The leadership has entered. Groups are curious and experimenting. Technology works. Yet the adoption of AI in your marketing organization is crawling. What gives?
The answer is not in your tools, your vision or your talent pool. The answer lies in your organization chart, two to three levels down from the C-suite and one level above staff – middle management – and your transformation plan completely ignores them.
Unique pressures on middle managers
Middle managers live in a unique and challenging environment. They are directed from the top to do more with AI, yet face concerns from below from people worried about change, overwhelmed by new tools or simply unsure of what to expect. These managers are responsible for translating strategy into action, but are rarely included in shaping that strategy. As a result, they are too old to be students and too young to set a direction.
This situation leaves them isolated and less supported. The Harvard Business Review states that middle managers are the glue that holds change together, yet they often lack the authority or context to truly lead change.
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For change to be sustainable and impactful, all levels of the organization must feel connected and included in the change. However, we are seeing a focus on senior leadership buy-in and financing and leading education and implementation tools. Even worse, middle managers don’t need to be sold or trained on the tools. We need their collaboration and input to rethink daily workflows and process changes.
Think about it. Middle managers are responsible for getting the job done effectively. They take direction from the top and manage frontline delivery. They should be included in your AI conversion program. Here is the way.
How to enable middle managers to drive AI adoption
Successful AI adoption comes from tailored programs that address real-world workflow changes, decision-making situations and people management challenges unique to their level.
Equip middle managers with the authority to evaluate, accept and make calls on AI-related processes. If people have decision-making rights, they are more likely to defeat AI reform initiatives. Make them accountable for helping teams through challenges, problem solving, strategic interpretation of their areas and setting barriers to leadership.
Create role-specific training and empowerment programs. Managers may need vision training. Frontline staff need more training. Middle managers need effective playbooks with options and methods to choose from. Invite them to strategy sessions and learn from their ground-level insights.
Finally, measure what is important. Penetration of tracking tools is great – but it’s an over metric. People can come in and use tools manually, but never change the way work is done. Let middle managers track metrics such as AI-driven decisions made, number of processes changed and steps or manual releases removed. It’s hard to track meaningful process changes, but that’s what shows real change.
Focus on the center to activate the AI transformation
We know that the board’s vision is right and the tools are improving every day. By focusing on the center, we close a critical gap. It also increases morale, increases buy-in and ultimately creates a better ROI on your AI investment.
When middle managers are empowered to make decisions, cross-functionally trained and measured by the metrics that matter for real change, they will not only be bought in but ready and eager to lead sustainable change.
