Middle Managers = Corporate Translators

Monday, December 14, 2009

posted by Sue Heuman Share

As media and communication methods change, some things in organizations remain constant. Tweeting, blogging, staff meetings, memos – no matter the method, it’s the content that’s key when supervisors communicate with staff.

Often, middle managers are stuck as the go-between, with little support or training to help them dialogue effectively with their staff. Senior management provides broad direction – often in abstract terms – and leaves it to the middle manager to figure out how to talk to his/her staff, and how to implement changes. At the same time many employees, tired of constant change and re-engineering, just want to be left alone to do their jobs. Problem is, there is now a gap between what the employee is doing, and what senior management wants.

To communicate the new direction to staff, it is important to define what is expected from managers and how to measure how well they're doing. The need for effective, two-way internal communication has never been more clearly defined. But few managers and professionals know what to do to better engage and motivate their staff.

Critical for success is a strong understanding of the ‘translator’ role that managers play within organizations. For example, if senior management sets new sales goals of 10%, middle managers are often left to figure out how to achieve those goals. This means taking the broad direction from senior management, explaining it to staff, and then engaging staff in a discussion about how to achieve the targets. This ‘translation’ of broad corporate direction into day-to-day reality is critical to changing behaviour in order to achieve the new goals. Managers need to understand that this role is part of their jobs, not a nice-to-have that gets shuffled to low priority.

 

Measuring the effectiveness of communication needs to focus on information shared, ideas generated and changes implemented - real, tanglible results of the interaction between the manager and his/her staff.

 

Training and supports can help managers do a better job and achieve the results that the company needs. The end result will be a better engaged workforce that understands not only the corporate goals, but the hands-on tactics needed to achieve them.  Focus Communications offers half-day training for middle managers - see our Training  webpage for more information.
 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Note: Your email address is never displayed on the site. If you would like to be annonymous, leave the name and email boxes blank.

Name:
Email:
Comment: