Enterprise companies are eliminating middle managers to streamline processes, save costs, and reduce bureaucracy, thereby operating like start-ups with flat structures that are agile and fast to respond. AI has been cited for potentially eliminating middle managers, as many of their daily tasks, such as analysis and reporting can be automated.

The ’Great Flattening’ is predominantly aimed at large enterprises that have grown too quickly and are too large, and AI is the perfect excuse to restructure and improve efficiencies and productivity. However, many employees have reported that the fallout from this was that they felt lost at sea, with no direction, leadership, or training and development, and were unaware of the objectives they were working towards. So, a word of warning: companies must proceed with caution before following the big giants and eliminating their middle managers.

Pressing Delete

Removing the middle management layer in response to AI to cut costs and streamline processes is not the solution. The focus should shift upwards from middle management to the top, where the Senior Management team must look beyond merely rewriting the rules of management and instead rethink the entire business. They should set a vision and develop new strategies and operational processes suitable for the modern, fast-paced, demanding world of today.

AI can be used to relieve middle managers of their daily, repetitive tasks such as analysing, reporting, and disseminating information to other departments, which saves time and money. It also frees them to manage and develop the team. During the transition to AI and automation, middle managers can become one of your most valuable assets if you rethink their roles and reskill them. No one likes change at work, but they can act as agents of change, championing AI and embracing new ways of working, helping to adapt to and facilitate the new world.

Changing Roles

The role of the middle manager will shift from a transactional job to a relationship builder and strategic leader. They will need to understand customers’ needs more, move closer to the customer to close the gap, and develop and motivate their team. The days of merely supervising daily tasks are over, and they must now coach and develop their team members in learning new skills such as AI and continuously improve them. They will also need to constantly drive change, engage with team members, and motivate them.

Often, companies flatten structures eliminating middle managers to decrease the distance between the customer and the layers in the business. Hoping this will improve responsiveness and efficiencies, but middle managers have direct access to customer insights. And with AI, they can easily identify trends and patterns that can highlight any issues or improvements that can be made, passing on the knowledge to the decision makers.

Invest Not Divest

The answer is to invest in middle managers and equip them with the necessary skills, so they know how to use AI and discover new ways of working with the technology to create a blended workforce of AI and humans. Aiming to make your middle managers champions of AI to spearhead change and the new world.

People fear change, so by tasking middle managers with this responsibility and advocating it from the top your AI deployment will be a success.

Peoples’ People Matter

Your middle managers will need to be a peoples’ person to manage their team effectively and care about the team. This could potentially change the dynamics of who you currently employ, as your middle managers may lack these qualities. Middle managers should be motivators, inspiring their team to perform well. They will require new skills different from the previous role of analysing, reporting, and other functional qualities, and they will need ‘soft skills’ such as emotional intelligence, to be a good listener, motivator, good communicator and empathetic.

Rethink and Reskill

Businesses need to rethink and reskill middle managers, rather than eliminating them, because this is precisely the time they need them the most. Implementing AI is a significant undertaking, and if a business has an AI strategy in place and it is deployed correctly with expert assistance, then it will succeed. But such an undertaking calls for all the cogs in the machine to work seamlessly to make a difference and taking one out could be catastrophic.

Senior management must invest in coaching the middle managers from how to use AI and new technologies and crucially on ‘softer skills’ which will become more important with AI. Everyone across the business should have a mindset of constant upskilling, which will help to protect jobs because the only way is to embrace change and a culture of innovation and constant learning. Senior management, HR, IT and middle managers need to drive this across their teams.

Modern Art of Management

Traditional management models required managers to oversee every detail and create and analyse reports; it was a very transactional approach. This often led to micro-management focused on the data and not the team members. It also made it very impersonal as it gave the team members a lack of autonomy.

With AI in place, managers will be relieved from the daily repetitive tasks of reporting and analysing and need to turn their attention to managing their teams. Empowering, motivating and developing them.

Investing in middle managers and training them for this new role means that AI doesn’t replace them but enables them to focus on strategic and critical thinking about how to improve the department’s operations. It allows them to manage their team more effectively and achieve better results.

The middle manager should direct AI and not the other way round. Although there must be oversight in the system and the information should be shared with other teams. A tip for businesses is to rename departments as teams because departments are naturally siloed, whereas teams are collaborative and interconnected. The danger of all this new data is that more silos could be created instead of knocked down.

Nowhere to Hide

Managers will no longer need to perform daily repetitive tasks. However, they should still be responsible for overseeing the new AI process to evaluate and improve it for business and operational optimisation for their team and others. This will enable different teams to work together more effectively, promoting knowledge sharing and resulting in more joined-up processes and data flows. Helping to break down silos and motivate team members to be more open-minded, see others’ perspectives, and have a more connected mindset and approach.

Previously, managers were shackled to their desks in the depths of reporting and analysing information, but now they will have to be more proactive than reactive in managing their team. This could potentially weed out lazy managers hiding away, as the focus will be on developing their team and the context of the overall business system and operating model.

New objectives should be set for managers relating to the development of their team and improving business/operational optimisation, and they should be measured on their performance.

AI will not manage the department or even succeed unless it is deployed with a clear strategy and defined objectives. Strong leadership, critical thinking, and soft skills are the factors that will set a successful department apart.

Embracing Change

People prefer familiarity and stability in the workplace over change, but after the last few years with remote and hybrid working, we have become somewhat accustomed to it. Middle managers need to champion change by being flexible and adaptable, working with members of the team to skill up them on AI and new skills, and discover new exciting and innovative ways of working.  A problem-solving mindset is key.

It is recommended to work with a partner that has the technology, business and change management expertise to understand the current landscape, desired business outcomes and how best to set and navigate the change management plan. They will assist you in upskilling, designing, and deploying new strategies and processes.

 Senior management should implement a culture of learning and innovation that they and middle management champion. Encouraging people to experiment with AI and not be scared if things go wrong. People need the bandwidth to make mistakes and learn from them. Set up initiatives, such as an innovation hub, where employees can suggest new ideas on how to utilise AI to enhance efficiencies in their roles or the products and services you offer. Emphasising they shouldn’t be afraid to fail. By adopting a culture of growth mindset, employees will be more willing to fail and learn from their mistakes. Remember, this is all new to everyone so embrace experimentation. Be curious, be creative and constantly evolve.

Tough Times

Middle managers have been through some tough times in recent years with the COVID pandemic and grappling with the challenges of managing a team, remote working, and then hybrid. Plus, for the older managers, managing a team of Gen Z members can be difficult, understanding and respecting their different needs and expectations, such as valuing flexibility over pay, not wanting to speak on the phone, etc.

The Well Being Project revealed that a significant 50% of middle managers feel burnt out, so implementing AI can help reduce some of that pressure. Gallup also reports that managers are the most influential factor in employee engagement, with 70% of team engagement being dependent on their manager.

Changing the Game and the Goal Posts

A happy, engaged manager equals a happy, productive team. If businesses invest in their middle managers, they will reap the ROI. Gallup reports that companies with high engagement report 21% higher profitability than those with disengaged teams.

When implementing AI, proceed with caution and avoid eliminating your middle management layer; instead, reconsider and invest in them. The modern world of AI means that businesses must not only change the game but also rewrite the rules and shift the goalposts. This is the moment you need your middle managers the most, and by investing in them and reskilling them, they can greatly assist you in promoting change and embracing a new culture of innovation and learning.

Middle managers will work alongside their AI assistants, guiding them rather than being directed by them, allowing them to focus on strategic and critical thinking to optimise business operations. This frees them up to manage and motivate their teams, using the soft skills they have honed and developed to produce results from an empowered and engaged workforce.

Remember, people are your power, not AI.