[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Leadership]] - People: Arnold Blits - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=952zwtnB4_k --- ## Summary - Middle management is a layer of leadership, a layer that center around the management of change between upper leadership and individuals. - A manager takes care of their team. Cultivating an environment where recognition is real and personal, not institutionalized. - [[Middle management is change management]]. - Managers need power. Otherwise, they become nothing more than analytics meters and policy dispensers. - [[People fight wars for country. People fight battles for comrades.]] - [[People rise above when they feel like their efforts can go beyond]]. ## Notes - "Middle management creates a layer of leadership where those being managed, do not want to disappoint (their managers) at any price." - Organizations have created this layer, a form of leadership that is largely subconscious. - In war people go to fight for their country. In battles, people often fight for their sergeant and comrades. - Sergeants distill orders from upper command. Sergeants tell their squad what to do and how to correct things. - The Sergeant's "recognition is real and personal as opposed to institutionalized" - In business, the sergeant, now middle manager, "is no longer the owner of their team. They therefore become a KPI meter and a policy dispenser." - Middle managers that operate in this way, have no real power, and more often than not, learns about new developments the same way and at the same time as the soldiers. - The heart of middle management is to manage all things related to change within their part of the organization - How change is executed, communicated, coordinated and understood. - [[Middle management is change management]]. - People only go above and beyond if it serves a higher purpose or if they feel personally recognized and seen. - They will only do so if in when they know they are personally recognized for effort and risk taking. Recognized by someone who sees them knows them and who truly has influence in the organization. "They want a sergeant!" - People rise above when they feel like their efforts can go beyond. - These efforts should be recognized. These acts should be meaningfully acknowledged. ## Original ![[The sergeant. The most excellent of middle-management-1.jpg]] ![[The sergeant. The most excellent of middle-management-2.jpg]]