Rosabeth Moss Kanter

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">The Idea in Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
 You know your company’s long-term success hinges on innovation—creating new products, services, markets, and methods. But did you also know that it’s your middle managers who can best identify and drive the potent ideas that will define your firm’s future?
 Yes, innovation is difficult: It disrupts the status quo and cuts across all your organization’s boundaries. That’s why you need entrepreneurial middle managers—leaders who go beyond the limits of their formal job descriptions to acquire the informal power and resources that really make change happen.
 Here’s how the most effective middle managers “push the envelope” during the innovation process.
 The Idea in Practice
 Any innovation consists of three major phases: 1) defining a potential project, 2) building a coalition to support the project, and 3) taking action to implement the project.
 Entrepreneurial middle managers stretch themselves beyond the boundaries of their formal job responsibilities in distinct ways during each of these three phases.
 <h2>Defining a Project</h2>
 In identifying a potentially valuable innovation, middle managers:
 <ul>
 <li>Gather information (both political and technical) broadly and deeply from varied sources.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Translate that information into a manageable and salable project.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Identify what needs to get done beyond the scope of the assigned task.</li>
 </ul>
 Example:&nbsp; 
 Charged with improving cost efficiency, manufacturing head Heidi Wilson physically followed goods as they traveled through her company, sought line managers’ insights, identified vested interests, compiled data, and packaged her ideas in punchy presentations that persuaded critics. Result? Her project won approval and netted impressive cost savings. 
 <h2>Building a Coalition</h2>
 Here’s where middle-manager entrepreneurs truly shine. These leaders:
 <ul>
 <li>Build consensus by stepping out of the usual chains of command.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Gather top-level support by giving higher-ups compelling presentations to persuade</li>
 </ul>
 their
 <ul>
 <li>constituencies.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Pull in needed resources and support by developing a broad and strong network of peers and higher level backers (“cheerleaders”).</li>
 </ul>
 Example:&nbsp; 
 To shape a major policy decision about the choice of a product-demo model, manager George Putnam leveraged long-term relation-ships. Through informal meetings and one-on-one “horse-trading” (showing managers how much support others chipped in), he got needed testing materials, funding, staff—and the engineering VP’s blessing. His demo model won—and became a very strong money-maker. 
 <h2>Taking Action</h2>
 To implement an innovation, middle managers:
 <ul>
 <li>Mobilize key players to carry out the project—and forge them into a unified team.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Protect the team from interference to the project.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Counter any criticism with clear facts and reminders of the project’s benefits.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Maintain momentum and enthusiasm for the project in the face of competing demands.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Make needed midcourse corrections to redouble any effort that’s bogging down.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Communicate progress to key constituencies to secure credibility.</li>
 </ul>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief>When Steve Talbot, an operations manager, began a staff job reporting to the general manager of a product group, he had no line responsibility, no subordinates or budget of his own, and only a vague mandate to “explore options to improve performance.”

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Reprint: R0407M 

Entrepreneurial middle managers are the key to innovative growth in organizations and are a source of hope for a slowed economy. In fact, strategic directives from senior executives mean nothing without efficient middle managers just below officer level who are able to design the systems and carry out the plans.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter&#8217;s article, first published in 1982, reports on a study of effective middle managers working in large corporations. It distinguishes between managers who fostered basic accomplishments (those that occurred within existing frameworks) and managers who achieved innovative accomplishments (those that increased long-term capacity). Basic accomplishments differ from innovative ones not only in scope and long-run impact but also in what it takes to achieve them. Innovative accomplishments tend to involve highly problematic situations where creative solutions, power, and influence are required.
Innovative middle managers are not necessarily extraordinary individuals. They do, however, share several characteristics, including comfort with change, clarity of direction, thoroughness, and a participative management style. Such managers also understand that achieving their goals takes time&#8212;and tact.
Even the most enterprising managers need the support of a collaborative organization in order to achieve their goals. Entrepreneurial managers require access to abundant information, support, and resources, and they need the power to go beyond the limits of their formal positions. Such managers must be able to envision an accomplishment beyond the scope of a job, be daring enough to go after what they need, and be willing to share the credit with others when the desired outcome has been reached.

The Middle Manager as Innovator

Reprint: R0407M Entrepreneurial middle managers are the key to innovative growth in organizations and are a source of hope for a slowed economy. In fact, strategic directives from senior executives mean nothing without efficient middle managers just below officer level who are able to design the systems and carry out the plans. Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s article, first published in 1982, reports on a study of effective middle managers working in large corporations. It distinguishes between managers who fostered basic accomplishments (those that occurred within existing frameworks) and managers who achieved innovative accomplishments (those that increased long-term capacity). Basic accomplishments differ from innovative ones not only in scope and long-run impact but also in what it takes to achieve them. Innovative accomplishments tend to involve highly problematic situations where creative solutions, power, and influence are required. Innovative middle managers are not necessarily extraordinary individuals. They do, however, share several characteristics, including comfort with change, clarity of direction, thoroughness, and a participative management style. Such managers also understand that achieving their goals takes time—and tact. Even the most enterprising managers need the support of a collaborative organization in order to achieve their goals. Entrepreneurial managers require access to abundant information, support, and resources, and they need the power to go beyond the limits of their formal positions. Such managers must be able to envision an accomplishment beyond the scope of a job, be daring enough to go after what they need, and be willing to share the credit with others when the desired outcome has been reached.

The Middle Manager as Innovator

Summary.

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