Managing Managers: Principles for Leadership Development

Effectively managing managers requires a fundamental shift in leadership development, moving beyond direct team oversight to cultivating strategic leadership and fostering an effective management career track. This involves empowering direct report managers, modeling desired behaviors, and focusing on overall team results rather than individual contributions. The goal is to avoid becoming a decision-making bottleneck and instead build a robust organizational structure where managers can thrive and develop.

The Fundamental Shift: From Individual Contributor to Manager of Managers

The transition from managing individual contributors to managing managers represents a profound shift from tactical execution to strategic leadership and broader organizational impact. As a manager of managers, your focus moves away from reviewing whether "Billy or Bobby is meeting expectations" to assessing the entire team's results and the effectiveness of your direct report managers. This means less emphasis on team-level decisions and more on understanding the overarching business direction, aligning with peers, and proactively identifying organizational risks before they escalate.

While an individual contributor manager might excel by being deeply involved in day-to-day tasks, a manager of managers must resist this urge to avoid becoming a decision-making bottleneck. Over-involvement can erode the ownership of your direct report managers, causing them to "wait, escalate, and defer" rather than lead. Instead, your role evolves to cultivate strategic leadership in others, focusing on delegation and providing regular feedback on how they manage their teams. This higher management layer necessitates a focus on the "outcomes they lead their team to achieve and how they relate to their staff," rather than just the technical aspects of the work. The ultimate goal is to empower managers to make decisions, foster a strong team culture, and contribute to the broader organizational structure without creating unnecessary management layers, a concept famously critiqued by Mark Zuckerberg as "managers managing managers managing managers".

Common Pitfalls and Challenges in Multi-Layer Management

A significant challenge in multi-layer management is the risk of over-involvement by senior leaders, which can inadvertently erode the ownership and autonomy of direct report managers. When a manager of managers remains too focused on the layer beneath them, their direct reports may cease acting as leaders and instead become intermediaries who "wait, escalate, and defer" decisions. This behavior leads to a decision-making bottleneck, where the organization slows down as decisions are routed up the chain for approval, rather than being made by those with the immediate context and information.

Mark Zuckerberg's reported aversion to "managers managing managers managing managers" highlights the inefficiency and potential for disempowerment in overly layered organizational structures. Such structures often create a perception that management is rewarded for team size rather than strategic output. Furthermore, when senior managers constantly intervene, their own growth can stall, as they remain essential to the current scope and cannot take on broader responsibilities. This also hinders talent scouting and the development of a robust management career track, as opportunities for lower-level managers to demonstrate strategic leadership and independent decision-making are curtailed.

Key Responsibilities and Strategic Expectations for Managers of Managers

Managers of managers operate at a pivotal organizational layer, requiring a distinct set of responsibilities and strategic expectations beyond those of individual contributor managers. A primary focus is on leadership development and talent scouting within the teams they oversee. This involves actively identifying high-potential individuals and fostering their growth along a defined management career track. For instance, a manager of managers should engage in "get-to-know-you coffee" meetings with new hires on their direct reports' teams or schedule occasional lunches to gain insight into team dynamics and identify emerging talent (Source 2).

Crucially, these leaders must embody and model effective management behaviors. If a manager of managers delegates effectively and provides consistent feedback, their direct reports are more likely to adopt similar practices (Source 2). They are expected to assess "the outcomes they lead their team to achieve and how they relate to their staff," rather than getting mired in the specifics of individual performance (Source 5). This strategic leadership approach helps prevent the manager of managers from becoming a decision-making bottleneck (Source 9). Furthermore, building strong relationships with their direct reports' direct reports, often through skip-level meetings, offers four key benefits: gaining ground-level insights, facilitating early problem detection, enhancing internal talent scouting, and fostering a stronger team culture (Source 2). The overarching goal is to ensure strategic alignment across multiple management layers and empower managers to lead autonomously, contributing to a robust organizational structure without creating excessive or inefficient management layers (Source 1).

Cultivating Ownership and Empowering Direct Report Managers

Effective managers of managers actively foster ownership and empower their direct report managers rather than becoming a decision-making bottleneck. This involves deliberate strategies to build robust relationships and provide targeted support. For instance, a manager of managers should explicitly share their own management and leadership styles during onboarding or relationship-building discussions with new direct reports. This transparency helps identify their direct reports' strengths and areas for development, allowing for tailored support. If a direct report manager is a "big picture thinker" who might overlook details, their manager can proactively offer assistance in preparing for delegation conversations, perhaps by reviewing the "5 W's" of an assignment (who, what, when, where, why).

Delegation is a critical tool for empowerment. Managers of managers must delegate effectively and consistently, as this models the desired behavior for their direct reports. When senior leaders intervene too frequently, direct report managers lose ownership, behaving more like intermediaries who "wait, escalate, and defer" decisions. This dynamic not only slows down the organization but also stalls the growth of the manager of managers, who remains overly essential to current operations and cannot take on broader strategic leadership. Instead, the focus should be on reviewing "the entire team result" rather than getting mired in individual performance metrics of the direct reports' teams. This approach reinforces trust and allows direct report managers to develop their own leadership capabilities and foster a stronger team culture.

Modeling Leadership and Building an Effective Management Career Track

Managers of managers play a crucial role in shaping organizational culture and developing future leaders by actively modeling desired behaviors and supporting the management career track. This "always be modeling" principle means that if a senior manager consistently delegates effectively and provides constructive feedback, their direct report managers are more likely to adopt similar high standards (Source 2). This behavioral alignment fosters a stronger team culture across management layers.

Supporting the management career track involves a dual focus: both on the outcomes managers achieve and how they engage with their teams (Source 5). This strategic leadership approach helps prevent the manager of managers from becoming a decision-making bottleneck, as it encourages direct reports to take ownership rather than "wait, escalate, and defer" (Source 9). For instance, a toolkit for managing managers outlines key skills and practices to observe and cultivate, ensuring a consistent standard of management excellence (Source 10). By providing clear pathways and embodying strong leadership, managers of managers empower their direct reports to grow, ultimately strengthening the entire organizational structure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Effectively managing managers is paramount for fostering a resilient, high-performing organization. By focusing on empowerment, strategic alignment, and continuous development, leaders can cultivate a management team that drives success at every level. This approach not only strengthens individual managers but also creates a ripple effect of improved performance and engagement throughout the entire company.

Sources & References

• Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said he doesn't like seeing 'managers managing managers,' fueling speculation of more layoffs
• Six Tips for Managing Managers
• r/managers
• How to Manage Managers
• Managing Managers - The Management Center
• Managing managers
• Ten Myths of Managing Managers
• Managing Managers | Podcast on Spotify
• The Shift to Managing Managers
• Managing Managers Toolkit - The Management Center