Middlemen

Middlemen can be a recipe for failure. This will sound a bit hypocritical coming from someone who makes a living off being a Middle Manager (MM) - but I've learned more and more both for myself and for others I work with, that I need to get out of the way whenever possible.

What I mean is this - communication is not easy. Details, nuances, tone, timeframe, scope, budget, costs, the list goes on and on...all of this is incredibly difficult to communicate well to other people, even in the best of circumstances. For example, even if you're sitting face-to-face with someone and have hours to talk through all the facts, you can still leave a meeting with miscommunications in play. Add the difficulty of email and phone, and the issues multiply. Then add middlemen in between yourself and the end-recipient, and issues sky rocket.

So here's how I try to look at it - whether working with a vendor, client, third-party, or even co-workers, if you or someone else is in the way of clean, solid communication taking place, try and put together a model where this can be expedited or bypassed. If you're relaying messages in between a co-worker and your boss, get all 3 of you in a room together and talk through the issue at hand with all parties present - you'll skip the back and forth. If you're working with a third-party who is insisting on relaying info to the end-recipient, insist on getting that end-recipient on the call with you and the third-party. If you're working with a client and ALL decision-makers are not involved in your discussions, insist that you have ALL decision-makers involved.

Not everyone will like this approach, so be prepared for some resistance. There will also be some cases where this is just not possible, no matter how hard you insist. Still, insist until you are told "no way, no how".

Bottom line: don't just accept the status quo of allowing middlemen structures to prevent the best results. Insist on changing this norm and it'll make a huge difference - one that people will take note of.