Middle Managers Are the Culture Carriers—But Are We Setting Them Up to Fail?

There’s a well-worn saying in business: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But here’s the part we don’t talk about enough: culture is carried by middle managers, not by PowerPoint slides or CEO speeches.

Middle managers, those responsible for people but not yet in the C-suite, sit at one of the most complex intersections in any organization. They translate vision into execution, absorb pressure from above and below, and mediate everything from performance issues to personality clashes. They’re expected to deliver results, motivate teams, model values, manage burnout, and now, amid rising expectations around inclusion, equity, and psychological safety, they also become emotional guides and conflict navigators.

But here’s the problem: we keep asking middle managers to carry culture without actually equipping them to do so.

We’ve seen this pattern repeatedly: performance dips, attrition spikes, or culture breakdowns don’t usually start at the top or bottom; they reveal cracks in the middle. And the root cause often isn’t a lack of will. It’s a lack of support, skill-building, and strategy.

So let’s unpack what’s going wrong and what needs to change.

The Forgotten Layer of Leadership

Executives set the tone. Frontline employees deliver the work. But middle managers are the glue. They’re the interpreters, the adjusters, the relationship-holders. In many ways, they have the most direct influence over day-to-day employee experience.

According to Gallup, employees who strongly agree that their manager helps them set work priorities and performance goals are 2.5x more likely to be engaged. However, fewer than 50% of employees say they clearly understand what’s expected of them at work. That gap? It’s a middle management issue.

Yet most organizations treat middle management development like an afterthought. Here’s how that plays out:

• Managers are promoted for performance, not people skills.
  A great individual contributor gets elevated to management… and quickly feels overwhelmed when technical expertise doesn’t translate to leading humans.
• Leadership development skips the middle.
  Executive coaching and high-potential tracks often focus on senior leaders. Meanwhile, new and mid-level managers are handed a compliance handbook and expected to “figure it out.”
• Managers inherit messy dynamics.
  They’re asked to navigate unresolved DEI tensions, unclear strategy shifts, or policy enforcement without the psychological safety to ask for help.

We call this “quiet failing” because while things may look fine on the surface, dysfunction simmers underneath. Resentment builds. Trust erodes. Talent walks.

The Real Skills Middle Managers Need (But Aren’t Taught)

Let’s be clear: middle managers are not just administrative traffic directors. They are culture drivers. And like any driver, they need the right tools.

Here are four competencies every middle manager needs—and what happens when they’re missing:

1. Feedback That Builds, Not Breaks

Giving feedback is one of the most avoided and most critical leadership tasks. Middle managers often err in two directions: sugarcoating to avoid discomfort, or delivering blunt corrections that damage trust.

Without training in effective, inclusive feedback, managers:

• Let poor performance linger (hurting team morale)
• Miss chances to coach and develop talent
• Reinforce inequities (giving more feedback to some groups than others)

What to build: Feedback models grounded in psychological safety (like SBI or “feed forward”) and bias interrupter training.

2. Conflict Resolution and Repair

Middle managers are the first responders to interpersonal friction, and often the first to ignore it. Without clear protocols or facilitation training, many avoid conflict altogether, hoping HR will eventually intervene.

But inaction is a decision. It signals to employees that discomfort outweighs justice, or that bias will go unchallenged. Unaddressed conflict festers and becomes a cultural liability.

What to build: Conflict resolution skills grounded in curiosity, structure, and trauma-informed practice. Teach managers to “name it and navigate it” before tension escalates.

3. Inclusive Leadership in Real Life

Too often, “inclusive leadership” training is abstract or checkbox-driven. But for a middle manager leading a multigenerational, multiracial, hybrid team, inclusion is not a theoretical concept; it’s a daily reality.

Inclusive leadership means:

• Naming and correcting microaggressions
• Adapting communication for different learning styles
• Avoiding favoritism and proximity bias
• Navigating cultural nuances around feedback and expression

What to build: Scenario-based training centers real-world challenges, not just values, but actual words and actions managers can use in the moment.

4. Strategic Communication in Times of Change

Middle managers are often expected to “cascade” information from the top, but what if they don’t fully understand it? What if it contradicts what they’ve told their team last quarter? What if they disagree?

Without the confidence or tools to manage change, middle managers:

• Default to silence or vagueness
• Lose credibility with their team
• Become disengaged themselves

What to build: Change communication playbooks and manager talking points that equip them to translate strategy into clear, confident messaging.

Real-World Snapshot: Promoted, But Not Prepared

In a recent session with people managers at a national arts nonprofit, we asked about their experiences navigating culture, collaboration, and change. One truth emerged quickly: they were never actually taught how to be managers.

Several had been promoted based on strong performance as individual contributors, only to find themselves managing people, projects, and politics with no guidance. One manager shared, “I knew how to do my job—but managing two full-time staff was a whole different thing. I kept looking to my director for answers, but no one ever trained me to lead.”

Another described the feeling of being set up to fail: “I wasn’t even allowed to build processes. Every idea I offered was shut down. It felt like my director resented my promotion.”

The consequences were real. Managers hesitated to delegate, avoided interdepartmental collaboration, and second-guessed decisions—afraid of backlash from above. Some felt caught in the crossfire of unresolved tension between the leaders above them. “We spend so much time trying to decode their conflicts and filter that energy so it doesn’t hit our teams,” one said. “It’s exhausting.”

Despite this, these managers wanted to lead well. They wanted clarity. They wanted to collaborate. But the lack of formal training, unclear authority, and emotionally charged leadership dynamics left them carrying culture with no tools to protect or shape it.

Imagine what could change if they had role-specific training, decision-making frameworks, and leadership support designed for the real pressures of the middle. They weren’t failing. They were navigating chaos—without a compass.

So… Are We Setting Middle Managers Up to Fail?

If we’re being honest, the answer in many organizations is yes.

We put middle managers at the cultural crossroads of leadership, then give them tools built for a different era, compliance-heavy, emotionally detached, and one-size-fits-all.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

At The Norfus Firm, we help organizations build intentional middle manager development programs that:

• Combine emotional intelligence, DEI, and operational accountability
• Use coaching, real-world simulations, and feedback audits
• Equip managers to hold space, not just tasks

Because when we support the middle, we strengthen the whole.

The Business Case: Middle Managers Drive Everything

Is this level of investment worth it? Here’s what well-supported middle managers contribute:

• Higher engagement: Employees with great managers are 70% more engaged.
• Stronger inclusion: Managers make or break DEI efforts through daily decisions and communication.
• Healthier culture: Clear feedback, conflict resolution, and transparent messaging = fewer issues escalated to HR.
• Retention: People leave managers, not companies. Strong middle management reduces turnover at its roots.

When you neglect middle management, the organization becomes reactive, fractured, and slow to adapt. But when you equip the middle with strategy, empathy, and skill? You create a culture that aligns and performs at every level.

Final Thoughts: It’s Time to Rebuild the Middle

Middle managers aren’t failing; we’re failing them when we don’t give them the resources, authority, and training to lead well.

Let’s stop expecting them to be culture carriers without teaching them how to coach, include, and communicate.

At The Norfus Firm, we help organizations develop resilient, ready, and relationship-driven middle managers because culture isn’t what you say it is. It’s how people feel at work. And no one influences that more than the people in the middle.

1. Schedule a consultation with our team today.
2. Check out our podcast, What’s the DEIL? on Apple or YouTube
3. Follow Natalie Norfus on LinkedIn and Shanté Gordon on LinkedIn for more insights.