The Missing Ingredient for Inclusion: The Middle Manager

The band Stealers Wheel said it well.

“Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.”

I was a leader in Corporate America for 12 years, and I have been facilitating inclusive leadership in classrooms and on stages for nearly a decade after. I know how I felt as a manager. I had to keep up with my manager’s expectations while engaging my team. I felt like I was trying to please everyone and pleasing no one.

I know that managers often feel stuck in the middle. They want to please their leadership teams upward, and help their own teams downward. They are stuck in the middle of complex organizations focused on short-term business results.  

In lies the chance to be an ally. The middle manager is best positioned to help connect with the senior leadership team’s vision of inclusion and be in the trenches making decisions to consistently support real inclusion. I believe the middle manager is pivotal to the success of diversity, equality, and inclusion. After all, they make the majority of the hiring, promoting, performance managing, and separating decisions, which deeply impact the employee experience.

Today’s middle manager wants to be better, yet often does not have the time or resources to learn and grow. Inclusive leaders lead with vulnerability, they practice empathy, they are self-aware.

Want your managers to behave more like this?  I can help.

That is why I developed the Lead Like an Ally program.

The Lead Like an Ally program is a 12-month inclusive leadership program designed to guide managers with tools, strategies, and techniques to be more inclusive. With no more than one hour a month time commitment, it meets leaders where they are at on their ally journey in a safe, comfortable virtual learning environment with workbook exercises to apply learning real-time.

As a special offer for completing the assessment, I am offering a complimentary 30-day preview of the Lead Like an Ally program.  Simply reply, with “start my preview” and we will get you set up.

Want to learn more before starting the preview?