Gratitude from the Middle

Hey Leader!

Tis’ the season to be Thankful!

As Thanksgiving approaches, I wanted to share with you a few reflections on what I'm grateful for as a middle manager.

Bonding

A few weeks ago, our team held our quarterly team bonding gathering.

We went to a local arcade to play video games and race go-karts. It was honestly an excuse to be a kid again.

During the event, we bonded as a group, shared laughs, lost a few rounds, but had fun all along the way.

I kept thinking about how this event was a micro-summation of our team dynamic. The group has built relationships over the years through projects and work. We've been intentional daily about connecting as a larger team and within sub-teams. Even one team member who's no longer with us shared how much he misses our team dynamic because of the camaraderie that was built over the years.

Those are the moments I am grateful for.

Culture

I remember a conversation I had with my manager six years ago about how important it was to protect the team culture. The decisions we've made over the years—with hiring, coaching, project planning, and team outings—were to ensure they contribute to, or elevate, the culture that has been built.

That decision led to tough conversations about what success looks like for us, but it also contributed to the long-standing retention rate and employee satisfaction of our team.

Those are the actions I am grateful for.

Mindset

The athlete in me never goes away.

I do my best to curb my competitive nature toward accomplishing goals, not dominating people. Doing so has shifted my lens on the work we do, viewing it as ways we can continuously improve the initiatives we focus on, place people in positions to succeed, and be the example team for others to model after.

When there's a gap or a gray area in processes, my mentality is: what could we do to fix that? I often ask the team, "What is within our control? What makes meaning for us? How can we influence decisions around us?"

We did this recently when we realized there was a gap in how we are training our end users after we implement a project. Rather than wait around for someone to tell us what we should do, I encouraged us to do our own assessment based on what we know to help inform what success could look like.

And then the team rolled with it! They analyzed what's working, what's not working, and we are taking actions based on their feedback.

That is the mentality I am thankful for.

These reflections got me thinking: when was the last time you paused to acknowledge what's going well in your leadership?

These gratitude-filled moments took time and trust to get here, but my role as a middle manager allows me to be right in the middle of impacting it all. I get the chance to act as a "head coach," "culture captain," and "event planner" (along with many other hats) to assist team development. I am grateful for the 12 years of crafting my leadership to be ready for this.

We often talk about the pain points, problems, and issues of being in middle management that we rarely sit back and discuss the moments we are grateful for in this role. We sit at that intersection of strategy and execution, vision and reality, expectations and constraints. We are the bridge between teams that directly impacts the wellbeing of those we lead. What a privilege that is!

I want to hear from you: What are you thankful for as a middle manager?

Here’s an example framework you can leverage over the next couple of days to identify moments of gratitude within your leadership:

• Moments I'm Grateful For (team bonding)

• Actions I'm Grateful For (culture-protecting decisions)

• Mindsets I'm Thankful For (continuous improvement mentality)

I want to hear from you: What are you thankful for as a middle manager?

Reply with one moment, action, or mindset shift you're grateful for as a middle manager, and I'll feature responses in next week's issue.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ray

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