Why it matters: Success of an organization is still the responsibility of managers. Ensuring they are equipped with tools for inter-personal navigation is a non-negotiable part of successful organizations.
Megamanagers are on the rise.
When I read the report in Business Insider about the “great flattening” (don’t we all just love the over labeling of trends?), it wasn’t the flattening organizational structures that struck me, but the leadership trends because of it that start to look very alarming.
Megamanagers are the next evolution from “accidental managers”- a trend that started blooming in name during the early ‘20s, and continues widespread through many organizations.
An accidental manager is one who gets promoted because they have seniority, or are in the right role at the right time- meaning there’s a need, and they can simply fill it without the organization having to go out and spend the time and money on finding someone.
Now this doesn’t mean that an accidental manager won’t do an amazing job, it’s simply the lack of intention that gets them into their role.
These people are often incredible individual contributors, successful and reliable, and therefore have earned the recognition from their dedication. However, being promoted into managerial role is the same as being promoted into a totally new job, and without the training, instruction, and support to learn these new skills, many managers are put on the fast track to burnout.
Gif by RachelSheerin on Giphy
Layer on top of this a sloping economy, widespread layoffs, and organizations flattening under the guise of efficiency (which is an entirely different conversation I’ll keep for another day), and you have the perfect breeding ground for megamanagers.
Megamanagers are rapidly increasing their team sizes. According to Business Insider, average team sizes have grown by 2 in the last year alone, but by 4 since the pre-pandemic era.
But the part that blows my mind the most is that this is primarily due to “an increase in teams with 25 or more people.” 25 people! No incredible manager is set up to succeed with that many people. Even Jesus himself stopped at 12 (niche religion joke).
In addition to this, “around 13% of managers have 25 or more direct reports. At the same time, 97% of managers are taking on individual contributor work that falls outside of their leadership purview.”
At that size, the sprawl of expectation for conflict resolution, career development, change management, and so many more leadership skills are starting to stretch even the most skilled.
And of course, the most significantly impacted is the middle manager- the one that is most important but least resourced.
As I’ve said in Being Human Centric: “The pattern is clear: We've built systems that prioritize outcomes over the people who deliver them. We keep asking leaders to succeed in systems designed to burn out the people who work within them. It's time to ask different questions: How do leaders actually put humans first? And what would it take to change the system itself?”
How then, do we protect our managers during this influx, or even prepare ourselves for the widening of our own responsibilities? Let’s start with these three key components:
Do not dismiss opportunities for trust: Frequently I hear that 1:1 conversations are the first thing to go in the frantic pressures of hitting goals and metrics. However, data shows that psychological safety is the number 1 way to predict team success. Building strong relationships between you and your reports, and between team members, should be a top priority.
Clarify team expectations: Clarity is one of the best ways to align the views of different experiences and personalities. Creating team values has been a successful practice that I’ve coached many leaders through, and seen the tangible outcomes for their daily work.
Equip people: If you’re going to depend on a few to manage the many, it should be a top priority to ensure that those people are supported. This means trainings for new managers, continued education for seasoned leaders, and mentorship for all of them. Learning to navigate difficult interpersonal situations is 50% of success as a manager, and leaving people to learn it on their own is to ask your employees to fail.
Looking at where things are headed- the economy, AI, the rapidly shifting skill landscape- I think we may be closer than we realize to a future where the megamanager becomes simply “manager” and there is one role dedicated to individuals who can manage teams of people without any expectation of output, almost harkening back to the days of industry and line work supervision.
Regardless of whether that comes true, I would now argue that step one is giving the tools needed to current and soon-to-be managers to support the weight of responsibility that you’ve also entrusted to them. Let’s work together to make sure our organizations (and people) succeed.
Talk soon,
Rachel
Leadership trainer, novelty junkie, and human being
P.S. I run new manager workshops for organizations, in order to give their managers the tools they need to successfully navigate role transitions without burning out. We work on skills for communication, paths for increasing psychological safety, and creating repeatable patterns and templates to not spend time spinning the proverbial wheels. Shoot me an email to hear more!
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