Lost in Translation: Why Middle Managers Make or Break Change

During an overseas trip, I pulled into a gas station convinced I knew how to handle the situation. I had rehearsed the phrase for “fill it up” a dozen times. But when I confidently said it to the attendant, he gave me a puzzled look… and proceeded to hand me a bottle of water.

Close, but not quite.

It was a reminder that even when we think we’re being clear, meaning can get lost in translation. And while a wrong turn at a gas station makes for a funny story, in organizations it can derail an entire change effort.

And middle managers tend to be the “translators” of organizations. I’ve seen too many culture shifts, strategy rollouts, and transformation efforts break down at that level.

Here’s the reality: executives may set the vision, but it’s middle managers who give it legs. They interpret lofty goals into everyday decisions, connect strategy to the real work, and answer the team’s unspoken question: “What does this mean for me?”

But when executives fail to equip or support that level of leadership, translation breaks down. The message comes across as garbled, inconsistent, or irrelevant. And just like that gas station attendant, employees stop paying attention.

If you’re leading at the executive level, here are three ways to keep your change or culture effort from getting lost in translation:

• Over-communicate the “why.” Don’t just announce the change, but equip managers with context, stories, and talking points so they can answer the hard questions from their teams.

• Invest in manager confidence. Middle managers often feel stuck between top leadership and frontline staff. Give them the space to process, ask questions, and even voice doubts before they’re expected to champion a message.

• Align words with actions. Nothing undermines translation faster than inconsistency. If executives say culture matters but reward only short-term results, managers have nothing credible to translate.

  
  

Big initiatives don’t fail because people don’t care. They fail because people don’t understand or don’t believe what they’re being asked to do.

Leaders can’t afford to assume their message will carry itself. The real work of leadership is making sure it doesn’t get lost in translation.