Middle Managers Who Work The Hardest Often Make These 3 Mistakes Without Realizing It
Hard-working middle managers often fall into three mistakes without noticing.
Kaboompics.com | Pexels Do you pride yourself on being a hands-on manager? Always in the thick of it — tackling the urgent, the important, and the unexpected? Guiding your team, ensuring every detail is top-notch, and keeping all hands on deck?
While it might feel rewarding to be so active and involved, your approach could be doing more harm than good. I learned this lesson the hard way. Let me save you the trouble and share what I wish I’d known sooner.
If you’re the first to roll up your sleeves, step up to the plate, and swing at every challenge, it’s time to rethink your strategy. Here’s what you need to know. Management is a balancing act, much like Aristotle’s golden mean — a sweet spot between excess and deficiency.
Think about something like honesty. Too much can feel blunt; too little can seem deceptive. Similarly, managers need to find the balance between being too hands-off and too hands-on.
Unfortunately, many managers lean too far into oversight, driven by a sense of personal responsibility, a desire to maintain standards, or fear of reputational risk. Enter micromanagement. It might feel like you’re safeguarding success, but here’s how it often manifests:
- Constantly checking in or asking for status updates.
- Offering unsolicited advice, corrections, or suggestions.
- Redoing employees’ work to match your standards instead of guiding them to improve.
The knock-on effects can be disastrous: team members feel undervalued, projects are delayed, and creativity is stifled. The fix? Set clear expectations and step back. Let your team find their path — even if it’s different from yours. Celebrate diverse approaches; you might even learn something.
Offer guidance when asked, but give people room to learn from their mistakes. You’re not just managing tasks; you’re building people.
Middle managers who work the hardest often make these mistakes without realizing it:
1. Failing to delegate
Ground Picture / Shutterstock
Delegation is a superpower — and one I learned the hard way. Once upon a time, I refused to ask for help. I hated how my old boss dumped grunt work on me, and I swore I’d never do the same.
But as deadlines loomed and my to-do list ballooned, I reluctantly gave in and delegated. To my surprise, my team excelled. They crushed their tasks, enjoyed the responsibility, and even grew their skills. It was a win-win.
Why do so many managers avoid delegating? Fear of lower quality, or the belief that doing it yourself is faster. But here’s the thing: even if it’s faster now, you’re robbing your team of the chance to grow — and slowing things down in the long run.
Here’s my delegation cheat sheet — the Three Cs:
- Competence: Assign tasks to those with the right skills — or those who could benefit from practicing them.
- Confidence: Build confidence by giving employees new challenges and exposure.
- Collaboration: Encourage teamwork and fresh perspectives by involving others in problem-solving.
Delegating frees you to focus on the true leadership tasks unique to you, where you can have a real impact. And it gives your team the trust, confidence, and skills they need to thrive.
2. Trying to do it all yourself
When it’s your caboose on the line, it can be tempting to try to do everything. You might work long hours, take personal responsibility for every urgent issue, and try to shoulder all the team’s burdens. After all, you might think, isn’t this what it means to be the boss?
I fell into this trap. I believed for far too long that being busy meant being productive. But I burned out, started making poor decisions, and lost confidence in my abilities.
This forced me to take a step back. And when I did, I saw the truth. The grey clouds of my negative experiences parted and revealed the truth: my team didn’t need me for everything. They were fine in every area except that which only a leader can help with.
The big takeaways for me from this that I still use to this day are:
- Prioritise tasks based on importance, not urgency.
- Learn to say no and set boundaries to protect your energy.
- Focus on what only you, as the boss, can do: support individuals, shape culture, and steer the team with strategy.
Don’t mistake busyness for productivity. You’ll accomplish much more when you do less.
3. Forgetting the bigger picture
Too much time on the day-to-day operations means too little time on long-term thinking. Little issues have a way of needling into a leader’s day. They may seem urgent and grab your eyeballs, pulling you away from your important work.
Many leaders struggle with this. Studies show that 75% of senior leaders feel unprepared to navigate change — often because they spend more time firefighting than strategising.
But when you’re not thinking about the bigger picture, and actively planning for it, it’s like steering a ship without a map. Staff need a direction to follow. And we need to make sure that where we’re leading them is going to get us where we want to go.
So dedicate specific time every week to strategic planning. Carve out chunks of your time that are not for firefighting and operational issues.
They are for thoughtful, long-term thinking, where you can stay calm and think rationally. Combine this with setting clear goals and using tools like OKRs to make sure you connect vision with execution.
Effective leadership isn’t only about handling today’s issues. It’s about thinking about and preparing for tomorrow’s too. When you’re a hands-on manager, it can feel great. You get that dopaminergic hit of getting things done and feeling valuable.
But this can be a cruel trick of the mind. Because what feels good today might not be what you’ll need tomorrow.
So take a step back. Trust your team. And remember: leadership isn’t about doing it all — it’s about creating the conditions for everyone to succeed.
Tobias is a writer, leadership coach, and corporate executive. He's had articles featured in Medium and Business Insider, as well as many other sites, and has been working in and around leadership for the best part of two decades.
