Empowering Middle Managers: The Keystone of Cultural Transformation

June 11, 2024 – In a rapidly evolving business landscape, the key to instilling lasting organizational change lies with your middle managers. Middle managers are one of the critical leverage points for an organization’s culture. “As the conduit between executive leadership and frontline staff, middle managers—or any leader working between executive leadership and frontline staff—can be a real asset to an organization’s culture,” said Yael Freimann, chief strategy officer of TI Verbatim Consulting.

There is a synergy between the executive team and middle management as middle managers have close proximity to the individual contributor. “Middle managers face the unique challenge of meeting expectations from both upper management and their team which can sometimes feel like a balancing act,” Ms. Freimann said. “The executive team relies on middle management to implement and guide the strategy, policies, and procedures that come from the top.”

“Executive leadership can make assumptions about frontline staff and middle managers and what information and resources they need,” she said. “Frontline staff can make assumptions about how much agency middle managers have. Real intentionality is needed when considering the role for middle managers in an organization’s culture, particularly a cultural transformation, so they are an asset to the organization, not taken for granted.”

Ms. Freimann also says that middle managers should embrace transparent communication, particularly when an organization is going through change. “Transparent communication is a skill that managers can cultivate and requires strong use of emotional intelligence skills to be able to represent the goals and perspective of executive leadership, a realistic picture of what is happening, and a clear understanding of the impact on the team,” she said. “Executive leaders should support middle managers by modeling inclusive behaviors that build trust and psychological safety.  Encouraging open, transparent, and frequent communication can help ensure that cultural messages are clear and consistent. Provide middle managers the why in addition to the what. Involve middle managers in decision-making and provide adequate training, resources, and a supportive environment.”

There are some tools or mindset that is needed to navigate and influence cultural transformation. “Provide contextualized training that middle managers incorporate into their work on a daily basis,” Ms. Freimann said. “This means not just providing leadership training that centers around classroom, instructor-led sessions, but having middle managers integrate what they do into the actual leadership of their teams.”

“Provide multiple avenues for middle management support. Instructor-led training has its place, but it also may not support managers at their point of need or help reinforce concepts,” said Ms. Freimann. “So, incorporating other types of training, like FAQs, job aids and toolkits, and AI support chat bots, helps to create multiple modalities and contact points to support managers.”

Upcoming Webinar

“Empowering Middle Managers: The Keystone of Cultural Transformation,” hosted by TI Verbatim Consulting and supported by Hunt Scanlon Media, is an exclusive webinar designed to spotlight the pivotal role of middle management in driving and sustaining cultural shifts within organizations.

Join us tomorrow as distinguished thought leaders from across industries converge to share unparalleled insights into empowering these vital agents of change. “Our experts will outline practical strategies for supporting middle managers, from communication and leadership training to emotional intelligence and change management techniques,” said Ms. Freimann. “Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how to equip middle managers with the tools and mindset needed to navigate and influence cultural transformation, ensuring their organizations not only adapt to the current climate but also emerge stronger and more agile for future success.”

Free registration … Click here to sign up!

The Speakers

Yael Freimann serves as TIVC’s chief strategy officer, bringing a strong record of maintaining lasting business relationships with clients, proposing new and profitable business opportunities, and developing business strategies per institutional initiatives and goals. She has developed policies, created training curricula, and provided program coordination for government and non-profit agencies. Her background includes experience working as the sexual assault response coordinator for the Navy at a joint base overseas and managing sensitive and classified incidents within an international landscape while monitoring and managing compliance and training for over 50 commands and 8,500 personnel.

Beth Nastachowski leads TIVC’s training and development team, developing leadership training programs that create durable skills for participants and long-lasting cultural change for organizations. Throughout her career, she has implemented innovative strategies to engage participants in active, sticky skill development. Ms. Nastachowsk has created the learning ecosystem approach for TIVC’s training, resulting in training programs with a full suite of training and training supports for participants, resulting in long-term skill development and learning transfer. Her perspective on training is informed by her years of experience working with thousands of adult learners in higher education. She is dedicated to integrating universal design, accessibility, and DEI into her curriculum development.

Sarah Prince is a curriculum developer and instructional designer at TIVC, specializing in soft skills training and adult education. Integrating adult learning principles with innovative and tailored curricula, She works to not only create inroads to effective knowledge acquisition but also ensure practical and sustainable application of that knowledge. With over 15 years of experience in training and instruction, Ms. Prince has developed, implemented, and taught inclusive and accessible curriculum to thousands of adult learners across a myriad of topics and in a variety of contexts.

Tahitia Timmons is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) especially when framed in the context of authenticity, and health. She has nearly 20 years of experience working with organizations and individuals, developing, and presenting inclusive content. Ms. Timmons owns and leads, Conscious By Us, which focuses on DEI and improving health equity through coaching, SME consulting, DEI Content reviews and speaking events. She follows a transformational coaching method and training as received from the Institute for Coach Diversity Institute. Ms. Timmons focuses on creating psychological safety and integrates concepts of belonging and engagement in her coaching practice.

Elizabeth May is a research specialist, trainer, and change management practitioner at TIVC. She has over 18 years of professional experience in research, education, development, project management, and training. Her experience includes collecting qualitative and quantitative data to inform civil society organizations, government policy, and educators in best practices for conflict resolution, inclusion, and student-centered learning. Ms. May has served as a subject matter expert and trainer in a range of leadership training workshops. She is passionate about collecting perspectives from multiple contexts, cultures, and stakeholders to incorporate ideas which drive teams and projects toward successful change. Her certifications include change management, resilience-building leadership professional, conflict resolution, building and leading successful teams, and PROSCI.

Attendance is free. To learn more and register to attend, click here!

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media