You're a diamond 💎in the rough. 

Every company has a different gap between executive management and junior employees. The leadership in between is often the rope that binds them together and gets ideas turned into accomplishments and innovations. Appeasing both sides of the business structure is a daunting task that requires skill and flexibility not everyone possesses. For the mid-level managers who don’t have the ultimate authority on decisions but need to be authoritative over lower-level employees, support from upper-management is vital for their success.

Here are a few ways you can encourage and motivate your MLMs:

1.       Prioritize Their Actions

If you’re waiting on a specific task to be handled by your employees, let them know you value their time and effort by giving it the attention necessary for them to feel appreciated. By setting a MLM’s task as a priority, they will understand their contributions are vital to the company and their subordinates will see the pride of a job well done.

 2.       Separate the Individual from the Group

While individuals are elements of The Diamond Process, they must be independent from the group to manage their functionality. Their knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) must also be must also be examined to point out overages and shortfalls throughout the completion of tasks.

 3.       Foster Competition

MLMs will be wanting promotions, but so do junior employees. Let everyone know that hard work doesn’t go unnoticed and reward staff members for overachieving. Demote people are necessary or replace them with skilled workers outside the company if truly necessary. Don’t keep someone around just because they’ve been with the company for years unless their knowledge management and creative thinking skills are an important element to your prosperity.

 4.       Establish Expectations

A job description may not cut it when your MLMs start to take initiative to get things done faster and more efficiently. Some studies show that supervisors have a significant influence on their staff, so it’s important to clarify specifics to individuals. Groups interacting with and under MLMs with adverse tasks should also understand the level of endorsement from executive management.

If you’ve served in the military and have made it through the enlisted threshold of becoming a staff non-commissioned officer, or the officer side, earning your first star, this is how some middle-level managers feel: Proud of their promotion, but still the new kid on the block who is taking orders from higher ups.

If you’re a civilian, think of it as your freshman year in high school when you’re in the big leagues, but the low man on the totem pole. Sure, you get the prime seats on the school bus, but it’s the upperclassmen that can drive themselves. Be the senior that gives your underclassman a ride and lift them up to achieve greater victories. This basic mindset is something all leaders need to remember when they want to acknowledge their middle-level managers.

MG (Retired) Mike Diamond is CEO and founder of Diamond Strategy Group. Diamond Strategy Group is a leadership development and consulting company. We focus on improving the quality of leadership within organizations by utilizing the same methods Mike and his consultants have used in both military and civilian sectors. We invite you to stay connected! Visit us online at www.DiamondStrategyGroup.com and connect with Mike Diamond Strategy Group on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail us at [email protected]!

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