Three Cheers For Middle Managers: They Make The Freelance Revolution Possible

Traditional management theory is being endlessly tested these days. For example, the shift to remote and hybrid endures despite “bossism” and the variety of powerful benefits that are demonstrably gained when a team is physically together. We know more and more employees are being permitted – even encouraged – to moonlight or side-gig in addition to their full-time jobs. As Wharton Professor Adam Grant recently tweeted, “Side hustles aren’t a distraction. They’re a source of energy and empowerment.”

Another tenet of management theory being challenged these days is the role and value of middle managers. Despite the ubiquity of the role, middle manager are regularly maligned. Almost two decades ago, a Harvard Business School article , “In Praise of Middle Managers” began this way:

“The very phrase “middle managers” evokes mediocrity: a person who stubbornly defends the status quo because he’s too unimaginative to dream up anything better—or, worse, someone who sabotages others’ attempts to change the organization for the better.”

Laszlo Bock, former HR head at Google and author of “WORK RULES!” estimates that mediocre middle managers depress organization performance by between five and ten percent and remains depressed even after they leave.

These days, the tech industry is dropping middle manager roles with enthusiasm:

• Fortune reported that Meta is “asking many of its managers and directors to transition to individual contributor jobs or leave the company as it tries to become more efficient.”
• Times Now reported, “As per reports, layoffs 2023 are expected to impact people in the role of middle managers the most ... Middle managers are expected to be hit by the massive spree of layoffs.”
• It’s not just tech companies flattening the hierarchy. According to Reuters, Fedex is reducing its managerial ranks by more than 10% as part of a broad cost-reduction effort that has reduced staffing by 12,000 workers to improve "efficiency" and "agility”.

Is it a problem that middle managers are being reduced at the same time that their organizations are depending more on freelancers? USA Today pointed out the challenge:

“At many of the companies, contractors were among the first let go ... Now, however, firms are regrouping and bringing on contractors and consultants to handle projects previously done by full-time employees, staffing executives say ... About 4 in 10 companies that recently laid off workers are hiring contractors to replace them according to a January survey of about 1,000 U.S. business leaders by Resume Builder.”

So, will fewer middle managers help or hurt freelancing? Without doubt, their absence will be felt and missed. Here’s why:

• Middle managers play a critical role making the organization work. As Zahira Jaser wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “They are the engine of the business, the cogs that make things work, the glue that keeps companies together. Especially as remote and hybrid work takes over — and the distance between employees increases — middle managers are more important then ever.”
• Middle managers are the buyers of freelancing. The “C” level of large organizations aren’t freelance buyers. It’s the middle manager; the engineering director or marketing head that depends on freelancers to augment their capabilities, or add lacking expertise, particularly in crunch times. And, as companies invest in private talent clouds, it’s middle managers who are generally their best internal customers.
• Middle managers are responsible for teaching the internal project managers who lead freelance work. The recent Global Survey on Freelancing found that only 45% of freelancers described internal project managers as working effectively with freelancers. As enterprises depend more on freelancers, it’s the middle managers, working with HR, who must train internal project leaders to lead freelance work.
• Middle managers are the change enablers. So much of what freelancers do is about change, and a recent Linkedin article describes the role of middle managers in change management: “I have been brought in by companies who have tried to implement culture change initiatives and failed because they failed to engage and inspire the heart of the company - the layer of middle managers ... Top down initiatives rarely gain sufficient traction and lack buy-in, bottom up initiatives often lack ongoing support and lose momentum, it's the middle-out initiatives that gain the most ground and create the tipping point of successful change.” So much of what freelancers do is about change, middle manager support is crucial to freelance work.
• Middle managers influence how freelancers think and talk about your company to colleagues. Freelancers talk, and organizations that manage freelancers poorly develop a reputation that makes it difficult to attract top freelancers. Middle managers play the key role in how freelancers are selected, managed, and treated, and that speaks volumes to freelance colleagues.
• Middle managers are informed buyers. While companies like Meta and others are asking middle managers to return to individual contributor work, it turns out that almost a third of their time is already spent in individual contributor work. For freelancers, that’s good news. Middle managers on top of the technologies or methodologies they lead are better able to recognize quality, and more apt to treat freelancers with the respect they deserve.

It's not easy being a middle manager these days: managing a distributed, remote, workforce that increasingly blends full-time and freelance professionals. A recent Harvard Business Review noted that middle managers (defined as managing 1-6 direct reports) were 46% less satisfied than more senior leaders, struggled twice as much as executive leaders with commitment, and feel more stressed and less productive than their more senior colleagues.

With all that middle managers do to support freelancing in their organizations, it’s time to recognize their importance. As freelancers play more and more of a role in organizations of all sizes and across all industries, leaders needs to understand the important contribution of middle managers to the future workforce.

Viva la Revolution!