The Concrete Middle
By Rob Briton
Dr. Rob Britton leads AirLearn (www.airlearn.net), a consultancy that helps people to understand the complex and ever-changing airline industry, and to translate those insights and knowledge into effective business results.
In some recent writings and presentations, I’ve been lauding two CEOs as shining examples of airline leadership. Rob Fyfe at Air New Zealand and Tony Fernandes at the fast-growing Air Asia inspire their teams by spending time on the frontline of service delivery. It’s now time to move down the management hierarchy and candidly discuss a challenge that affects many carriers and their suppliers – indeed virtually every medium and large firm: resistance to change and innovation in middle management, a phenomenon often called “the concrete middle.”
Suppliers, especially those in sales, hit the concrete middle all the time, in the form of a mid-level manager – they could be in any department – who is determined to block a sale, no matter how sensible the product or solution. In my long career in airline leadership, I met lots of members of the concrete middle. In some happy cases, I was able to persuade them to find job satisfaction elsewhere, but persistence is a common trait among this group. The concrete middle also frustrates the ambitions and ideas of young and new employees, precisely the people who could bring fresh thinking and alternate perspectives.
How did all this human cement harden? At many companies, employees often stay far too long in a single large department, moving up the hierarchy. Hiring managers choose people who think and behave just like them, so things begin to stagnate. Some companies discourage people from moving into new area. And the basic human tendency to resist change obviously plays a role.
What can be done? Is there a magic jackhammer to pulverize the concrete middle? Sadly, no. But this is no time for fatalism, either, so here are a few ideas. Actively acknowledging the concrete is a great place to start. Airline managements, especially at older companies, have become too thin to continue to tolerate the concrete middle. And at many of these carriers, the “business as usual mentality” will not ensure survival, much less growth. Executives need to hold mid-level managers accountable – if the latter oppose an initiative, leaders should require them to explain reasons why, not just accept their folded-arms body language.
Suppliers can play a role, too. If they really want to make the sale, they need to find tactful ways to expose the human barriers. For example, I recently had a candid conversation with an airline executive about why a solution he liked and agreed was needed was not being implemented. I told him that when I was in his shoes, I often encountered the concrete middle. And, yes, I named names. The result? We’re getting closer to getting the deal done.
In a time when “change management” has become a business buzzword, all of us need to play a role in bringing change across the concrete middle. Put on your hardhats!
