Britain ìParalysedî By Poor Middle Management

Underperforming middle managers are cutting the productivity of British business to the tune of 220 billion per year, new research by management consultancy Hay Group reveals today.

Hay Group found that more than a third (38%) of UK directors believe that their organisation is ìparalysedî by ineffective middle management. Close to half (40%) of British directors claim that their middle management is the single greatest barrier to achieving their companyís objectives.

According to the Hay Group report, ëCorporate Souffl ñ Is The Middle Giving Way?í more than half (54%) of senior managers feel that middle managers are not committed to achieving their companyís strategic goals, with 62% bemoaning their lack of management and leadership skills.

While three-quarters (72%) of middle managers believe they could do their bossís job, according to senior managers just a fifth (21%) of middle managers have the talent to become an effective senior manager.

Giles Walker, Senior Consultant at Hay Group and author of the report said: ìOur research reveals an alarming performance gap at middle management level. British business leaders are struggling to compete in a challenging global economy because middle management lacks the skills to make business strategy happen.

ìUnless UK Plc takes action to address the skills gap, this productivity erosion will only continue.î

Must Do Better

Even more alarming is the cost of ineffective middle management to UK Plc. Senior managers believe that, given appropriate training and development, middle management could be up to a third (29%) more productive. But their main concern is the impact of these managers on the rest of the workforce, with half (48%) of senior managers complaining that middle managers fail to address underperformance in their teams.

Middle managers themselves confess that with better training, their frontline teams could enhance productivity by the same 29%.

A 29% productivity increase at middle management and frontline levels would represent a staggering 220bn additional annual output in the UK service sector alone*.

Giles Walker, Senior Consultant, Hay Group, said: ìWith the impending retirement of the baby boom generation from UK Plc, developing middle managers into tomorrowís leaders is a business critical challenge for Britainís senior management.î

Stuck in the Middle

The Hay Group report found that the fault may not lie entirely with middle management, however. Senior and middle managers alike diagnose a lack of training and development opportunities and ineffective performance management as key causes of middle management underperformance.

More than two thirds (68%) of senior managers admit that their middle management colleagues have not been adequately trained for their current position. Similarly, more than half (54%) of middle managers feel that a lack of training is preventing them from performing effectively.

Senior managers also state that on average it takes a newly recruited or promoted middle manager more than seven months to perform their role effectively ñ compared to a target of three months.

Less than a quarter (22%) of senior managers believe training is a high priority for their organisation. Worryingly, the research reveals that the average British middle manager has not participated in any formal training for an average of 17 months.

Almost two thirds (64%) of business leaders, along with a similar number (60%) of middle managers, described their companiesí systems of performance evaluation and feedback as inadequate.

Giles Walker, Hay Group, said: ìRather than expressing frustration over middle management capabilities, business leaders must implement effective training and development programmes and performance management tools to enable them to improve skills and enhance performance.î