How many times have we met local managers who are overwhelmed by their workload? Disoriented by the changes of direction that they are unable to explain to their teams because they themselves do not understand them? Worse, burn-out because they were promoted too early to a position that requires an absence of managerial maturity?

In periods of transformation, the most fragile managerial stratum is them. Torn between two requirements – on the one hand, to enforce the company’s strategy, on the other, to ensure the proper functioning of the teams – they do not always know where to turn. The figures speak for themselves. Despite a pivotal position that leads them to supervise nearly 80% of employees, nearly half of local managers believe that their decision-making power is too weak. So much so that 34% no longer want to be managers. But without them, there is no change.
Is it too late to re-enchant this managerial layer? Fortunately, no. There are solutions. The first concerns the managers of these managers. Too often sucked into meetings and other strategic obligations, they have lost sight of the essential: the link to their teams. Whereas if they simply (re)connected to what creates motivation – support, listening, exchange, problem-solving help, everything would already be better. The second is to be found in local managers. They too have a card to play in believing in the usefulness of their role. Their challenge? Question their n+1 when the strategy or decisions to be relayed does not seem clear to them; accept that the responsibility of an organization rests not on one shoulder but on several; Integrate the fact that change is a slow process. in short, to deploy managerial courage.
The third is to be found outside the organization. Why, when internal networks are struggling to function, not call on external experts who master this kind of dysfunction because they have experienced them several times? Tasked with carrying out the major transformations of the company, the interim managers we are talking about here know full well that it is by training the managerial teams that motivation is reborn. At the heart of their method: cross-functional communication dedicated to both n+1 and local managers, to whom they make sure to explain, with clarity and horizontality, the reasons for change over time. And to recall the key role of each in these transformations.

What if, in the end, we decided to replace the term managerial stratum with that of organic tissue? By reconsidering the paradigm in this way, we are reinjecting it with the adaptability that it lacks. That of allowing, thanks to the collective action of interdependent and regenerative cells (i.e., teams), to resist any change. A managerial dream!