The Frozen Middle
I attended a talk by my good friend Jennifer Fields at the recent TriAgile conference entitled Mystery of the Frozen Middle.
In it, she explored the notion that middle management gets frozen or disrupted in an agile transformation with very little support from (1) their teams and (2) their senior leaders.
I very much enjoyed her talk, and as Alistair Cockburn mentioned afterward, it’s a topic that hasn’t received much airtime in our community. I agree.
What I wanted to share here is an idea inspired by her talk.
Defined
When we refer to the “Frozen Middle,” we are largely talking about middle management, such as project managers, line managers, people managers, etc. It’s usually one or two of the lower levels of management in the org charts.
You can also call it the middle (cold cuts, burger, or BBQ) of the upper bun/slice (senior leadership) and lower bun/slice (teams) or a sandwich.
And the frozen implies that they are frozen in place with their management style, methods, and tactics. That implies typically that their teams are moving forward in an agile fashion more quickly than the managers are.
Is the Middle a Person?
Often, as coaches—and I saw this in the Q&A in Jennifer’s talk—the reference from coaching changes towards the individuals in the middle. That is, if we can only get these managers to shift, change, or grow, then everything will work out.
As I sat and listened to her, I realized that the frozen middle isn’t a person or role. It’s more aligned with a system. It includes—
Upper or Senior management
o Middle management
Teams
To unfreeze the middle, the focus can’t simply be on the middle. Imagine that.
You also need to focus on the teams and senior leaders. They are part of the changing system, and the middle can’t be unfrozen without them changing their interactions and behaviors with the middle.
Wrapping Up
Taking it even further, if you are an Agile coach within this system, I think the proper starting point is to unfreeze yourself so that you stop stereotyping
middle management as “frozen.” Instead, reach out to each of them as the human they are and coach the individuals at every level.
It’s not a hierarchy; it’s a system. And it needs to be approached that way.
Stay agile, my friends,
Bob.