The Strengths Studio Blog

When we talk about leadership, we often picture the people with big titles, the ones who sit at the top of the org chart, set direction, and make the most visible decisions.

But step inside almost any organization and you realize something different:

leadership doesn’t live at the top — it lives in the middle.

Over and over again, I see middle managers serving as the connective tissue that keeps organizations functioning. They translate vision into action, maintain stability in the day-to-day, shape the emotional climate of teams, and influence partnerships across the entire system.

And yet, they are often the most overlooked leaders in the workplace.

The Middle Is Where Organizational Life Actually Happens

When I was a middle manager, I remember feeling the pressure of being “between” levels, carrying the expectations of leaders above me while supporting the needs of the people beside me and below me. What I didn’t fully appreciate at the time was something I now see clearly:

The middle is not “between” anything.
The middle is the engine of the organization.

Middle managers:

• hold institutional memory
• stabilize teams during uncertainty
• reinforce culture through everyday behaviors
• translate big ideas into practical actions
• notice what isn’t working before senior leaders do
• build the cross-unit relationships that make work flow
• influence how decisions are interpreted and lived out
• carry the emotional weight of their people

They are the sense-makers.
The steadying presence.
The people who fill in the gaps so work doesn’t fall apart.

They are the translators, connectors, stabilizers, and catalysts.

They carry emotional labor and operational complexity that few people see, but everyone benefits from.

Middle managers don’t just keep an organization moving - they hold the quiet influence that keeps an organization aligned.

The Three Domains of Middle-Manager Influence

Regardless of title, middle managers lead in three directions and each one shapes organizational life in profound ways.

1. Leading Others: Culture, Clarity, and Steadiness

Middle managers influence the tone and experience of work more than senior leaders do because they’re closer to the realities people face daily. They:

• set norms through everyday behavior
• clarify expectations
• create or relieve pressure
• support wellbeing
• communicate what is known
• normalize uncertainty
• build psychological safety
• shape how teams respond to change

Culture is not built in the C-suite. Culture is built in meetings, emails, hallway conversations, and daily interactions - all places where middle managers lead every day.

2. Leading Across: Connection, Collaboration, and Flow

Organizations don’t operate vertically; they often move sideways. Middle managers hold the lateral power that makes things work:

• coordinating across units
• resolving conflicts
• building relationships that make processes smoother
• identifying interdependencies
• preventing silos
• troubleshooting breakdowns
• supporting peers

They are the cross-stitch of the organization, the thread that keeps the structure woven together.

3. Leading Up: Sense-Making, Insight, and Influence

Middle managers often underestimate how much they shape leadership above them.

They have the proximity and insight senior leaders rely on, as they:

• highlight patterns emerging on the ground
• brief leaders on what’s working or not
• ask clarifying questions
• recommend solutions
• point out risks or misunderstandings
• interpret the human impact of decisions
• elevate insights their teams need leaders to understand

They influence decisions long before those decisions are made. They are not spectators, they are strategic contributors.

Strengths as the Engine of Influence

Every middle manager influences differently.

Some influence through relationships: trust, empathy, connection.
Some through execution: reliability, structure, follow-through.
Some through strategy: seeing patterns and pathways.
Some through communication: storytelling, framing, energizing.

There is no single “best” leadership style in the middle.

But there is a best version of each person and it’s the version built on their natural talents.

Strengths are the engine of influence because they help individuals show up in a way that feels authentic, sustainable, and effective. 

When middle managers understand their strengths - and have awareness of their watchpoints - they stop trying to borrow someone else’s leadership style and start leading from a place of genuine alignment.

And that is when their impact becomes exponential.

Closing: Influence Begins With Self-Awareness

For those serving in the middle manager role, your impact is far greater than your title suggests. 

The most powerful thing you can do is build a deep awareness of how you lead and intentionally tap into the strengths that make you most effective. 

And for those leading middle managers:

Invest in them.

Equip them.

Support them.

Advocate for them.

Because a well-trained, well-informed, well-supported, and self-aware middle manager isn’t just valuable - they are an organization’s super power.