Deborah Hill Cone: Nobody wants to be piggy-in-the-middle

A chum has been involved in recruiting a CEO for a medium-sized organisation. Alas, there seems to be an abyss where all the thrusting middle-management talent should be in this country.

"Middle management" - it's such a ghastly expression. Who would want to be one? It sounds like you would wear stubbies and a plastic pocket protector. Ricky Gervais has a lot to answer for.

But sorry to say, management, gauche or not, is blimming important. One of the major factors in our dismal productivity figures is the quality of our management. Not the headline grabbers like Air New Zealand and Vodafone and Trelise Cooper. Just the ho-hum ordinary organisations that keep the economy ticking over. Their management is indeed ho-hum.

Visiting the New Zealand Institute of Management website won't disabuse you of this notion. Under the heading "research" there is only one article from the past year or two. It is headed "Could do better", about how Indian, Canadian and Malaysian managers all score higher than New Zealand ones on the Management Capability Index (MCI).

This matters. A Treasury document cites a number of studies confirming the link between management quality and productivity. Meanwhile, a piece of New Zealand research found that local firms that implement better management practices are more likely to increase market share, productivity and profitability.

But who is going to be doing the management heavy lifting? Since the fall from grace of major corporates and the economic crisis, management has a branding problem. CEOs used to preside over a cult of personality - Jack Welch, anyone? - but now the pendulum has swung wildly and they are figures of fun.

Don't get me wrong: it's great that entrepreneurs like Sam Morgan and Geoff Ross are our new heroes. But there is a widespread view that really smart people in this country go into business for themselves or, if they really have genuine leadership qualities, head overseas. It is admirable to be a blockbuster CEO like Air New Zealand's Rob Fyfe, but how do you get there? There is not much glory for the mid-range managers who tend to be considered feeble-minded drips who are by definition failures: they would be running their own gaff if they had any gumption.

And the relative absence of very large firms in New Zealand means there is less opportunity for managers to acquire experience by moving through different levels within a firm.

Maybe we should start showing the love to our David Brents. You are not insipid paperclip counters. You're important. Your country needs you.

I am moving house next week. It's weird but I seem to be coping with all the big dramas of separation with the aid of gin and a great shrink, but it was the moving company that made me cry.

Their Libby told me they could not send anyone to help me pack because they could only quote for a whole household. I was not sure exactly what household effects were going and which were staying. So I gave up and just asked for them to deliver some boxes. Libby said they could but it would cost $5 for each box. Small ones. That's when I had a deeply embarrassing meltdown.

But it worked. Libby got back to me, bending the rules because of "my unique situation". I felt like telling her that in 2008 there were 22,000 marriage licences granted and 10,000 marriages dissolved. You'd think a moving company would take note.

dhc@deborahhillcone.com