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Stop Using Middle Managers as Corporate Human Shields!

My concern is the way that middle managers are increasingly used to deflect and dispel questions and feedback from reaching those that took the decisions causing it.

They are the corporate version of the buffer provided by an automated call handling system.

This is all beautifully encapsulated by the line that now seems to end almost every corporate communication to employees: If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to your manager.

They are easy words to use, and doubtless often added without a thought.

But the trouble is, most of the time the managers that team members are directed to speak to know nothing more than they do about what is being introduced.

They may also be just as unhappy and adversely affected by the change.

If managers are lucky, they may have been provided with a cursory Q&A document that rephrases the messages shared with everybody.

But chances are, your manager knows no more about the latest corporate chaos than you do.

Even worse, they may have been told that they need to “own the change” to sell it to those they manage.

How can we own a change that we do not understand, played no part in deciding on, and about which we cannot even get answers to our own questions?