Executiveaction

series
No. 234 April 2007

Management Trends . . .

Middle Managers: Engaging and

Enrolling the Biggest Roadblock to
Diversity and Inclusion
by Members of The Conference Board’s Business Diversity Council

Diversity practitioners, by definition, challenge the

status quo, potentially putting them at direct odds
with middle managers who are often more concerned
with preserving it.
Ah, the middle managers conundrum. The grassroots are How can you engage middle management into an agile,
energized, the executives have seen the light, and the top- collective embrace of diversity initiatives? To start, diversity
down and bottom-up momentum comes to a screeching halt practitioners need to understand the position of the middle
right in the middle girth of most organizations. The middle- managers. Executives are about long-term strategy. Grassroots
management layer seemingly douses the spreading diversity employees are about immediate, individual, personal, and
fire, smothering it through inertia rather than outright idealistic issues. Although often involved in executing future
opposition. strategies and change management, middle managers are more
about preserving the status quo. They’re rewarded for
maintaining current results.

Editor’s Note: This piece is intended to generate dialogue around diversity and middle management —a population that is numerically
one of the largest in organizations and, for practical purposes, one of the most important to engage and enroll in corporate diversity.
The opinions and ideas in this report are a combination, but not a consensus, of the opinions and ideas of the contributors. It is
hoped that this report will provide diversity practitioners with one set of tools to further their work, generate conversation, and lead
to future reports that further explore this and other diversity challenges.
 ‘Diverse candidates can’t fill specialized needs,’ declare
Diversity practitioners, by definition, challenge the status
middle managers
quo, potentially putting them at direct odds with middle
managers. (The same can be said of HR and diversity, Middle managers fight back: ‘I don’t have time to source
where HR is rewarded for keeping the boat from diverse candidates’
rocking.) At the same time, middle managers are a key to Middle managers take stand: ‘Diversity doesn’t apply
the work that diversity practitioners are carrying out to us’
within their organizations in hiring, development, and
promotion decisions. What’s more, middle managers ‘Sure, diversity is important — but we’ve got a business
sometimes become a roadblock to inclusion initiatives as to run,’ say middle managers
when they fail to support their employees’ efforts to
participate in affinity group programs. It’s clear that there are myriad barriers to engaging
middle managers. Beneath the headlines are layers of
So, how do diversity practitioners — who may be at complexity, including a lack of understanding for the
odds with what middle managers are motivated to focus business case for diversity, competing priorities, time
on — engage them to carry out the requested and pressures, legitimate questions about how they’ll be
essential work? rewarded for their efforts, measurability, lack of authority
to make much of a difference, and a sense that they’re at
Middle Manager Engagement in Diversity (MMED) is, the mercy of the candidates recruiters provide them.
at its core, a change-management process. So, to help
orchestrate the approach, let’s first define the current We believe there are ways through these barriers. But
state and the desired state. before exploring those, let’s paint a picture of what a
successful MMED would look like.

Current State of MMED

If the current state of MMED were reported on by the Desired State of MMED
press, what headlines would we see? What might the headlines be if middle managers
really got it?
‘Diversity scares me,’ say middle managers
‘Diversity shows business value, greater innovation,’
The call to diversity: Overworked group asked to
declare middle managers
do more with less
Study shows candidates prefer diverse companies —
‘Feel Good’ program added to overflowing plate
hiring managers lead the way by example
‘Diversity = Affirmative Action + Quotas,’ say
‘My team is incredible, people come from all different
middle managers
walks of life to make great decisions’: A profile of a
It ain’t broke, so don’t fix it — company hits middle manager who got it
earnings again!
‘Diversity is the link to productivity improvements,’ say
‘Diversity takes time,’ caution middle managers middle managers
Middle managers feel blamed for leaders’ lack of Achieving great results — diversity really makes a
progress in diversity difference!
Middle managers pass the buck: ‘Diversity is an Managers take the lead on diversity action planning
HR issue!’
Glass ceiling crashes — middle managers on the front
Middle managers fear risk of failure too high to hire lines of making it happen
diverse candidates

2 executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board
 Managers take proactive stand to further diversity efforts Influence
Companies experiencing industry-low turnover — Let’s begin with our (not Webster’s) definition of the
success attributed to unprecedented diversity/middle verb influence.
manager partnerships

Increase in ethnic market penetration attributed influence v: to cause someone to do something he or

to successful diversity efforts at the middle she would not otherwise have done if left to his or
management level her own devices

It’s clear that we can’t have diversity breakthrough No change can begin without getting key players
without middle management engagement. The corollary interested in seeing the change happen. So how do we
to this is that if we can achieve middle management convince these dyed-in-the-wool custodians of the status
engagement, we’ll see the very results we’re striving for. quo that the diversity journey, the road less traveled, will
Sure, there’s the accountability thing, but the key is for reap rewards for them?
middle managers to see what’s in it for them and the
overall business and then be equipped to carry out the It’s tempting to begin with the business case, but the
work. Key to winning them over is demonstrating that reality is that middle managers hear business cases every
diversity and inclusion will contribute to goals such as time they walk down the hallway. They’ve seen them
increased capacity, better solutions for business come and go, with most evaporating under the pressures
challenges, employee engagement/ownership (willing to of day-to-day business realities. Realistically, they’re not
give their very best for their companies), innovative responsible for making the business case. They’re about
ideas, reduced turnover, and the ability to resolve executing against it once the senior leaders have
complex business issues. embraced and sponsored it. So, they can’t be convinced
through the business case as the first thing. What needs
So what can be done today to achieve the desired state to happen first is exerting pressure: executive, grassroots,
headlines? and peer pressure.

In this influence stage, compared to the ones that follow,

A Friendly Frontal Assault on Middle programs will be less systemic and more ad hoc and high
Managers profile in nature.
Here’s a five-phased process for getting middle managers
effectively involved in the diversity process. If it looks Strategy: Exert Executive Pressure
like a change management process, it is. To turn the Once your senior leaders are engaged (there are already
middle manager ship around requires an organizational, well-documented best practices on how to win their
systemic approach — and there’s no one mother-of-all- support), use them as diversity champions to gain middle
tactics that will cause the breakthrough. Better to follow management buy-in.
this multi-phased process — and make sure you’re
partnering with HR. The five phases are: Programs
Use executives as key levers. Have senior leadership
• Influence make a forceful case and ask that middle managers get
• Enroll involved. Follow up with open forums that encourage
direct dialogue between middle management and
• Equip executive leaders. Too often it’s the executive leaders
• Monitor who give the “Go for it!” message to the Chief Diversity
• Partner Office and SVP HR. They, in turn, may be carrying the
ball more than they should in taking the message to

executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board 3
 middle management. Get executive leaders to carry the • Create a road show for managers that is co-led by
banner of diversity deeper into the organization. Have senior leaders, early adapter managers, and the CDO.
executive leaders model the behaviors they want from
• Create a diversity champion network among middle
middle management, such as attending diversity training managers and elicit their ideas for reaching out to
and mentoring diverse employees. their peers.

• Use your corporate intranet to profile managers

Strategy: Exert Grassroots Pressure who get it.

Strong affinity groups and their activities get noticed —

especially when senior leaders show up and endorse Enroll
them. Grassroots affinity groups are particularly effective
Enrolling is getting managers to say, “Sign me up.” This
because they provide an amplified voice for their
means they want to be change agents in the process.
constituents who otherwise would not be heard over the
While the “influence” phase is about identifying the
mainstream workforce’s day-to-day din. When these
vanguard of managers who will help move diversity
affinity groups are effectively led and address relevant
through the organization, the “enroll” phase is about
business issues, their very presence exerts pressure to be
getting the fence sitters onboard. While early adapters are
noticed by middle managers. The result? Their
comfortable with ambiguity about next steps, fence-
employees end up participating directly and/or other
sitters need to have a fleshed out process. This enables
employees start to ask questions about these groups.
them to see that not only is this a good idea with highly
visible sponsorship, but there’s actually a game plan they
Programs
can plug into.
Challenge and empower affinity groups to ground their
efforts in business–relevant issues. Ensure their Strategy: Get Them Personally Involved in a
programs and marketing have broad appeal beyond Programmatic Way
their direct constituency by addressing broad-based The work must be internalized by middle managers.
business issues or employee needs such as career Don’t allow them to sit on the sidelines and watch others
development. Encourage affinity group members to do the work (which they can then criticize, without
invite their managers to events. Partner with HR to having any skin in the game). It’s essential to find ways
embed leadership of affinity groups into employees’ for middle managers to be engaged directly in the issues
official development plans. and the work.

Strategy: Exert Peer Pressure Programs

In the business world, a little competition goes a long
way. Find a highly-respected manager who is ready to be
• Enhance education and awareness through
relationships. For example, use reciprocal mentoring
an early adapter/champion and ensure he or she gets with someone culturally different (for instance, a high-
high-profile visibility for his or her diversity potential person of color paired with a white male)
commitment. Go through that person to influence other promotes learning about the implications of these
managers, particularly through manager forums. cultural differences.

Programs
• Provide “Mental Model Shift” classroom and
experiential training. Scholars say mental models are
• Create a high-profile award that recognizes manager created by past experiences, media, and other
leadership in diversity and inclusion and is consistent messages we receive, and act as filters through which
with the company’s recognition philosophy. we respond to the world and often limit an individual’s
thinking about a specific issue.

4 executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board
 • Encourage middle managers to participate in local Equip
diversity councils.
“OK, I get it now,” middle managers will be saying at
• Have middle managers participate in diversity events this stage. “But give me the tools I need do the work.”
as a speaker, panelist, or host. Fair enough.

• Require all affinity groups to have executive sponsors Strategy: Add New Diversity Competency/
that come out of the middle management ranks. The
best way to gain support is to expose people to areas Performance Expectations for Managers
formerly unfamiliar to them and provide them with a To make diversity sustainable, one of the keys is to
specific role to play. embed it into the performance management system and
leadership competencies that will be evaluated through a
Strategy: Give Them a Simple Roadmap 360 process.
Make people feel competent, empowered, and capable by
showing them the first easy steps.
Programs
Programs
• Focus on the competencies of diversity execution,
Give them a detailed plan — a how-to guide that inclusive behavior, and cross-cultural competence.
provides them with a checklist and sources for • Offer training to develop these competencies.
information and resources, a list of actionable items, and
a calendar of topics by month with ideas for discussion. • Take away the fear of being wrong. Through role plays,
actors can be more prescriptive on what activities
support diversity and inclusion.
Strategy: Reward the Champions • Provide a robust tool kit on the observable behaviors
Yes, this was used in the “influence” stage, but it’s key to for each of the competencies and ideas for how to
make this a systemic practice. In this phase, the reward develop them.
may not be as visible in terms of public recognition.
However, managers should see tangible evidence that
• Include cultural competence as a component of an
Interview Skills Workshop to enhance managers’
their commitment and involvement in diversity are ability to connect with potential diverse candidates
noticed and valued when it comes to pay and promotions. and ensure they hire the best talent.

Programs • Conduct a 360-degree feedback process to gain input

and observations on inclusive behaviors.
• Tie financial rewards to their performance and
development plans. The more it’s aligned to goals
stemming from the top, the better.

• Recognize managers by putting role model awards on

the corporate intranet.

executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board 5
 • Equip HR to be able to conduct just-in-time, short,
Strategy: Give Them the Data simple, easy-to-manage interventions to help address
While this is also part of the “monitor” phase that cross-cultural and diversity-related issues and
follows the “equip” stage, getting data into middle challenges.
managers’ hands is essential. A common and legitimate
complaint on the part of middle managers is that they
don’t know the score. “Where are we, and where should
Monitor
we be?” they ask. They’re used to getting data on a Are we for real on this? If so, we’ve got to keep tabs
regular basis on inventory, productivity, and response on progress.
times and are expected to monitor these regularly and
take necessary corrective action. Diversity should be no Strategy: Give Them Activities and Metrics to
different. Shoot For and Then Keep Score
In contrast to the strategy in the Equip phase, where data
Programs is shared with middle managers to help them get a handle
on the issue, the focus here is on accountability:
• Perform quarterly reviews of how the data is analyzed. establishing goals and objectives they will be responsible
What “we” look like; what “you” look like; what “you”
for achieving.
could look like; what “you” will look like.

• Use employee satisfaction surveys to identify Programs

areas where diversity resources could be used to
help resolve what would otherwise be identified • Develop a Balanced Scorecard and publish it in a
as HR or general organization issues. (When you highly public way. A scorecard should have
start to dive deeper, there are usually elements measurable behavioral changes such as employee
of a lack of inclusion, respect, poor development of satisfaction surveys, exit interviews, etc., as well as
diverse talent, etc.) measurable representation changes such as attrition,
succession, etc.
• Be transparent about how goals are set and
measured. • Have managers present on their programs to local
diversity councils or business forums.
Strategy: Provide Middle Managers with
Diversity Coaching and Mentoring • In talent reviews, include diversity/cross-cultural
competency as a valued competency for the
All along the way, managers are going to need support. advancement of managers.
Because it’s one thing to have an epiphany during a
diversity presentation or in a training class, and quite • Create a diversity index — a series of diversity-related
questions asked of all employees through an existing
another to know how to apply it in a messy, complex
employee engagement survey or as a stand-alone
team breakdown dynamic involving diversity issues.
effort. Track trends over time.

Programs • Add diversity practices as a performance objective for

middle managers.
• Provide middle managers with internal and/or
external resources — or maybe an online resource — • And, of course, tie the results to the compensation
when they need help dealing with diversity-related and bonus system.
issues and challenges.

6 executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board
 Strategy: Provide Proof of a Direct Correlation Programs
Between Company Success and Diversity • Provide resources for the middle mangers to achieve
Admittedly, this one still is more elusive than we would their goals. Create training programs for their
like, but the time has come to prove this correlation and employees, timely interventions when there are
not merely rely on the common-sense approach. diversity issues, and PowerPoint presentations for
managers to share with their direct reports.
Programs
• Diversity and HR practitioners should make
• Tap internal/external measurement gurus who can go themselves personally available for heart-to-hearts
beyond the traditional ways of measuring diversity. with managers who are committed to the work and
Once new metrics are identified, embed them into the who are willing to be open about some of the
Balanced Scorecard. challenges they are facing in doing the work of
diversity.
• Work with PR to ensure internal and external coverage
of successful product lines/innovative solutions
deployed by diverse, multicultural teams, highlighting Strategy: Increase the Linkages to the
how diversity contributes to the bottom line.
Company’s External Relationships
• Use innovative ways to link managerial support of One of the strengths of many corporate diversity
diversity and inclusion to other measures. For programs is the extent and quality of their external
example, on an employee satisfaction survey, ask relationships with corporate diversity organizations such
respondents to indicate whether their managers are as Out & Equal, National Black MBA Association,
supportive of their diversity and inclusion activities. Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement, and Diversity
Then measure satisfaction and commitment by those
Pipeline Alliance, as well as local and national social
who indicate their managers are supportive and those
service organizations. Historically, the opportunities to
who say they’re not. Showing the correlation between
connect have largely remained confined to the diversity
support and satisfaction can drive home the
importance of the manager’s role.
practitioners, recruiters, and affinity group members. But
these external relationships create some potentially
compelling opportunities for middle managers to expand
Partner their horizons and help them achieve some of the new
Relationships are a key for this work to go forward. It’s diversity goals to which they’re now being held
not enough to turn up the heat and provide tools and accountable.
incentives. Ultimately, the work of diversity is held
together by the dual masters of business imperatives and Programs
relationships.
• Collaborate with external partners to provide
developmental options at conferences that are
Strategy: Sweeten the Internal Partnerships attractive to middle managers.
Middle managers want to know they’re not alone in the
process, especially when they’re being held accountable • Identify middle managers who have a good number of
open positions and provide them with invitations to
for results. When middle mangers are accountable for attend diversity recruiting fairs so they can meet a
results, diversity practitioners are in the best position to critical mass of candidates. Ensure candidates are
become valued partners. prescreened to maximize the middle manager’s time.

• Invite middle managers to participate in events that

will take them outside their comfort zones and expose
them to different ways of thinking.

executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board 7
 • Incorporate Corporate Supplier Diversity initiatives by
creating opportunities for managers of business About this report
units/divisions making purchasing decisions to meet
with minority, women, and disabled veteran owned
Intra-Company Collaboration: How This
business partners. Document Was Created
• Invite middle managers to speak at a diversity The Content Creators
conference, sharing best practices that they have
On Friday, November 3, 2006, the following Diversity
been a part of implementing
Business Council members created the content of this
white paper through a facilitated session.

In Attendance
Andrés Tapia, Hewitt Associates, Facilitator
Clyde Jones, ADP

Conclusion Grace Figueredo, United Technologies Corporation

The process of engaging middle managers — MMED in Patrice Dunckley, Avon Products, Inc.
the lingo of this report — is indeed tough, heavy-lifting Robert Spencer, Entergy Services, Inc.
work. As outlined here, it requires nothing short of a
Tanya Strozier, Safeco Corporation
systemic approach through the various phases of change
management that must have the full involvement of Tom Milligan, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
every part of the enterprise — from C-suite to entry Wanda Brackins, RBC Dain Rauscher Corporation
level. Strong CDO leadership is paramount to influence Marcel Bucsescu, The Conference Board
the wholesale mobilization of the system in the way
described here. Provided Editorial and Content Review
Philip Berry, Colgate-Palmolive Company
The payoff though, we believe, is worth the sweat and Deborah Donnelly, National Starch & Chemical Company
tears. Middle managers must be engaged and mobilized
Ashley Fields, BMC Software, Inc.
for the work of diversity that we so passionately are
convinced is for the good of our organizations and our Angela Thomas-Anderson, Spherion Corporation
people can truly become sustainable. Shayne Parker, Lucent Technologies, Inc.
Amy George, PepsiCo, Inc.
Dick Gaskins, The Conference Board
Toni Riccardi, The Conference Board

Acknowledgement
A special thanks to Andrés Tapia for pulling all of our
thoughts together and writing this report.

8 executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board
 3. List strategies and programs for the five key phases:
The Process
The Programming Committee had identified Engaging • Influence
Middle Managers as a priority topic for the November
2006 meeting. However, while trying to identify outside
• Enroll

speakers, the Committee kept coming up empty-handed. • Equip

Through discussion, the idea of tapping into the collec-
tive expertise of the Council members came to fruition.
• Monitor

Clearly, this is a topic that has challenged each of us. We • Partner

decided to tap into our collective knowledge, wisdom, 4. Facilitator synthesizes notes and writes draft of
and experience and create the content ourselves. white paper.
During a Diversity Business Council meeting at Hewitt, 5. Participants review and edit white paper.
we tackled this tough diversity issue. Rather than having
6. Final white paper is written by facilitator.
a lecturer spell out his or her tricks of the trade, we
worked at collectively creating a list of best practices 7. Final white paper is reviewed by participants.
and innovative approaches that each of us can try back 8. Final white paper is published and PowerPoint is
home. created to be used by members.
Here’s the process we followed:
1. Decide on an approach. We decided to approach
the middle manager dilemma by viewing it as a
change management process.
2. Send out a pre-session questionnaire with the
Note: while there were myriad case studies of pro-
following questions:
grams that have worked at each of our organizations,
• The biggest barrier to engaging middle this white paper does not include these. We aimed at
managers is… identifying the key challenge and root causes, and then
strategies for addressing these. We then identified pro-
• The biggest enabler to engaging middle
grams to consider in executing each of the strategies,
managers is…
but stopped short of describing in detail the programs
• What would it look like to have middle managers themselves. The idea is for each Council member who
engaged in the diversity change-management uses the PowerPoint based on this white paper to con-
process? textualize the strategies and program details depend-
ing on their audiences. For future consideration, the
• At the face-to-face session, begin the creative
Council could consider capturing a series of case stud-
process by sharing results of the pre-session
ies that illustrate the various strategies and programs
questionnaire. Then create “headlines” on the
captured in this paper.
current state of MMED and “headlines” on the
desired state of MMED (headlines are one-liners
to describe the state of middle manager
engagement in diversity work).

executive action middle managers: engaging and enrolling the biggest roadblock to diversity and inclusion the conference board 9