Episode 6 - The Future of Middle Management and Employee Wellbeing with Roly Walter

Since the COVID pandemic, the way people work has changed and some may be wondering, is there a place for middle managers in the workplace and if so, what role do they play in the health and wellbeing of their employees?

In this episode, Amy is joined by Roly Walter, the founder of Appraisd, an employee performance management system that is unique in aiming to help managers get the best from their team members. Roly has built Appraisd from his garden shed to a global business with £1mm ARR. He has so far avoided external investment, worried that it would get in the way of his family life but also wanted to prove that you could build and scale a SaaS business through customer revenue.

He is fascinated by what it means to be a manager – why middle management has become a dirty word, why management is seen as inferior to leadership, how managers also need to be coaches, mentors as well as holding their team members to account.

Roly says it’s hard to be a manager, and this is what drives him to build tools to help. He also loves to regularly embarrass his two kids by playing guitar for their school’s Dads Band.

Join Amy and Roly in this episode as they discuss:

- Whether there will be a place for middle managers in the future of the workforce
- How middle managers can best support their teams in a remote working environment
- Equipping managers with the right tools they need to have conversations with their employees about their mental health and their wellbeing

Quote from the show - ‘‘Now we could look at the managers and think about what it means. If you're a new manager or you're a manager that has imposter syndrome, or you're a manager that has blind spots, how can we help those people so that the balance is absolutely equal and that manager and employee can really get the best from each other.’’