Employee engagement in the UK is worryingly low – a 2025 report revealed it was amongst the lowest in Europe, with only one in 10 UK employees feeling engaged. At the same time, a tough job market and economic uncertainty mean many people are staying in roles they’ve fallen out of love with or that don’t feel like a good values fit.
Against this backdrop, internal comms pros are having to work harder than ever to create employee motivation, engagement, and positive sentiment.
While it would be tempting for internal comms teams to feel they need to sort this out independently, managers can – and should – play a key role. They are one of the biggest influences in how employees experience strategy, change and culture day-to-day. However recent research found that over a third of internal comms pros think managers in their organisation are ineffective when it comes to cascading communications.
So, how can internal comms pros get managers working with them to ensure their strategies are effective?
Treat managers as strategic stakeholders
Managers are often overlooked in internal comms strategies, treated as distribution channels rather than strategic stakeholders. It often goes something like this: strategies are shaped, messaging is signed off, assets built, and only then (usually) are managers briefed to ‘cascade’ the information.
If they’re only brought in at the execution stage, it’s no surprise that when they’re asked to disseminate information it can sometimes feel flat. When managers haven’t helped to shape the narrative based on what’s happening on the ground, they can never fully own it. When they haven’t had time to consider and process the rationale, they struggle to explain it with confidence.
So, involve managers earlier. For major initiatives, managers should attend and input into the planning phase and know the direction before it’s finalised so they’re able to share whether it will resonate and any concerns their teams are likely to raise. Managers who feel consulted are much more likely to commit to the direction.
Empower managers to reduce reliance on email
Busy internal comms teams often rely on email as a primary channel for announcements, supported by manager rollout. However, we know that real engagement rarely happens in inboxes.
When a manager forwards an email, it isn’t leadership communication. Employees want context and interpretation, not just information. They want to know what any change will mean for their role, workload and priorities, and the chance to ask questions and check the implications. This can’t happen in one-way email communication.
If managers simply repeat what’s written in an email, they add little value. So, they should be encouraged to get out of the literal (in)box and have face to face conversations wherever possible with colleagues about any changes or new initiatives. This is particularly important in global organisations that rely on regional context.
Equip managers with the information to succeed
Internal comms teams should equip managers with useful conversation starters, FAQs, and ‘what this means for your team’ prompts. Provide clear conversation starters that open discussion rather than close it; short, focused FAQs that address likely concerns; guidance on handling pushback or uncertainty; and even simple structures for running team discussions about a change or implementation.
The easier it is for a manager to lead a meaningful discussion, the more likely it is to happen. However, remember that managers are short on time, so keep information and materials concise – if preparation feels onerous, uptake will likely be low.
Use live experiences to build manager confidence
With connection and engagement generally low, we’re seeing many internal comms teams starting to invest in events in order to bring people together and create collective experiences. These provide a great opportunity to instill new initiatives into a business and another opportunity to strengthen the manager link.
We consistently see better outcomes when managers are briefed separately ahead of major launches or conferences, rather than learning new information at the same time as other colleagues during the event. Giving them space to ask questions and properly digest messaging before they are questioned at the event, or take it back to their teams, builds confidence and understanding.
Similarly, designing live events to deliberately activate managers and build their confidence turns them from passive attendees into advocates. Roundtables, peer breakouts focused on ‘how would you explain this to your team’, and scenario-based discussions equip managers with the tools to successfully deliver information.
Get them bought in to values
Values only stick when they’re translated into behaviours. Internal comms teams can support managers by helping make values tangible – e.g. showing them what ‘integrity’ means in a difficult performance review, or what ‘customer focus’ means when it comes to team decision making. Showing managers what those values look like in practice in 1:1s, performance conversations and under pressure makes them tangible. Generally, when managers truly live and breathe company values, their teams feel inspired to do the same.
Getting started
To put these suggestions into practice, start with an upcoming initiative. Get key managers involved in the planning stage, let them input into the narrative, equip them with structured conversation prompts, and then give them adequate time to process things before they have to relay initiatives or changes to their teams.
Then, importantly, incorporate a feedback mechanism and start measuring success. Assess manager confidence, listen for changes in team sentiment, and track the quality of dialogue, not just message distribution. Because ultimately, managers aren’t distribution channels, they’re a key creator – and carrier – of culture day-to-day.
Millie Killeen is client services director at The Chameleon Agency.