Managing from the Middle

CAD Management is considered “middle management”. This term applies to anyone that does not report directly to the company CEO and that has people reporting to them. You are in the middle. Middle management is where the vast majority of people actually work. It is the environment that we all live in.

If you are like most CAD Managers, you spend the majority of your time putting out fires and managing processes and people above you and below you. You interact with everyone in the firm. You touch just about every process that creates the design. Sometimes you feel empowered and other times it feels like you cannot get anything done. It ranges from a feeling of total control to out of control. Feelings of success and failure. All in the same day.

Add to that the fact that you have to work and get things done with employees that do not work for you. The users of the products you oversee have no direct line of reporting that includes you. You cannot hire them or fire them. You have to constantly negotiate your way through the day. Trying to get others to do things the way they should with little real leverage over their efforts.

CAD Management is unique in that your area of responsibility does not match you circle of authority. You are responsible for putting in place processes, guidelines, standards and quality control. But you have to do this from outside the chain of command. You are reaching into the workflow of others and modifying their procedures.

How do you cope with the struggles of being sandwiched in between those above you and those below? How do you get others to do things when you have no authority to make it happen?

Here are my suggestions:

Work alongside them

Getting involved in projects is key to finding out what is bothering people or where you can make adjustments that will help everyone. Talk to the Project Managers and the project teams. Find out when they have troubles and what those troubles are. Just ask them… they will be happy to share their perspectives.

Include them in the process

Keep both managers above you and the users below you in the mix. Do not create procedures without have them check them. Make sure that the processes that you want to refine are the ones that are giving projects troubles. Ask the Project Managers and other senior people what are they concerned about. Address these concerns by working with them. Keep them informed of your progress. When devising new standards keep the users in the process. Create a team of users to help define, select and document the choices.

Take their advice

When they talk – listen. You have two ears and only one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak. Listen to what they are saying under their breath or to each other. Maybe they won’t talk directly to you, but they often talk when you are around. They want you to hear. They want you to provide answers. Don’t let them down.

Think Unification not Control

Standards and guidelines are really just writing down and codifying the processes that people do. If you keep in mind that getting everyone on the same page is more important than getting everyone to agree to do it your way. I would rather have everyone do something the same way, which I did not think of, than to have everyone convinced that my way, is the best.