How Your Middle Managers Can Make or Break Your Culture
Your organization’s culture is integral to your long-term success, perhaps more so now than in the past. Nine of 10 executives believe culture is becoming more important in the current market, per research by Arbinger Institute, and 72 percent of participants in a PwC global survey said culture is crucial in helping successful change initiatives happen. At a time when many organizations and industries are undergoing transformative change, there’s limited understating of the role of culture in enabling businesses to thrive.
In most organizations, the C-suite takes the lead in establishing a vision for the company’s culture. However, in order for that vision to be realized, it needs to be operationalized in practical ways across the enterprise, at all levels. That is where middle managers play a significant role.
Whether or not they realize it on a conscious level, middle managers are vital to turning the concept of culture and values into action. Since they arguably have the greatest number of interactions with the largest number of people in the organization, they make a substantial impact on how your culture comes to life every day.
Taking a Page from the Military
When an organization’s executive team discusses the concept of culture, they focus on defining what it should look like and the behaviors that demonstrate it in action. Their work forms the essential foundation for building a culture that aligns with the company’s vision, values, and mission.
But unless that culture vision is proliferated throughout the organization in intentional, actionable ways, it too often serves as mere window dressing. High-level memos and bold signage in the office lobby are niceties, but they don’t really move the needle when it comes to how the organization behaves. Infusing culture into an organization’s DNA takes a much more concerted effort.
One of the most effective ways to proliferate culture throughout an organization is by building what retired US Army General Stan McChrystal has famously termed a “Team of Teams®”.
McChrystal was commander of the Joint Special Operations Command and is known for developing and executing a counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. He is credited with transforming what was a very bureaucratic organization into a more adaptable and nimble culture in which information was shared more transparently and decisions made more quickly. Such an approach helps ensure each team involved in the overall effort shares a common vision and exhibits the behaviors necessary to turn it into action, embodying the desired culture in the process.
Where the Disconnect Happens
In any organization—from the military to nonprofits to for-profit entities—you are likely to find a disconnect between how the executive team has defined the desired organizational culture and how that vision is implemented by various teams and departments across the company. When that happens, the negative consequences reverberate throughout the enterprise.
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Mini cultures spring up within different operating groups, each reflecting how their particular leader has chosen to interpret and implement the executive team’s culture vision (or, in the worst case, acting entirely at cross-purposes with the intended culture).
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As silos and other barriers are created, teams fail to collaborate effectively on cross-functional initiatives and problem-solving.
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Implementing change becomes difficult since everyone isn’t on the same page about the need for change or the desired direction.
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Morale tends to suffer, fueling turnover and inhibiting the performance of the employees who choose to stay.
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I’ve worked with billion-dollar organizations that have invested significant time and money defining a culture at the executive leadership level and creating communications around this vision. But so often, the effort stops there. Because organizational behaviors are ingrained, in the absence of an intentional and enterprise-wide effort to turn the idea of culture into action you will find that employees tend to continue operating as they did before.
In situations like these, we reference the team of teams strategy to drive the culture at the very point that it is most evident and effective: middle management.
Middle Managers Sit at the Nexus Point
Whether or not they’re conscious of this fact, middle managers are integral to implementing culture because they touch so many people daily through their words and actions. For instance, these leaders convey culture within their respective teams through activities like the following:
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Clarifying and communicating “the rules of the road” for working together as a team
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Modeling behaviors that are consistent with and support the culture as defined by the executive leadership
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Expecting every team member to hold each other mutually accountable for behaviors that align with the desired culture and values of the organization
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Hiring employees who not only possess the necessary skillsets and experience, but who also demonstrate a good fit with the organization’s stated culture
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By adopting the team of teams concept, organizations can take a more intentional approach to ensuring every manager is aligned on a shared vision, on board with the desired culture, and equipped to drive it through their own respective teams. In turn, that helps to build an organization of many High Value-Creating Teams, all focused on creating value for the company’s stakeholders. (For a closer look at the importance of High Value-Creating Teams and how to develop them effectively, see Part 1 and Part 2 of our article series on this topic.)
Executive leadership teams can also help to drive the desired culture by ensuring every manager is clear on what that culture looks like in practice, holding them accountable to implement it in ways that are measurable, and equipping them with the training and support to demonstrate culture through their actions.
With many organizations undertaking transformative change, and every company grappling with a volatile environment, it’s never been more vital to develop and proliferate a consistent culture across the enterprise. By recognizing the critical role that middle managers play in this initiative, organizations can make great strides toward turning a culture vision into reality.
The Leadership Advisory Practice at Odgers Berndtson helps organizations discover and develop leaders, strengthen value-creating teams, and prepare for what’s next. Learn how our highly experienced assessors and coaches can help you and your team make a positive impact on your organization and those around you.