Don’t Forget the Middle of Your Organization
Layer cake representing layered management
Who’s the first group you think about when a new project is being planned?
Maybe it’s the end user, the customer, or your frontline employees. That makes sense. They are often the people most directly affected by the change.
Then there’s usually plenty of thought given to the other end of the organization. Senior leaders need to understand the strategy, make decisions, approve the resources, remove barriers, and communicate why it matters.
But there’s a group sitting between those two ends that we don’t always plan for with the same level of detail: managers.
And that can become a serious problem.
Managers are the largest channel and the least equipped one.
Managers are often expected to do much more than pass along information.
They have to explain the change. They answer questions. They deal with skepticism. They connect a company-wide decision to the day-to-day reality of their teams. All while they, too, are changing their own ways of working.
In other words, they translate strategy into action.
But we often expect them to do that without giving them enough context, tools, new skills, or time to understand the change themselves.
Then we wonder why implementation starts breaking down.
If a manager can’t explain why something is changing, answer reasonable questions about it, or connect it to what their team actually does, employees notice.
And if employees don’t get what they need from their manager, even the best executive announcement or internal communications campaign can lose momentum (credibility) quickly.
Look at the Whole Organization
Audience planning needs to go beyond asking, “Who is affected by this change?”
We also need to ask:
Who needs to explain it?
Who will answer questions about it?
Who needs to reinforce it after the launch?
Who needs more context than the average employee?
Who will turn the strategy into actual work?
Managers often show up in every answer.
That means they need more than the final email, slide deck, or talking points. They need to understand what is happening, why it matters (the risk of not), what it means for themselves and their teams, and where they have room to make decisions.
Go Back to a Change That Struggled
Think about a recent project, rollout, or organizational change that experienced more friction than expected.
Pull out the communication plan and look at the audiences.
Were managers there?
More importantly, was the plan for managers as detailed as the plan for frontline employees or senior leaders?
What did managers know before their teams knew? What tools did they receive? What questions were they prepared to answer? What discussions were had with them? What skill-building was done with them? And what did you expect them to figure out on their own? This is often where gaps start to show and where friction can creep in.
Plan for the Middle
A good internal communications plan considers the entire organization.
That means thinking about the people setting the direction, the people experiencing the change, and the managers connecting the two.
Because managers aren’t just another audience in the communication plan. They are often the people who determine whether that plan survives contact with the organization. It’s our job to ensure they are equipped accordingly.
If you’re planning a change, working through communication challenges, or trying to figure out where an existing plan has a blind spot, sometimes an outside perspective helps.
Book a free appointment with me. We can look at what’s happening, identify what might be missing, and figure out where to start.