I am sure you will have come across this term. It describes the middle layer of management that is apparently resistant to change.
I love challenging this assumption. Most managers will change when they see that the new behaviour is actively encouraged, rewarded and role-modelled by the most senior executives. The reason they are not changing has – more often than not – to do with the fact that they are not seeing the new behaviour demonstrated consistently enough in the higher ranks. As a result, middle managers believe changing their behaviour is too risky. It’s called organisational survival.
Should it be true that middle management is indeed resistant to change, it begs the question why senior managers are not holding middle managers to account?
Just asking….