Middle management, towards a facilitating leadership

By Iciar Sanz Pereda, partner at Madavi

Most of our clients look for the capacity to execute and to generate change. We always add the importance of the team because one does not exist without the other, for it gives it its reason to be.

How does one generate those changes from the teams? In any process of transformation, the leadership of middle management is key. They are the example to follow, the motor and the transmission belt.

In some companies, middle management are the great forgotten ones. A big mistake. Because they are going to help the company in a fundamental way by having a work force that is aligned towards objectives and motivated to action.

Middle management is vital in organizations. They are first responsible for anchoring the strategy of the company and the hinge between upper management and the rest of the work force.

The qualities of an ideal middle management

What qualities should an ideal middle management have? Today companies look for resilient leaders who know how to LISTEN, FACILITATE, communicate, engage, motivate, manage diversity … how to empathize with the team. Capable of generating the energy necessary for action.

The work of middle management is to create a setting where all can contribute to THAT ATTRACTIVE IMAGE OF THE FUTURE  and feel part of it.

Middle management should also think about the common good; a more humane leadership exercised through service to others.

A middle management which is appreciative and facilitating

Leadership in middle management should be appreciative; that is to say, with a view focused on the strengths of people and of organizations. Appreciative means that you always look for the best of what is in any circumstance, look for its potential, however, complicated it may seem.

“Efficient executives base themselves on their strengths – that is their own strengths, those of their superiors, their colleagues and subordinates, or the strengths of the situation. They do not build upon weaknesses. They do not start with things that they cannot do“, according to Peter Drucker, considered one of the most influential writers on leadership and management.

We like moving in the direction of facilitating leadership, that which makes things easier.

The proposals of Madavi to transform middle management bring a total change of paradigm, it is a question of looking from abundance rather than from scarcity, from what we already have and gives us life instead of from what we lack. The energy is different, and it catapults us forward towards movement and the development of a really high motivation that enables us to act and change what is necessary.

We also work with collective intelligence. That is to say, all the intelligences of a team co-creating jointly multiply the creativity of solutions more than simply the sum of those intelligences.

“BETWEEN ALL OF US WE KNOW IT ALL “.

“The world needs talented leaders, eager to lead a social transformation in any professional field. People who wish to create an attractive future for all.”