Nagging employees on the one hand, pressure and demands from the boss on the other: department heads, team bosses and the like, as middle managers, quickly fall into the sandwich trap. That makes you sick in the long run.
When it comes to holidays and long weekends, managers can quickly make themselves unpopular. Because not all can disappear into the long weekend. Some colleagues will not find a signature on their application. In the end, there is a not very popular decision by the boss on the one hand – and grumpy employees on the other.
They are the big middle class of the German economy – the middle managers. You are a department head or lead teams and you are stuck in a dilemma. Because they get constant pressure, from below and from above. Giving the employees steam, communicating unpopular decisions from the boss and still taking part in technical matters: that alone sounds stressful. But to do this, bosses set absurd goals, request time-consuming evaluations as quickly as possible and pass on savings goals succinctly, which middle management can then pay for.
Middle managers: stress on all channels
This sandwich position is seldom without consequences: eight out of ten managers are stressed, found out the Techniker Krankenkasse in a representative survey. Managers in so-called sandwich positions between two hierarchical levels are particularly at risk of stress. “You have to meet the demands of your managers and your employees at the same time, as well as those of your family,” said TK psychologist Heiko Schulz about the “”. The Manager Monitor of the United Leaders Association (ULA) and the Bertelsmann Foundation found that almost 40 percent of the managers surveyed see little perspective in their company. Rather, they would like to see an exit from their careers. “In German companies there is a noticeable blues in management,” says Martin Spilker, Head of the Competence Center Leadership and Corporate Culture of the Bertelsmann Foundation, in 2017 of the “”.
Overworked executives
One possible explanation for the frustration is the increased demands on managers. Because they have long had to develop new strategies themselves. In addition, there is change management, i.e. the changes in everyday work – also through digitization. This makes the superiors little friends, especially with older team members. “In our consulting practice, we experience increasing demands on executives in an extremely complex and digitally driven mixture of things”,. Instead of playing the role of a rigid manager, middle managers should act more as coaches – or ideally both. “Business processes are increasingly driven by key figures – and managers are rated more according to these key figures, not according to the way they are structured,” says the sociologist Tobias Ritter zur “”. “The executives say they have more room for maneuver than before, but they also have more additional work to do in addition to their core tasks, such as leading more meetings or giving lectures.”
That hose. Stress becomes chronic, the middle managers can hardly find a balance to the pressure phases in everyday life – until it is too late. “It is a myth that burnout is immediately reflected in depression,” says Harald Gündel, head of psychosomatic medicine at the Ulm University Hospital. Rather, the stressed would sometimes develop physical symptoms that they did not associate with their stress. Or change their way of life: drink more, smoke more, take more pills for pain. Even at home, the middle bosses could no longer switch off. “Usually reacts the person concerned is just as irritable at home as in the company without thinking about it, “says Gündel. And: Men in particular would react this way – instead of looking for help.
Mindfulness and sabbaticals
In the meantime, companies are also giving in. Where until now it didn’t really matter how middle management is doing. But: Functioning self-management is also part of the management task. The HR departments have also understood this and are now offering mindfulness training and anti-burn-out workshops. But the corporate management could do more. “It is much better to create freedom for managers and to enable them to acquire additional qualifications,” writes Sabine Hockling, herself a former manager and now a book author and blogger, in the “”. “Sabbaticals can also be an incentive.”
Also read:
Overtime – and still happy: When we like to work more
A boss doesn’t let employees come into the office – and thus welds the team together
Five signs the job is making you sick – and you should react
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
