We continue our exploration of the role of middle managers in compliance. In compliance, we often focus heavily on top executives’ tone at the top and frontline employees’ behaviors at the bottom, but what about the critical layer in between? Middle managers, often unjustly maligned as mere bureaucratic obstacles or ineffective supervisors, play a crucial compliance role, acting as connectors, communicators, and cultural ambassadors. I was therefore intrigued by an article in the Harvard Business Review by Zahira Jaser entitled The Real Value of Middle Managers, which focused on four key types of connecting leaders and their associated practices. Each has rewards and challenges, but successfully addressing them can help make your business more successful after the pandemic.
Middle managers serve a dual function: leading their teams and effectively communicating with senior executives. Jaser refers to these pivotal roles as “connecting leaders,” vital for maintaining organizational coherence, especially as remote and hybrid work arrangements proliferate. Effective middle managers possess sophisticated communication skills and can adeptly mediate between varying organizational layers, skills invaluable to compliance professionals. In Part 3, we look at how compliance professionals can tap into these connected leaders to help elevate compliance and the strategy of doing business ethically.
Four Key Roles of Middle Managers in Compliance
1. The Janus Leader: Empathizing Across Levels
Named after the Roman god who faced two directions simultaneously, Janus-type leaders maintain continuous empathy with their subordinates and senior executives. In compliance, this duality is essential. Middle managers must understand their teams’ operational pressures and communicate these challenges to ensure realistic compliance expectations and adequate resource allocation. Organizations can support Janus leaders by providing coaching and psychological resources, mitigating the risk of burnout from this continuous emotional labor.
2. The Broker: Negotiating Ethical Solutions
Middle managers often find themselves negotiating between conflicting organizational objectives. They function as brokers, facilitating dialogues that reconcile differing needs and goals. This role is especially critical in ethical compliance scenarios, where business objectives and compliance principles might seem to clash. Effective brokers foster a culture of transparency and humility, creating environments where ethical considerations are openly discussed and valued.
One practical example highlighted by Jaser involved a middle manager named Sumiya, who effectively mediated a disagreement about employee performance ratings, demonstrating transparency and fostering increased loyalty and motivation through direct executive engagement.
3. The Conduit: Advocating Upward
Middle managers in the conduit role courageously amplify their team’s voices, often at personal risk. They are crucial in compliance environments, particularly when ethical issues or potential violations must be escalated to higher management. For compliance teams, conduits are allies who ensure critical frontline insights reach senior leadership. Promoting a culture of psychological safety empowers middle managers to speak up without fear of negative repercussions, enhancing organizational transparency and integrity.
For instance, Simon, a risk manager featured by Jaser, exemplified this role by courageously voicing team concerns to senior executives, significantly improving the implementation of new compliance processes.
4. The Tightrope Walker: Balancing Strategic Compliance Decisions
Compliance professionals understand that organizational decisions often involve complex ethical dilemmas. Middle managers, described as tightrope walkers, navigate these challenging decisions daily, balancing competing demands such as operational efficiency, employee morale, and compliance obligations. Organizations can support these managers by fostering safe environments for critical-thinking discussions, thus preventing cognitive overload and paralysis.
Andrea’s case in Jasper’s research illustrates the Tightrope Walker’s role vividly. As a sales team leader during a transition requiring intensive client communication tracking, Andrea strategically managed her team’s workload and maintained compliance with corporate requirements while safeguarding employee autonomy and morale.
Strengthening Compliance through Middle Managers
To maximize the compliance potential of middle managers, organizations must provide targeted support, recognizing these roles’ intrinsic challenges. This support should include comprehensive development programs, not just in leadership but also in active and engaged followership—empowering managers to effectively influence upwards and downwards.
Organizations should integrate these roles explicitly into their compliance strategies, ensuring that middle managers’ efforts are recognized and appropriately incentivized through performance management systems, training, and corporate communications. This recognition validates middle managers’ crucial compliance roles, enhancing their motivation and effectiveness.
Additionally, investing in emotional and psychological support systems for middle managers is essential, particularly during periods of significant organizational change. Such investments underscore a commitment to a robust compliance culture, recognizing that compliance effectiveness is deeply tied to organizational health and employee well-being.
Middle Managers—Compliance Champions in the Shadows
Jaser’s research underscores a powerful truth: middle managers are not just connectors in an operational sense; they are essential compliance allies who uphold and reinforce ethical standards throughout an organization. For compliance professionals, the implication is clear—by supporting, empowering, and leveraging these vital figures, organizations can build stronger, more responsive, and resilient compliance cultures.
Ultimately, compliance is not solely dictated from the top or performed at the bottom, and it thrives most robustly in organizations where middle managers actively embody and champion ethical values and compliance standards every day. Embracing and amplifying their roles will undoubtedly position organizations for compliance success and sustainable, ethical leadership.
I hope you will join me tomorrow as I explore why middle managers should be seen as compliance’s eyes and ears and how compliance can use this skill to create and maintain a more effective compliance program.
For more on this topic, check out The Compliance Handbook, a Guide to Operationalizing Your Compliance Program, 6th edition, which was recently released by LexisNexis and is available here.
For more on this topic, check out The Compliance Handbook, a Guide to Operationalizing Your Compliance Program, 6th edition, which LexisNexis recently released. It is available here.
