Cascading Change:

It’s Your Job; Even When You Do Not Like It

By Beth Schaefer

Because IPD launched a new experiential learning course in 2025 – Leading Teams through Change – I have been hyper-focused on change management.  Even though I do not teach the course, I visit with those who take the course, and I know that one of the most difficult parts of middle management is leading change when you do not agree with the change.

As a middle manager, you can:

  1. initiate change (add a new project or team member)
  2. have change bubble up from within your team (improved process or team member retirement)
  3. have an external force generate change (a new law or a new large client)
  4. have an internal force generate change (anything declared by organizational leadership)

During my conversations with those taking the course, middle managers tend to step up to manage the change from the first three items, but the fourth item tends to be viewed as someone else’s problem.  If the organization decides to:

  • return to office
  • cut the budget
  • move to a new location
  • merge us with another department
  • implement new software

then the organization needs to manage that change, not me. They thought it was a good idea; they can figure it out.

I understand the frustration because this is a classic “in the middle” dilemma.  On one hand, you are responsible for the results from your team, and on the other hand, you do not want to feel like a phony person pretending to cheerlead an effort that you do not value or you think is just plain wrong.  How do you maintain credibility with your team, and yet be a team player for the organization?  It is one of the most difficult lines to walk as a middle manager.

Middle Managers are responsible for cascading change. This is my term for helping lead change that is declared by those above you in the organization.  The trick as a middle manager is to perform your job by helping the change cascade down from the CEO’s office (to the VP’s office, to your boss’s office, to your team), and do to it well while avoiding being viewed as a lackey.  You need to do manage the cascading change in an authentic way – even when you disagree with the decision.

Authenticity Tip #1

For me, the first step to being authentic with your team, is to be authentic with your own boss.  If the WHAT and HOW of the change has a negative impact on your team, make sure you talk to your boss about the WHY.  If the WHY does not justify the negative impact, provide some information to your boss to avoid the change or mitigate the risk of the change.  If the WHY is unavoidable, you have the information you need to manage the change with your team.  In both cases, you can honestly tell your team that you communicated the negative impact on their behalf.

Authenticity Tip #2

The next step to being authentic with your team, is to manage your own change.  You may have a supervisor who is helping you move through the change transition, but the more responsibility you have in your role, the more (most likely) you are responsible for managing your own change.  You need to figure out the WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) for yourself and then you need to figure out the WIIFM for your team – maybe even the WIIFM for each of your team members.  And, this is not always easy to do.

Authenticity Tip #3

Consider the alternative.  What happens if you do not cascade change?  You are resentful, bitter, and/or angry with the change announced by your organization.  You refuse to lean into the change and dig in your heels and do nothing to manage your team through the transition.  While your team may initially see your roadblocking as support and rallying, eventually, months of this negativity stew bubbling and swirling creates a downer workplace.  Coming into this downer situation every day will start to take its toll on your team.  Are they really better off fighting the change than they are making the change?  Is this the best way to use your energy and their energy?

Once you play out the long-term cost and effect of “standing up for your team” by refusing to help with the change, you may find that you are not gaining, but losing. While in the short term, seeing the bad decision by leadership create chaos may create some “I told you so” team synergy, eventually, that change will be a daily slog sapping your positive energy if you do not usher your team members through to a new vision.

Authenticity Tip #4

And, let’s not forget that two things can be true at once.  You can be ushering your team through the organization’s decision to a new vision, AND you can still be doing data collection to illustrate the effects of the decision.  By tracking the results of the decision, you (and your fellow middle-manager-change-cascaders) will either see that the decision is working . . . or it’s not.  And, if it’s not, then you can work together to present that information. But, if you never cascade the change and make the transition, then leaders can continually point to how the decision is being sabotaged and not being given a fair shake.

Cascading Change – It’s Not Easy

Of course, many of the statements I have made on how change works are part of the ideal workplace situation.  And, I know that is not always the case. As a middle manager, you can do all the “right” things, but still find yourself and your team in an ongoing bad situation.

Yes, cascading change is easier said than done.  So, here is where I do the shameless plug…take Leading Teams through Change if you need tools to manage change (whether you agree with the change or not) for yourself and your team.