The most underrated change agent in your company? Your middle manager

When organizations face disruption, whether it’s a corporate restructuring, the sunsetting of a product line, or a shift in return-to-office policies, executive teams often turn to internal communications professionals to guide the messaging and navigate change. However, there’s a missing link in this equation: the middle manager.

As an employee communications cloud platform, we at Staffbase are always looking at what (and who) is impacting the effectiveness of those communications most. Our recently released communication impact study found that direct managers are the most trusted source of information for U.S. employees. 

Fifty-five percent of respondents reported that their immediate supervisor is their preferred communication channel, and 56% said they place a “great deal” of trust in them. Despite that trust, there’s a glaring disconnect: Non-desk workers, those on the frontlines in healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, logistics, and retail, say they are consistently less well-informed than their desk-based colleagues.

Simply put, companies can’t afford for frontline workers to miss out on their communications efforts. Internal comms teams can set the strategy together with executive leadership, but they must put the effort into fostering the pipeline that supports middle managers who bring these communications to life. The current state of the world is leading many organizations to lay off middle managers, but that’s a grave error, severing one of the most vital communications lifelines between upper management and their workforce.

Why internal comms can’t go it alone

The pandemic, ongoing economic volatility, and evolving employee expectations have fundamentally reshaped how companies communicate. In many cases, internal comms teams have shrunk, been centralized to one part of the organization, and generally had their reach stretched thin. The best communications in the world mean little if they aren’t reinforced and humanized by the people employees interact with daily.

Our research revealed that only 10% of non-desk workers are very satisfied with the internal communication at their companies. Furthermore, nearly 60% of employees who are considering quitting cite poor communication as a significant contributing factor.

The implications are clear: If companies want to improve retention, reinforce change, and build trust, they must focus on improving both the quality and consistency of communications with all levels of employees. Since middle managers are one of the most trusted sources of information, organizations need to work toward empowering them to become stronger communicators who can provide that consistency and quality across the business.

Closing the information gap between desk and non-desk workers

One of the most striking findings in our study was the communication divide between desk-based and non-desk employees. While 67% of desk-based workers say their managers keep them well-informed, that number drops to 48% for frontline workers.

This gap is about both access and equity. Frontline employees are often the most critical to day-to-day operations, yet they’re also the least likely to receive timely or high-quality updates. Many don’t use company email or sit at a desk, meaning they rely heavily on their direct managers to pass down critical information. When that chain breaks, confusion, misinformation, and disengagement follow.

Creating dedicated communication processes can better equip managers with the knowledge and ability to deliver key information to those who struggle to receive it most. Tech can be a huge boon in this process. While there’s no all-encompassing app that can replace employees’ trust in their managers, utilizing an employee app as a main communication channel can help improve frontline access to information. 

These tools must be paired with training that ensures managers are both enabled and motivated to properly pair these communications channels with necessary in-person communications. Through posts, comments, and real-life conversations, managers will be better equipped to provide the communications support their various employees need. 

Coaching managers to lead communication, not just tasks

We often assume that people management is synonymous with people leadership. However, just because someone oversees a team, doesn’t mean they’ve been trained to navigate tough conversations, deliver clear change updates, or answer sensitive employee questions. Managers can subsequently become bottlenecks, delivering incomplete or inconsistent messages—or worse, avoiding communication altogether.

That’s where communications coaching comes in.

High-performing organizations are starting to view manager communication as a core competency, rather than a desirable trait. They’re investing in tools and training that help managers distill key messages, understand the “why” behind changes, and create space for team dialogue. They’re offering templates, talking points, and even in-the-moment coaching for big moments of transformation.

The payoff is significant. When it comes to leadership communication, 91% of employees who say that the vision and strategy are “very clear” also report being very or somewhat happy in their jobs. When managers communicate well, employees are more likely to feel connected to the company’s mission, confident about their future, and have clear expectations. 

What does this look like in practice?

Leading organizations are rethinking internal communication as a shared responsibility. They’re not asking comms teams to carry the burden alone, they’re making it a joint effort between leaders, HR, and middle managers. 

First, turn to training. Create or bring on formal communications training for all middle managers and leaders of the organization. This will help create a standard for the entire company and unify the skills for every voice across the business. Second, conduct an audit of your current systems and protocols to identify what tools are working well, which audiences are being underserved and what messages have resonated well to date. Third, create a set process for announcements, change and crisis communications. A team with representatives from the aforementioned core groups can work together to create toolkits and talking points that will help translating key messages much simpler and more direct for managers. 

Leadership may question the investment of time and money into the above efforts, so employee communications teams should work to measure success along the way. Develop a framework that measures the ROI of your communication efforts by tracking metrics like employee satisfaction, behavioral shifts, and impact on critical business goals. Doing so can help shine a light on the bottom line value of these efforts and create further buy-in across the entire team.

In moments of uncertainty, employees don’t need perfect messaging. They need consistency and transparency, and more than anything, they need to hear it from someone they trust.