Value Leak #2 Middle Managers: they translate strategy into action and face into resistance. Without them, adoption will fail. If leaders set the direction, middle managers determine whether it actually happens. They translate strategy into action and stand at the coalface of resistance. They are the group most exposed by transformation – asked to deliver new outcomes, often with old KPIs, old resourcing and no additional time to lead their teams through the change. Many were never meaningfully consulted on the future state they are now expected to champion. Unsurprisingly, some become the programme’s most effective saboteurs – not through open resistance, but through quiet non-adoption: reverting to the old process “just for now,” protecting their team from extra workload, or simply not modelling the new behaviours because nobody is measuring whether they do. Value leaks here in a thousand small daily decisions, invisible to any programme dashboard. Closing this leak means equipping and incentivising middle managers as change agents, not just recipients of change. Giving them the tools, the time and a stake in the outcome, and measuring their teams on adoption of the new way of working, not just delivery of the old one.
"Resilience doesn't magically happen. You can't buy it. You have to consciously build resilience into the team. When people know how to deal with change, it stops feeling de-stabilising and starts feeling manageable. You can't just tell someone to be resilient, you have to put the systems in place that help them operate at their best." Becky Henderson-Hart Change Consultant, Project One
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real change • real difference
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