What’s the threshold?

Who is the middle manager?

• Someone who manages?
• Someone who leads?
• Should he be good at leading his team?
• Is that enough ?
• Does he have to strategize ?
• How much of strategy does he need to understand ?
• Is it where all this begins ..
• Is middle management the threshold for talent management ?

And the questions never end!

In today’s highly diverging organizations, the need for compelling contrasting skills required for leaders is only increasing. Middle managers more than ever before are in the limelight today and the expectations on them to perform and super achieve is weighing heavily

As I love to call this ” the power of the middle management ” and it would be simple enough to begin the focus here …. but life is more complicated these days and here comes the critical entry of talent development ” the most mussed word by terminology as well as critical positioning ! Ideally one would think that what with the strain of balancing some of the most toughest skills and learning to acquire them, talent development should at the most begin its focus or rather spend more time with this huge mesh of middle managers in every organization . But if you took a moment to mull over it further ,is it enough that development starts there…. or perhaps even before that

What is the threshold ! When can we say “We are ready to start the grooming”. Well I am certain there would be leaders who would quote .. “it does not start or end anywhere , it has to be an ongoing process, that is even well said”!! But it still has to start! it needs a beginning, a focused, thought through and sustainable initiation that can be followed through

Identifying the start is the key!Well then is it early talent ? With the infinite focus on skill development and driving employability, leaders are starting really early. The high powered middle management (even before the grooming focus has kicked itself fully here), is slowly and steadily being overridden by young enthusiastic and high potential talent and the whole system being rewritten to fit leadership and leadership development into this sphere – the junior management or shall we say student management ?

And so this threshold is only augmenting !

In my limited experience and with the unique advantage of having been able to interact, train and mentor leaders at contrasting levels , I have learnt that the answer really lies in its simplicity .. and so beautifully articulated by this quote.

” The universe is never going to see someone like you again in the entire history of creation “ Beautifully rooted is the simple yet electric message that the real talent management and leadership development is brickwalled in ourselves!

But just how much of this do we look at , until someone propounds “personal branding” and that you as the leadership talent that you undoubtedly are have to begin to infuse this electric power into the many hopeful young arrivals in your new team & organization ! The all powerful middle manager !!

The beauty of building personal branding and instilling it firmly in young minds is a humbling and powerful experience that I have had. The contrast of nurturing leaders at middle management viz elevating young early talent ” pre junior management leaders ” is prodigious . The true meaning of generating self awareness happens well at this level and so the brand that we want to electrify , which is the “power of I” gets assembled brick by brick and right from its foundation

This process then completely roots itself so intricately into the young minds that true talent development is in its most well knit form , essaying attitude, skill and knowledge at this stage . And will perhaps be a more easier systematic process to unfurl into higher levels if addressed thus . I have not written anything that perhaps you have not seen, heard or actioned in the past.. My attempt is to echo our systems so loud that the wake up call for building, nurturing talent and re-looking at “the threshold” should happen with the same urgency or shall i say desperation, the same desperation and speed that we precipitate our number targets and our strategic focus

But lets first be certain of our threshold! .