Google came up with 8 things that make a good manager, and when you cluster them together, you get three very clear themes: Controlling the Pace of Work by focusing on outcomes and coaching their teams to achieve them. Holding the Space so that everyone is clear on their role and their goals and empowered to make calls in their space. Making the Case that the team are secure and clear on purpose through great two-way conversation and evidence of care. Technical skills came last on this list – even for highly specialized areas such as engineering.  What was interesting about this is that many managers focus more on their technical development – seeking further learning and certificates in their field – when the evidence clearly shows that their real value comes from more relationship-oriented capabilities – such as coaching, communication and empowerment. That was a decade ago, why does it matter now? While it was a decade ago, the key factor about the Google research is the predominance of engineers that make up their workforce.  Engineers are known for having many of the characteristics of today’s post-pandemic workforce.  Independent, untrusting, truth-seeking, purpose-oriented, flexibly working and unafraid to make demands. Are the relationships across all leadership levels equally important? Fundamentally, the relationship with your leader is the most important one you have, but the more senior you become, the less you rely on it for your own performance. While you are learning a new role, your leader is there to nurture and develop you, and often closely supervise you – but once you become a seasoned professional you need a different relationship with your leader. The shift at this stage of the relationship is a subtle but important one – and it signals a sharp switch in leadership style.  Leaders who were supervising, now need to empower.  Those that were training now need to coach.  They need to switch from directing actions to communicating intentions and from managing tasks to governing outcomes.   Many leaders fail to identify and adapt to this.   This failure gives rise to complaints about micro-management, increased leader-worker conflicts and a loss of workforce engagement.  It’s where much of the malignant labelling of middle management has come from over the years – the leaders who “get in the way, create bureaucracy and screw things up” according to Laszlo Bock, former SVP of People Operations at Google. The opposite of this ‘middle manager’ is what I call a B-Suite Leader.  These are the mid-level leaders who are productive, poised and promotable – effectively operating with C-Suite impact, but at the center of your organization. So what does good look like? The relationships that B-Suite leaders have with their teams is one characterized by clarity, empowerment and motivation.  These leaders focus their development on gaining and retaining clarity and clear priorities, on ensuring their teams feel safe and empowered, and on removing the roadblocks in their way.   As a result, they are more objective, making them more effective at tackling toxic behaviours, resolving unrealistic workloads, maintaining a connection to purpose – even when the goalposts shift, and ensuring each individual is recognized and responded to.   It’s a hands-on relationship – too hands on for the C-Suite to handle.  It’s also a relationship that requires discrete decisions to made regularly – decisions that are often above a supervisor’s paygrade.  The most crucial relationships that exist in your organization are with – and within – your B-Suite. Your executive rely on them for execution and – sometimes – for insights. Your workforce rely on them for personalization and advocacy. Their peers rely on them for the collaborations and compromises that keep the business running. Their relationships are many and varied.  They are translators, connectors and culture-carriers – and as a cohort, they are horribly neglected.  If you invest in one area of your business this year, make it your B-Suite.