast and becoming impatient and demanding. He
needed to control this impatience and spot opportunities to
stop, ask and plan.
Person E spoke about the need to share ideas more with her
peers and superiors. She’d been brought up to believe that one’s
work should speak for itself and tended to under-communicate
as a result.
Our conclusions are based on a thorough analysis of
an extensive dataset of ongoing coaching interactions
of over 600 one-on-one coaching conversations. The
middle leaders came from over 25 countries spread
across Asia, North America and Europe, representing
15 companies.
For each individual, we looked at four anonymised
coach-coachee interactions over a period of time
ranging from six months to a year. In each interaction,
the coachees told their coaches what they were
struggling with and what they felt they needed to
change. Focusing on inter- and intra-personal concerns,
we identied ‘shifts’ (changes in mindset or attitude)
that the managers see as being most critical.
Person F talked about the stress of the
role. He was allowing the achievement
of results to have too big an impact on
him and because others were noticing
his emotional reaction, his team members
were also becoming anxious.
The striking thing about these
examples is that the leader is relatively
unaware of their impact. During a
coaching session, the coach helps
leaders see the impact of their reaction
and then helps them to see that they
(not the situation) are in control
of their response. This ability to
recognise your response and to stay
resourceful regardless of the situation
or context is a core coaching shift.
From a coaching perspective, it is
one of the most fundamental insights
in leadership development and unlocks
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personal growth.
Over 40 percent of middle managers
brought this challenge to their coaching
conversation. This is almost identical
to our first line management sample
where 37 percent of first line leaders
brought up the same shift during the
conversations. It appears that any
learning and development activity
that is being focused on first line
leaders or in preparing mid-level
managers is having almost no impact
in this area. Mid-level leaders’ levels of
self-awareness and capability to manage
their impact is more or less the same
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This is particularly striking
given the context we have described.
On the one hand, organisations
are putting increasing pressure onto
middle managers. They are asking
middle managers to do more, to do
it faster and to do it with less. On
the other hand, the one skill that would
arguably most help these managers
to deal with this appears to either
be neglected or improperly skilled.
Where does the
problem lie?
We believe that something is missing
in the way organisations are managing
their leadership pipelines. They have
moved accountability down but haven’t
matched this by building the right
capabilities at the right time.
In our experience, creating the
necessary mindset shift is a highly
personalised activity and is best
supported by quality coaching (either
internal or external). So it may be that
a shortage of coaching or exposure to
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leadership is impacting the experience
mid-level leaders have. Of course this may,
in part, be a function of how increasingly
stretched leaders are feeling in today’s
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Another perspective on this comes
through the concept of learning agility,
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meaning and learn from all kinds of
experiences, and applying that learning
to new and different situations.4 Learning
agility has been shown to have a higher
correlation to both job performance and
‘promotability’ compared to traditional
IQ. Learning agility and the ability to
make the shifts in mindset described
here appear highly correlated and hence,
we would argue that either learning
agility isn’t being developed early enough,
or organisations aren’t promoting leaders
with an innate level of learning agility
into mid-level roles.
Like learning agility, empathy and
resourcefulness shifts warrant a change
in mindset and a new way of seeing
Organisations have moved accountability down but haven’t matched
this by building the right capabilities at the right time.
Vol.4 / Asian Management Insights34

the world. In most organisations, the
ability of line managers to guide their
subordinates in order to bring about
these attitudinal changes is lacking
and external coaching is usually too
focused on senior levels. Junior
leaders attend training programmes
that aren’t set up to create the kind
of deep attitudinal changes that are
required. For a tennis player, learning
to hit a top forehand may take hundreds
of hours of concentrated practice.
But we seem to think an eight-hour
session in a class of 40 is all we
need to prepare our leaders to guide
their troops.
As leaders move towards the top
of their organisations, this is rectified
either through coaching or expensive,
high potential leadership development
programmes, or the selection process
itself. But if firms are to develop
the talent pipelines they require, these
methods are no longer adequate.
Organisations need to find ways to
build these capabilities earlier and
at a much larger scale. Rethinking
the way we support leaders from the
beginning will keep junior leaders
from facing the same problems that
are recurring with our mid-level
managers today. The empathy shift and
the resourcefulness shift are two of the
most critical steps in the development
of managerial talent. A one-size-fits-
all training programme does not work.
Alternatively, deliberately introducing
deep interactions with senior leaders
and coaching experiences sooner
appears to be much more impactful.
Unfortunately, unless we get the mindset
right early on in a leader’s career, they
will continue to struggle later, unable
to deal with the pressurised, dynamic
world they are in—stemming from
an inability to influence, engage and
motivate those around them.
How?
Our research suggests that by focusing
on these two shifts, and by developing
them either before an individual becomes
a middle manager or as they become
one, has significant impact on an
organisation’s performance. Furthermore,
incorporating some of the following ways
of thinking about middle management
roles would also help the management
development process.
CHANGING THE
ORGANISATIONAL MINDSET
Change the way you think about first
line leaders. Ultimately the best solution
for this dilemma lies in changing the
pipeline of leaders who make it to
mid-level positions. Take a look at your
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them show emotional maturity either by:
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self-aware. When things get
challenging, do you see them first
look at themselves and how they can
learn and change? Are they honest
with themselves and quick to adapt
to new situations?
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and being able to tap into a range of
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Do they seem curious about, and
interested in, people, their perspectives
and what makes them tick?
For those that seem to have a basic
mastery of these capabilities, think about
how to encourage them. They are
demonstrating mindsets that will enable
them to thrive in senior roles. Consider
recommending them for the next
promotion. For those who aren’t
there yet but are showing interest in
these capabilities, can you coach them
and help them get over their hurdles
and inhibitions?
HEED THE CRY FOR HELP
The newly appointed mid-level leaders
often find that they have a number
of new tasks, day-to-day pressures
and personal gaps that they must
overcome. The chances are that
many are struggling but they may not
be clear or feel confident enough to
say it, as they fear that their boss will
feel as though they made an error in
promoting them. The organisation can
help them by explicitly asking about
and coaching in these two areas:
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self-reflection by asking questions.
Consciously focus on the emotional
side as well as the rational. Encourage
leaders with concerns or complaints
to reflect on their own behaviour
and to make a positive choice to
act on an issue.
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your managers’ experience of, and
beliefs, about others. Consciously
create opportunities for them to
experience working with different
types of people or in new cultures.
RETHINKING THE HR FUNCTION
HR managers need to critically evaluate
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mass production, i.e., putting everyone
through training sessions? Or is there
a serious attempt to develop emotional
maturity early on? Consider coaching
earlier in the individual’s career. Look
hard at your criteria for promotion.
Put emotional maturity high on your
list of criteria.
Looking ahead
We have shared data that shows that an
individual’s learning is lagging at least
one level behind the one at which they are
currently operating. Middle leaders are
learning lessons they should have learnt
as junior leaders and senior leaders as middle leaders. Without these capabilities,
it is no wonder that middle leaders are struggling. A global bank recently refocused its
talent development activities to focus less on spending a lot on a few senior people and
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It is perhaps no great surprise that they have recently begun turning in excellent
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If organisations don’t rethink their priorities and build these critical mindsets
for when they are most needed, they must brace themselves for problems—their
middle leaders, who will fundamentally undermine the growth potential of their
organisations. But if companies can change their mindsets and invest wisely
in leaders early in their careers, they can move on to ensure their middle
leaders become the backbone of business success.
For a tennis player, learning to hit a top forehand
may take hundreds of hours of concentrated
practice. But we seem to think an eight-hour session
in a class of 40 is all we need to prepare our leaders
to guide their troops.
Saumya Sindhwani
is Senior Lecturer of Strategy Management at Singapore Management University
Jerry Connor
is the Founder and R&D Director of Coach In A Box
Howard Thomas
is the Lee Kong Chian School of Business Distinguished Term Professor of Strategic Management
and Management Education; MasterCard Chair of Social and Financial Inclusion; and Director,
Academic Strategy and Management Education Unit at Singapore Management University
References
1 David Rooke and William Torbert, “Seven Transformations of Leadership”, Harvard Business Review,
April 2005; Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter and James Noel, “Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the
Leadership Powered Company”, Jossey Bass 2011; Jeff rey Pfeffer, “Leadership BS”, Har per Business, 2016.
2 Daniel Goleman’s research supports this assumption. See for example Daniel Goleman, “What Makes
a Leader”, Harvard Business Review Nov/Dec 1998 and Daniel Goleman, “Emotional intelligence:
Why it can Matter More than IQ”, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1996. But the choice of these two areas is
also born out in our own data as they cover 72 percent of the challenges named by junior leaders and
61 percent of tho se named by mid dle mana gers.
3 See for example Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter and James Noel, “Leadership Pipeline: How to
Build the Leadership Powered Company”, Jossey Bass 2011.
4 Robert W. Eichinger and Michael M. Lombardo, “Learning Agility As A Prime Indicator Of Potential”,
Human R esource Pla nning, 27(4), 2004 .
Vol.4 / Asian Management Insights36