When managers have too many people to supervise
It’s a trend in many large companies — a reorg that cuts out levels of middle management. The goal is to cut costs and increase agility, because people don’t have to work their way through so many levels of management to get their ideas heard. But it’s an example of the law of unintended consequences. When you cut out management levels, the remaining managers end up with a much larger span of control. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “Your Boss Doesn’t Have Time to Talk to You,” managers who survive the cuts, on average, are managing three times as many people as they did a decade ago.
The hidden costs of cutting middle management
The good news is that this does cut costs. It can make product development more agile. And it may give employees more autonomy, because it’s difficult to micromanage your team when you’re in charge of 20 people. But it also results in many problems:
It’s more difficult for managers to evaluate their people’s performance when they rarely interact with them.
Managers don’t have time to mentor their team members.
One of the key elements in employee engagement is the sense that your boss knows who you are as a person. That’s impossible when the boss is responsible for a large team. You’ll be lucky if he/she remembers your name.
According to the WSJ article, under the new structure more than half of employees say they don’t know what is expected of them at work.
Many managers are experiencing burnout.
This approach to management may work well for self-motivated, high-performing, experienced employees. But for new employees or people who need more encouragement, it’s pretty ineffective.
A leadership lesson from the Hebrew Bible
So what’s the solution? An interesting solution comes from several thousand years ago, from the Hebrew Bible. Moses had led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into the wilderness. Each day he was serving as a judge for the people, but in order to get his attention they had to stand around all day long.
Fortunately for Moses, his father-in-law, Jethro, came to visit, saw the endless lines, and asked, “Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
Moses replied: “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”
Jethro responded: “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice. … Select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this … you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said (paraphrase of Exodus 18:13-24).
How leaders can manage large teams more effectively
It seems to me that Jethro’s advice rings true today. If you’re managing a large team, don’t try to do it all yourself. Delegate more experienced team members to guide and support newbies. This is good leadership development for the more experienced folks, and there’s a good chance their advice may be more helpful than what you can offer. You can check in with the senior people to find out how the newer hires are doing. The newer people will get access to the help they need, and you won’t have to work yourself into the ground.
If you’d like to strengthen your management abilities, get in touch with me at ggolden@gailgoldenconsulting.com.
