“Middle management” is a vague sounding term but actually an extremely important role in business. Here’s why middle management is a key part of your team’s success. 
- A middle manager serves as the connection between executive leadership and lower-level or junior ranking employees. Middle managers are responsible for supervising day-to-day operations of a department as well as helping plan and execute higher-level business strategy. As a primary channel of communication between teams, they work to pass along decisions, coordinate work, align employees on goals, and implement strategy efficiently. Ultimately, middle managers are handed down goals, and they need to be able to interpret bigger objectives into meaningful action.
- Another crucial responsibility of middle management is motivation and support. One of the biggest parts of leading as a middle manager is making sure that employees have what they need to accomplish their goals and finish projects. Middle managers serve as guides to their departments and team members.
- Another role of middle management is quality control. Supervising and double-checking the quality of work and ensuring that projects are meeting standards is a function of middle management that helps businesses maintain a high benchmark for performance and output, helping them to remain a competitive part of the business landscape.
- Part of middle management is the administrative duties that many people think of when they hear the term. Middle managers are certainly more than paper pushers or just another level of bureaucracy, but there is a level of administration and paperwork associated with their positions. From managing budgets to approving POs to handling performance reviews, middle managers have a lot of specific responsibilities outside of people and project management.
Middle managers are an important part of what helps drive a business forward. Good middle managers are excellent communicators, detail-oriented, have superior time management skills, and are good at breaking down strategy and directing employees toward meeting goals. The specific roles of middle management team members may vary by industry or company, but they can be a crucial part of the makeup of a successful business.