I know middle managers deserve more help.
And your whole organization will benefit if you invest in them.
This is why I built The Manager Pivot™.
About me.
I have been a middle manager myself and I know how difficult it is to do this job well, and how much depends on it. When I went looking for help and support to get better at it, I realized there is not that much specific help for middle managers available. As I did not find what I was looking for, I decided to build a program myself. My background as a middle manager in a high-performing organization like Microsoft, combined with my skills as a facilitator and published author, plus working through hundreds of research publications and manager interviews, have all resulted in what has become The Manager Pivot™.
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Once I learned just how much middle managers are struggling, and how much impact they have on the well-being and effectiveness of the whole organization, I knew that I had to build The Manager Pivot™.
In my career I have been fortunate to have had a really diverse role history that took me from leading a front-line service team to customer account management, marketing, strategy, and sales. I have been an individual contributor, a middle manager, as well as a coach and facilitator to other managers. I have worked for Microsoft for over 22 years and I was working in IT Service Management before that. I experienced the challenges of being a middle manager myself from multiple angles, as well as coached others to get better at leading from the middle. Over time, it became clear to me that my coaching and facilitation that I was doing on the side, next to my ‘day job’, was actually the thing that I was doing best AND what I enjoyed doing most.
I published a book in 2023 about how managers can use facilitation techniques and through that book I was invited to help coach a group of middle managers at a large European tax and accountancy firm. I quickly saw how a bit of structure and coaching could make a difference. This rewarding experience was the final confirmation that I wanted to spend the next stage in my career helping middle managers be successful. I genuinely believe that this group of managers is doing their very best every single day, but they are not getting the help they need to get better. I have interviewed dozens and dozens of middle managers, I've gone through hundreds of studies and research papers and I've read countless books. The story is pretty clear. Middle managers are struggling.
Erwin Hartenberg
Most middle managers truly try their best. But they are struggling in a role where they are pulled in all directions, often without getting help and guidance. And so much depends on them. They can make or break transformations. They can keep talent or drive it away. They can foster a contagious atmosphere of engagement, or a toxic pool of quiet quitters. That is the opportunity I see. I think that with some help, middle managers can quickly become the force that can elevate an organization from the middle. That is what I want to help make happen and why I started The Manager Pivot.
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“Erwin is a multi-disciplinary leader who delivers results. His leadership style is centered around curiosity and coaching but with a clear focus on building a foundation of predictable results”
Joacim Damgard, President, Microsoft
“Erwin is a brilliant and versatile leader with huge ability to bring clarity. I had the pleasure of working with him several years at Microsoft, and his ability to synthesize complex scenarios and deliver clear and actionable insights is truly remarkable. Erwin is textbook definition of "thought leadership" and I fully encourage any company to not only hear what he has to say, but also implement it.”
George Cozos, Regional Partner Development Manager, Microsoft
“Erwin is a mature leader and great people manager, building diverse teams and feeling comfortable with managing remote teams. He leads with the clarity - aligning people around priorities, and supporting people to aspire for bold ambitions.”
Kristina Tikhonova, General Manager, Microsoft
“Through Erwin, I realized how important it is to plan more time for myself to reflect on how our projects are going, where we are on track and where we need to revise the path we have taken in order to achieve the desired success. It was also very helpful to get coaching from him on how our communication with employees takes place on the right levels in order to reach not only the rational level but also the emotional level. That helped us a lot in our current change process.”
Elke Strehlau, Team Leader, Wolters Kluwer