Here’s a question that came up in my recent quarterly workplace huddle – How do you empower and motivate managers to act as your spokespeople (channel) for your company’s internal comms strategy? This isn’t a new question, it’s a common theme and challenge for internal communications, and the key to solving it is to transform your managers by reimagining how we engage them in the communication process itself.
When managers feel like messengers, they communicate like messengers, dutifully (sometimes) but without conviction. When they feel like genuine partners in the communication strategy, they become powerful amplifiers of your organisational narrative.
The core problem of reluctance
Most internal communications strategies fail at the middle management level not because managers lack capability, but because they lack investment in the message itself. Organisations typically hand managers a polished communication package and expect them to deliver it with enthusiasm. But authenticity cannot be manufactured through scripts and slide decks.
Research consistently shows that employees trust their direct managers more than any other source inside and organisation. Yet many managers report feeling uncomfortable in their role as communicators, often because they’re asked to represent messages they had no hand in shaping. This creates a credibility gap that employees instinctively detect.
Why manager empowerment matters now more than ever
The traditional top-down cascade model of internal communications is fundamentally broken in today’s workplace environment. Organisations that continue to treat managers as passive distribution channels rather than active communication partners pay a significant price in employee engagement, trust, and organisational alignment.
When managers are genuinely empowered as communication partners, several critical outcomes emerge. Employee trust increases because messages come from credible sources who can contextualise information for specific teams. Message retention improves because managers can adapt communication to their team’s needs and concerns. Most importantly, organisational agility strengthens because information flows in multiple directions, creating genuine dialogue rather than one-way broadcasting.
The consequences of failing to empower managers as communicators are equally significant: messages get diluted or distorted as they move through layers, employees develop cynicism about organisational communication, and the communications function becomes isolated from the realities of day-to-day operations.
This is why the middle manager role is important. It brings together so many elements for the employee to ensure they can make sense of the work they are doing. It’s why there is such concern about the reports of middle managers being removed from organisations, because without the conduit of a middle manager, the communication breakdown will cause significant organisational disruption.
A framework for empowering managers
Transforming managers into effective communication partners requires a structured approach across five essential dimensions:
Involve them in developing the message
Managers must have input before messages are finalised, not after. This might not always be the case, and it might not be every manager, but if you can create an advisory group of managers who represent different parts of the organisation, it will help create that connection. Bring them into the planning process early enough that their perspectives can genuinely shape the message. This doesn’t mean every manager approves every communication, but managers voices should inform some of the significant messages. When managers have contributed to shaping a message, they communicate it with ownership rather than obligation and that’s the shift we want to see.
Provide context, not just content
It’s not about giving managers polished scripts. We need to give them the context, the story and the rationale behind the message. Managers need to understand what the message is, why it matters, what prompted it, what alternatives were considered, and what questions employees are likely to ask. Equip them with the background that allows them to speak knowledgeably and respond properly to their team’s concerns. Without this, their integrity comes into question and that makes leading even harder for them.
Make time to speak the right language
Your managers understand their teams in ways that internal communications never will. Empower them to translate organisational messages into language and examples that resonate with their specific audience. This means building in time for that to happen and not rushing things out, across the organisation at the last minute. This is especially relevant for frontline or deskless workers because of the cultural difference that exists between them and office workers.
A message about strategic priorities will land differently with your engineering team than with your sales folks. Managers who are given permission to adapt messaging will take a lot more care and attention into the message and the outcome. But you have to give that permission, they will need the instruction and the ok from the internal comms team.
Upskill managers with communication capabilities
Empowerment without building capability is just setting someone up for failure. Invest in developing your managers’ communication skills. This means more than presentation training – it means helping managers facilitate difficult conversations, deliver messages with emotional intelligence, and create psychological safety for honest dialogue. It’s about helping them develop as credible leaders. Make communication competence a clear expectation and provide ongoing development opportunities.
Establish feedback loops
Managers are your most valuable listening opportunities. Create formal mechanisms for managers to feed information upward about how messages are being received, what questions are emerging, and what concerns are surfacing.
A client I’m working with has a weekly 30-minute session with the leadership team to do just this while they navigate organisational change – and everyone has said how helpful they find the sessions.
When managers know their feedback genuinely influences future communication strategy, they become invested partners rather than passive recipients. It also shows impact, a desire to listen from the internal communication function and a chance to adjust any plans based on what is being heard.
Investing in managers for the outcomes you need
These five elements work together to create a fundamentally different relationship between your communications function and your management team. When managers are involved in development, equipped with context, permitted to translate, capable of delivery and connected through feedback, they stop being reluctant to get involved – a little bit of praise when they get it right also goes a long way!
This approach requires internal communications professionals to shift their mindset from control to partnership. It means more time upfront, but creates greater impact with the outcomes.
If you’re ready to transform how your managers engage with internal communications, start by asking them a simple question: “What would you need to feel genuinely confident communicating this message to your team?” Their answers will tell you everything you need to know about where to begin.
