Ascension in the company tech ranks often means an extended stay in middle management and that can often stall, or even end, an IT manager's quest for reaching top tech roles like senior director, CTO and CIO.

Why? Well according to a new study from Accenture, the middle management level is a form of work hell, where managers either feel they're overworked, or overlooked and definitely under appreciated. So what does this mean for CIOs? Well it means that you're likely to lose a promising right hand man or woman or tech innovator that you rely on. 

To make sure that doesn't happen and that you get the most from your middle managers, you need to assess a few important issues: are you paying them enough and are you giving credit where credit is due? The survey reports that 43 percent view themselves as doing all the work and getting none of the credit, while 44 percent note that compensation isn't fair. 35 percent aren't attaining a healthy work-life balance. Experts say that leaders need to engage the middle management level more in terms of business goals and drill down the important role it plays in achieving goals. CIOs need to ensure that this management level gets more interaction with senior executives to deepen the management bond. Otherwise be prepared to have a continual turnover--and poor productivity--from that management section. 

...

If you missed last Wednesday's Career section, you can always click on over to our archives where you have free access to all of the career news we've printed in the past few months. Here are some recent announcements regarding career moves:

Brian Beard is the new VP of IT at Recall Corp.

Joel Steigelfest is the new interim CIO at Spherion. 

Christine Herb is the new EVP and CIO at Columbia Bancorp.

Stephen Heinmiller is now SVP of IT at Tuesday Morning Corp.  

Dave Finnegan is the CIO at Build-A-Bear Workshop.

Anil Kottoor is the new SVP and CIO at WellCare.