Middle management has always involved tension. You translate strategy into action, support your team, and report upwards on progress. In many organisations, this role has become more demanding.

McKinsey’s 2024 analysis on the role of the middle manager notes that organisations with strong managers achieve significantly better long term results, yet many managers report blurred expectations and rising demands. A 2024 Glassdoor report found that middle managers experienced the largest drop in confidence about their organisation’s outlook, reflecting sustained pressure from cost cutting, restructuring, and return to office shifts.

In this context, a middle manager under pressure needs practical ways to handle demands from both directions.

Why the role feels squeezed

Several trends shape the current experience of middle management.

• Spans of control have increased, with more direct reports per manager
• Many managers continue to carry individual contributor work
• Change programmes arrive frequently, with limited time to absorb them

Business Insider’s recent reporting on the rise of the “megamanager” describes managers with growing team sizes, ongoing individual responsibilities, and limited additional support. Betterworks’ 2024 report on performance enablement highlights that nearly two thirds of people managers lack clarity about their role.

This combination creates heavy load, even for skilled managers.

Managing up and managing down with clarity

Managing up and managing down is often described as a single phrase. In reality, each direction needs its own discipline.

Research summarised by Smith Business Insight emphasises that effective middle managers translate strategy for their teams, and translate operational reality for senior leaders.

Helpful practices include:

• When you receive a new request, ask for clear outcomes, boundaries, and timeframes
• Share with your team what has been agreed, including what can wait
• When you feed information upwards, describe capacity and risks in concrete terms

This helps you avoid promising everything in every direction.

Protecting your own attention

Coping with pressure at work as a manager depends partly on how you manage your own attention.

Evidence on human factors and performance in complex environments, such as analysis published in The BMJ, shows that noise, interruptions, and chronic stress reduce effectiveness and increase error.

You can support yourself by:

• Blocking short, non negotiable focus times for deep work
• Grouping similar tasks, such as approvals or check ins, to reduce switching
• Being transparent with your team about when you are available for rapid support

These moves protect your ability to think clearly, which benefits everyone you work with.

Using your team as a resource, not only as recipients

Middle managers sometimes feel they must carry everything personally. Teams often hold more capacity for problem solving than leaders realise.

CIPD’s evidence on high performing teams highlights the value of involving team members in decisions about work design and improvement.

You can:

• Ask your team where processes create unnecessary effort
• Invite ideas for managing peak periods more sustainably
• Share the rationale behind constraints so they can suggest realistic options

This shifts the pattern from silent strain to shared problem solving.

Seeking structured support

Research and reporting on middle manager burnout, such as surveys covered in Australian and global media, show that many managers lack training in conflict resolution, delegation, and communication, even while they face increasing demands.

Support can include:

• Targeted middle management training on leadership skills for middle managers
• Peer groups where managers share practical approaches and challenges
• Clear conversations with senior leaders about span of control and expectations

OPDEV’s middle management training in Pakistan and London focuses on real conditions. Using ONN insight, we explore how pressure travels through the system, how influence works in your context, and which behaviours support steadier leadership. Programmes help middle managers manage up and manage down with more clarity, more confidence, and less quiet strain.