I want to do something a little different this week.
For the past seven weeks I have been writing about strategy, the cost of under developing your managers, what real development looks like, and the elements that separate programs that work from ones that do not.
This week I want to get personal. Because underneath all of the strategy, there is a human conversation that most senior leaders are not having with their mid-managers. And that missing conversation is costing organizations more than they realize.
What Your Managers Are Actually Wondering
Your mid-managers are not just wondering whether they are hitting their numbers. They are wondering something much more fundamental.
They are wondering whether you see them.
Not their output. Not their team’s metrics. Them as people, as leaders, as professionals with ambition and uncertainty and a genuine desire to do meaningful work and grow in their careers.
They are wondering whether this role is a stepping stone or a dead end. Whether the organization they are giving so much to is invested in their future or simply extracting value from their present. Whether the sacrifices they are making, the long hours, the hard conversations, the weight of being responsible for other people’s performance and wellbeing, are recognized and valued by the people above them.
Most of them will never ask you these questions directly. But they are asking them internally, every day. And the conclusions they draw, based on your actions, your investments, and your attention, shape everything about how they show up.
The Conversation Most Leaders Are Not Having
In my work with senior executives, I consistently see a gap between how much leaders value their mid-managers and how clearly that value is communicated.
Most executives I work with genuinely care about their managers’ development and success. But caring privately and communicating clearly are two different things. And in the absence of clear communication, people fill the gap with their own assumptions and those assumptions are rarely generous.
The conversation I am talking about is not complicated. It does not require a formal program or a structured review. It requires intentionality and honesty.
It sounds like this:
“I see what you are carrying. I know this role is hard and that you are navigating challenges you did not fully anticipate when you took it on. I want you to know that I am invested in your success, not just what your team produces, but your growth as a leader. You are important to the future of this organization and I am committed to developing you, not just deploying you.”
When was the last time you said something like that to the managers who report to you?
Why This Matters More Than You Think
The research on employee engagement is unambiguous on this point. People do not leave companies. They leave managers. But mid-managers leave for a related and equally important reason, they leave leaders who do not invest in them.
When a mid-manager feels seen, valued, and genuinely developed, their commitment to the organization deepens in a way that compensation cannot replicate. I have seen this firsthand in the Mid-Manager Program. Participants consistently report that the act of being enrolled, of having their organization say we believe in you enough to invest in your development, changes their relationship to their work and their loyalty to the company.
One participant told me that being sent to the program communicated more about how the organization valued him than anything else his company had done. He was already a committed employee. After that investment, he became an advocate.
That is the return on the conversation. That is what happens when you stop assuming your managers know they are valued and start telling them directly and then backing it up with action.
Three Things Worth Saying This Week
If you lead mid-managers and you have not had this kind of conversation recently, here are three things worth communicating clearly and soon.
These are not platitudes if you mean them. And if you mean them, back them up with the kind of structured development investment that makes the words real.
Your managers are not mind readers. Tell them what you see. Show them what you value. And then build the development infrastructure that makes those words credible.
The Relationship at the Center of It All
Building a farm team is ultimately not just a business strategy. It is a relationship commitment.
It is the commitment to see the people in the middle of your organization not just as the connective tissue between your vision and your front line, but as human beings who deserve to be developed, challenged, and genuinely invested in.
When you make that commitment and communicate it clearly and back it up with action, everything changes. Retention improves. Engagement deepens. Culture strengthens. And the managers you develop become the senior leaders your organization will need.
That is the farm team you are building. And it starts with a conversation.
Next week I am going to wrap up this part of the series with the real return on investment of developing the middle of your organization, and why the executives who get this right are building something their competitors cannot easily replicate.
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