Back in the days of being a start-up, the distance between top leadership and the rest of the company was probably barely noticeable; these dynamics played out well as the organisation was relatively small. But as the business scales, so too do leadership capabilities. An increase in headcount is usually accompanied by additional layers of management; therefore, a proactive approach must be taken to cultivate such capabilities. In order to ensure that they are implemented day in, day out at the workplace, best management practices drawing on a range of different management techniques and tools need to be established and embedded at the heart of the organisation.

As the layer of middle managers grows, one of the biggest hurdles that confronts leaders is learning to manage managers. Middle managers have often been unjustly portrayed as “mediocre”, “unexceptional”, being “sandwiched” between the leadership and the rest of the employees. However, research has shown that they are in fact the ones who play a vital role in oiling the wheels of the entire organisation by facilitating seamless operation between the different hierarchical layers.

To overcome this hurdle, leaders will need to acquire a different skillset and mindset. In sum, their responsibility is two-fold: firstly, to ensure that managers are doing a good job at supporting their teams; secondly, to ensure that they are producing high-quality output like any other employee. As mentioned in our recent article that provides tips for scaling a business, in the progressing phase of a scale-up, the founder CEO’s distinct leadership persona is imparted to teams so that managers can emulate it and apply it consistently throughout the organisation.