Covid-19 and the Middle Manager

It would be silly to ignore the pandemic and its impact on the middle manager.

Unfortunately, the picture is not rosy.

Lee Clifford’s December 2020 Fortune article, ‘Why middle managers are feeling the most stressed out during COVID‘, called out several factors, including middle managers’ schedules and even parenthood as possible reasons for falling productivity and difficulties in managing workload.

Weight on the shoulders

Other than the above reasons Clifford offered, what others could weigh on middle-managers’ shoulders, making the current situation a little more difficult to bear?

1) Workload – many companies are dragging themselves through the pandemic with depleted resources, including  personnel and budgets. Middle managers are feeling the weight of having to do ‘more with less’. They have to keep projects going, and with the pressure to report expected results with fewer hands and less money.

2) Decreased training and learning – budget cuts have also resulted in a reduction of training opportunities. Training is crucial for middle managers’ growth, development, and motivation. The same applies to their team.

3) Managing subordinates – as if managing their own troubles wasn’t enough, middle managers have to manage their teams and their well-being. They have to keep open minds and open ears when communicating with their subordinates. Employees need their manager to understand their concerns and help solve them – pandemic or no pandemic!

4) Managing colleagues and their emotions – a big part of being a middle manager is dealing with peers and managers from other teams. Middle managers interface with colleagues of all levels, all of whom are going through their own roller-coaster moments. No thanks to their positions, middle managers put themselves in the very front of several firing lines . 

What other reasons make it unbearable for the middle manager to work during this pandemic?