I took a new job in middle management. The company culture isn’t great, and my staff is unhappy. I can’t change policy, and I can’t fix the CEO. How can I make it a better place to work when I don’t have any real power?
To read my answer, click here: As a Middle Manager, How Can I Improve the Toxic Culture at My Company?
The person who wrote in this question has an altruistic attitude, reminds me of people who do missionary work. The only real effect this person can do is to find a working method to make the team under them perform their jobs better without feeling stressed out by deadlines which always occur no matter what time of the year. This manager took the middle management position because they can take an idea from a higher person and apply the idea to the reality of the workplace and knows how to effectively motivate the employees to perform. They serve a two-headed beast at work–the boss and their employees. Sometimes, like a parent to a child, this person needs to be tough in applying the rules.
The main problem of this situation is the fact that in real life, you always will have something that will bother you and you need to prioritize how badly it really upsets you. You cannot grow in skills if everything is always calm and steady.
This question reminds me of training where the room is asked, “Who in this room is a leader in your organization?” and only a few raise their hands. Everyone is a leader in every organization. Janitor, receptionist, CEO, department supervisor. Stuck In The Middle, you can control A LOT of what your department experiences and have the best functioning department in the organization. Work towards that goal and see if the other stuff either becomes less important, or if the rest notice how well your department functions and gets along and comes asking for secrets.