Managing up and the myth of hyper productivity
I’ve had a lot of conversations with managers lately who are either burnt out, or well on their way. To be clear - none of these managers are lazy, disengaged, or lacking in capability. They’re all high performers in their respective organisations drowning under a constant tide of ‘do more’ - to deliver everything on the list, to hit every deadline without question no matter how unrealistic the brief, or how thinly their team is spread.
The myth of hyper-productivity - the idea that we can always do more with less - is a constant strain on the relationship between senior leadership and middle management. I have lost count of the times I’ve said “all the low-hanging fruit has been picked” in meetings. There are no ‘quick wins’ for teams any more. Our world is more volatile and complex, our task more difficult, and customer expectations have changed. It requires a shift away from old thinking and rigid pressure, and towards a flexible partnership.
Managers can’t do everything
The burden on middle managers isn’t just a middle management problem - it’s a leadership design problem. Senior leaders can reduce the strain by moving away from the old ‘command and control’ approach (or what I affectionately call ‘Leader as God’). This means recognising that managers don’t need to single-handedly develop every capability in house, nor deliver every project themselves.
Sometimes the right solution is to buy in specialist skills temporarily, redistribute work across the branch, review service levels, or partner with external providers who have the capacity and desire to deliver for you. Doing so frees managers up to focus on (or develop) their core strengths: leading people, building a healthy team culture, managing workloads, and delivering quality outcomes among others.
Managers need to manage up
It’s not all up to senior leaders to adjust how they work though - middle managers play their own role. One of the most powerful and oft-overlooked skills for managers is the ability to manage up effectively to create clarity and alignment between the role levels, and support a more sustainable workload. Three simple ways to start are:
Know your workload and have it mapped - Go into your 1:1’s with a clear overview of what’s sitting with you and your team, and who’s doing what by when. Know where your capacity (if any) lies, who’s working overtime, who’s about to break, and the skills and capabilities you can leverage within your team. Be prepared to discuss what you’ve already done to optimise the workload of your team. Show your leader that you’re actively managing workload, because it’ll be the first thing they ask.
Frame new priorities with a trade-off - When assigned a new project or task, ask the question “If this new work goes ahead, which of our current priorities should be delayed or dropped?” This helps your leader see the real cost of adding work, and positions you as a flexible problem-solver who is working to deliver despite the challenges.
Give options - Senior leaders are more responsive when given options, not problems. Instead of “We can’t”, or “We don’t have time”, try “I can see three options right now: We can meet that deadline if we bring in an additional resource, or we can deliver by end of next month with existing resourcing, or we could look to an external provider to deliver these pieces of work that will free us up to get on it. Do you have a preference?”
The relationship between the levels needs to be nurtured - after all we’re all on the same team.
If you want to get on the same team as your senior leaders and master The Art of Managing Up, join us for our webinar on 19 November, 2025 at 10:00am (AEST, Australia). Get your ticket here.
