Middle managers are under a lot of pressure these days; effective negotiation strategies can help them better achieve their personal, team and organizational objectives.

That’s according to Geoffrey Leonardelli, Rotman professor of organizational behavior and human resource management. He says one of the primary objectives of middle managers is implementing organizational change and suggests that the pace of change seems to have accelerated in recent years.

“I hear with greater frequency this idea of change fatigue; that there's so much upheaval that people are finding themselves — and those they work with — emotionally exhausted,” he says. “That perception can often become the reality as a result of what they are experiencing and dealing with.”

The role of middle managers is to support the interests of multiple stakeholders, even when their priorities seem in conflict, Leonardelli says. That’s especially true as organizations grapple with new challenges like workplace flexibility and return to office mandates, adopting new tools and technologies, generational leadership change, and attempting to get staff to do more with less in leaner economic times.

In fact, a recent survey found that nearly half of middle managers are likely to quit their job over elevated stress levels, and 57 per cent of managers wish someone had warned them not to take their current job.

How negotiation makes middle managers more effective

While it may feel like middle managers are often forced to contend with competing interests, Leonardelli recommends adopting a different perspective that reframes their position as a mediator between groups that are more aligned than they realize. Using common negotiation tactics can help middle managers better serve their leaders, their direct reports, and themselves, he says.

“Negotiation recognizes that while you don't have complete control over your circumstances, there are things you can do to increase your degree of influence to make the circumstances better for the folks that depend on you, for the people you're negotiating with and for yourself,” he said.

The foundation of strong negotiation and the foundation of strong management are one in the same, and they’re both built on trusting relationships, says Leonardelli.

“Without that trust and relationship building, there is a natural tendency to assume our interests are in conflict,” he says. “In negotiations we call it ‘the fixed pie perception’ — that what your counterpart wants must be against what I want.”

Adopt an ‘us and them’ mindset

Despite that perception, Leonardelli says there are often solutions that allow different parties to achieve a positive outcome without negatively affecting each other, especially within the same organization.

“Interests can differ, but that doesn’t mean they’re opposing,” he says. “Then it’s about understanding how to align behind common organizational objectives while simultaneously carrying out the responsibilities localized to the manager’s own unit.”

Rather than viewing different parties as competing, Leonardelli says it’s important to emphasize opportunities for mutual gains, which he calls an “us and them” mindset.

“There's this natural gravity to assume that who we are is not like ‘them,’ and we're independent from — and perhaps in conflict with — ‘them,’” he says. “’Us and them’ recognizes that difference is there for a reason; we might be serving different specialized purposes, but it's the collective whole of those specialized purposes that allow us to achieve an even bigger objective.”

Engage in high-quality listening

Effective negation requires strong listening skills, and that’s especially true for middle managers who are often tasked with mediating between parties or representing different stakeholders’ interests.

For example, Leonardelli says in more challenging economic times managers are often tasked with getting more out of leaner teams, without being able to offer some of the financial incentives that they could typically use as motivation. In that situation, he says the first step is listening to the needs and concerns of staff and demonstrating a willingness to act on those insights.

Leonardelli says high-quality listening serves as a cooperative communicative cue, “meaning that it helps people understand that they are being listened to and that person cares about them.” Even in situations where middle managers can’t act on behalf of their reports, making them feel heard by demonstrating an understanding and empathy for their concerns can help build those more trusting relationships.

He adds that high-quality listening is based on intentionality, understanding and behaviour. “It is in part about demonstrating intent, it’s in part demonstrating that you're processing this information, and it's in part seeking to communicate what you're doing while you're doing it.”

Pick your battles

Middle managers can spend a lot of their time duking it out with reports, upper management, or colleagues, but a key negotiation skill for managers is clarity around which battles are worth waging and when to throw in the towel.

“We call that a BATNA, a ‘best alternative to a negotiated agreement,’” Leonardelli says, adding that it’s important to consider “what you would do if you walked away,” prior to engaging in a negotiation.

Leonardelli says that simply knowing what happens if negotiations fail can help contextualize and prioritize those efforts. In some cases, walking away could have detrimental consequences, but in others giving up could come at a relatively low cost.

“This is why it's worth going through the exercise of considering what alternatives do I have? What else could I do? What's my second-best option?” he says. “That is its own form of influence, because if you have a good second option, you can push back even more.”

Keep working on yourself

One of the most important steps middle managers can take to improve their negotiation skills — and their effectiveness as leaders — is to pursue opportunities for further self-development, Leonardelli says. “Managers — and especially middle managers — are going to benefit from getting a better sense of who they are and what they're feeling, so they can speak more precisely to their concerns, and more successfully build relationships and cooperation.”