2 Important People Management Skills for Mid-Level Managers

Vimal is the CEO of mCalibre Technologies in New Delhi, India.

  Leadership   Talent Management  

A company’s hierarchy consists of managers at various levels. The first-level managers are typically project managers who lead a team of engineers to execute projects. At the next level are mid-level managers, like engineering directors. A mid-level manager heads a department, division or group of first-level managers working toward a specific goal. At the higher levels are senior management (say, vice presidents) and top-management personnel like the CEO.

The top/senior management of the company decides organizational objectives and strategies that translate to department-level objectives. Mid-level managers decide and implement specific tactics to meet these objectives for their specific departments.

Say you have been working as a first-level manager for many years and have now been promoted to a mid-level manager role. A number of first-level managers (with their teams) would report to you. You need to display strong people management skills to effectively lead, groom, motivate, manage and appraise your project managers.

You have been using some people management techniques as a first-level manager that allowed you to extract good results from your engineers—but you realize that these techniques don’t suffice for leading in your new role. In this article, I’ll discuss two people management challenges faced by mid-level managers and suggest …

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