The Cost of a Weak Second Tier

Most organizations spend a great deal of time developing and protecting their C-suite. They invest in executive coaching, leadership assessments, and succession conversations. But sometimes the layer that needs more attention is the one directly beneath. This gap, quietly and consistently, is where organizational strength breaks down.

Typically, when we look at our engagement survey data by management level, there is a slope. The senior leaders have the highest, most favorable views of the company, and those views decline with each level until you get to employees. This is what we expect to see. And, we want the senior leaders to have the most favorable view; they are the ones leading the organization. But sometimes, we see a dip in middle management. The middle level having the least favorable view of the organization. When this happens, we have a problem, because it won’t take long for the employees to follow suit.

The strength of any organization is only as deep as the layer below its best leaders. If that layer isn’t being developed, the C-suite isn’t just carrying more than they should. They are one unexpected departure away from finding out exactly how much they were holding up.

It is usually a result of the middle level either not getting the information they need or not being developed to grow in their position. Either way, it breeds disengagement.

The result is predictable. Everything flows upward. Decisions that should be made three levels down end up on the VP’s desk because that’s how the VP maintains control. Projects stall waiting for approvals that only one person can give. The team beneath them stops growing because they are never given the opportunity to think through problems on their own. And the C-suite, which should be focused on strategy and direction, gets pulled back into operational conversations they have no business being in.

Here are some tips for strengthening the middle layer’s ability to execute.

Assess your second tier honestly. Not by title or tenure, but by capability. Can your VPs and directors lead without constant C-suite involvement? Are they developing the people beneath them, or are they the bottleneck? The answers to those questions tell you more about your organizational health than any engagement survey.

Make development a performance expectation. A VP who delivers results but develops no one is only doing half the job. Build the expectation that leaders at every level are responsible for growing their teams’ capabilities, and hold them accountable for it the same way you hold them accountable for their operational goals.

Give the second tier real authority. Leaders who are never trusted with meaningful decisions never develop the judgment to make them. Delegate authority, not just tasks, and resist the instinct to pull decisions back up when the outcome feels uncertain. That uncertainty is where development lives.

Have the honest conversation about succession. Most second-tier leaders who aren’t developing successors haven’t been asked to do so directly. Make the expectation explicit. The cost goes deeper than inefficiency. When a VP hoards decisions and knowledge, they are also quietly eliminating their organization’s ability to function without them. In most cases, this isn’t malicious. It comes from fear. A leader who hasn’t developed anyone beneath them often believes, consciously or not, that being irreplaceable is the same as being valuable. What they are actually doing is creating a single point of failure that puts the entire organization at risk.

Develop your leaders now, before discovering that the layer beneath you was never prepared to lead, and it’s too late. The most expensive leadership transitions are the ones organizations didn’t see coming.

Dusty Tockstein is a senior consultant at Peter Barron Stark Companies. Dusty works with clients to improve their corporate culture through a variety of tools, including Employee Engagement Surveys, 360 Leadership Development Assessments, Leadership Coaching, and Organizational Assessments.