Flattening: Middle management is disappearing – but not in the way you think

Middle management is disappearing – that has been the argument in recent months.

I think it is only half right.

What is actually disappearing is a particular task:

Passing information down from the top and reporting status back up.

Today, tools, dashboards and workflows can handle this coordination function.

If that is exactly what you do as a manager, you become replaceable.

I keep seeing this pattern in conversations with leaders:

Some mainly report what a dashboard could show just as well.

Others provide something no dashboard has – context, a decision and, above all:
direction in uncertain times.

The difference between these two roles used to be invisible, because both were called ‘manager’.

Now it is becoming visible – and for many people, this is precisely what determines how much value their role will have in future.

#Leadership #Organisation #FutureOfWork