Power to the Middle

<p><b>If you're thinking of cutting your midlevel managers in the new world of work think again.</b></p><p>Middle manager. The term evokes a bygone industrial era in which managers functioned like cogs in a vast bureaucratic machine. In recent decades midlevel managers became a favorite target for the chopping block--underappreciated often considered a superfluous layer of the organization.</p><p>Not only does this outdated perspective need to change but the future demands it. In <i>Power to the Middle</i> McKinsey thought leaders Bill Schaninger Bryan Hancock and Emily Field call for a profound reimagining of managers and their roles. They explain how middle managers are uniquely positioned close to the ground but with a crucial connection to company strategy enabling them to guide their organizations through periods of rapid and complex change as well as to help shape the new world of work.</p><p>The authors compellingly illustrate this deep shift in the workplace showing how: </p><ul><li>Managers are the key to winning the war for talent which requires strong people skills to attract and retain the best talent.</li><li>Managers must shift from merely enforcing rules to challenging them serving as critical stopgaps for rules that are ineffective or obsolete.</li><li>Crucially good managers must not be promoted out of their jobs. Instead their title and compensation should reflect their high value and allow them to advance within their roles.</li></ul><p></p><p>With rich stories and cutting-edge research <i>Power to the Middle</i> offers a new model for companies to radically alter the way they hire train and reward their midlevel managers--their most valuable asset.</p>