The responses to my retirement post are a real eye opener.

[ProfessorGAC]

71. While Likely True...

...what separates the good from the bad middle managers is avoiding that.
Take the bullets for the team. Defend your charges.
I had it pretty good. For at least 35 years, I had good upper management to whom I reported and they gave me a lot of freedom t set my own agenda.
The occasional "Why is this taking so long?" I'd get, I would defend.
I'd pass it on to the person(s) on that project but without pressuring. I believed they'd want to know, but I wouldn't make them change their activities. I might ask for a published milestone table & schedule to keep the wolves at bay, but no yelling or berating. I found that would almost certainly be counterproductive.
I wasn't that worried as the 8 of us averaged bottom line delivery of 8 to 20 times what it cost the company to emoy us. We were an indirect profit center, not a cost center.
We keep generating cash, they leave me alone. Then, I leave my folks alone to do what they do.