The struggle of Mid-Managers

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Raj was the Head of Business Unit of a big group in India and was getting ready for his presentation which he was making to the Top Management for a new project. The new project was very important for both the organization and Raj’s area of work as he proposed to enter a new segment generating additional revenues. He reviewed his slides again and again for one last time before he saved the presentation and closed his laptop. Gathered some confidence and picked up his laptop, diary,  pen and set off to the board room. He made sure he was in the room at least 10 mins earlier to set up the projector and start the presentation on time.

The Management team comprising of 2 Vice Presidents and 1 CEO of the group entered the room on time. Everything was set and with the initial greetings done, Raj started his presentation. The presentation deeply covered all topics keeping the objective in focus. He indeed had worked on this for months. When he reached the slide talking on financial terms of project, he had listed down the resources required to achieve the project and the revenue which would be generated. The management stopped him, as Raj expected. 

“You will have to manage with your existing resource Raj. No additional resource will be provided. Your business Unit is already the lowest in terms of revenue per employee and adding more resource is not possible” said the CEO.

But Raj had prepared for such a question and he immediately responded “Yes, I do understand that. But when you compare the business unit revenue per employee with the competitors we generate more revenue / employee than the avg of our major competitors”. Fact was laid on the table, as Raj was a person who believed in numbers. And the numbers were also from a reliable source. 

The CEO was in no mind to further approve for additional resource and replied back “Look, I am re-stating. Your business Unit revenue per employee is lowest amongst the other business units and the profits are lower than other Units. If we need to invest in resources, we might as well add it other Units which would fetch more profits. So while we approve the project, there is as strict no-go for additional resource. Thank you !!” ended the CEO, making his thoughts clear.

Raj was in a fix, he had got a go ahead for his project but without additional resource.

He had to go back to his team and squeeze them more to start this project !

A common story which many leaders and managers face. “Sandwiched” between the expectations of top management and their sub-ordinates. 

While from Top Management perspective it is right to look that if any additional resource is invested, they would invest in areas which would fetch max results. Raj must make sure that he too makes it clear to the Management on possible outcome by squeezing the existing results. The impact it can have on existing projects and on new project suggested.  While its easy to have written it in a blog, its extremely important and delicate when it comes to presenting impact to management with pre-decided mindset.  

Do share your thoughts  and ways how Raj could handle such situations ? 

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