It Always Breaks Down in the Middle

After layoffs. After the reorg. After the org chart gets flatter and everyone is told to “do more with less.” It’s the managers who hold the line. And they’re exhausted.

As a manager, your job is clear—ensure your team makes the thing, sells the thing, fixes the thing—to drive revenue. 

They’re juggling frontline delivery, customer escalations, and team dynamics—while drowning in administrative tasks. Somewhere between their lunch break and a last-minute meeting, they’re expected to cascade and execute strategy.

I heard one manager complaining about their overflowing email inbox. He said, “I’m so busy I don’t have time to figure out what’s most important. I’ll know if I hear it twice.” That’s when I learned the number of emails he received from across the organization, aside from comms. 

So, it’s not surprising to see Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Trends report saying managers spend the majority of their time on daily problems and admin, leaving them only 15% of their time planning or strategizing for the future. 

It’s in this 15% that creates the messy in the middle cascade breakdown. They are willing, they just don’t have the bandwidth. That’s the cascade design flaw.

If you want execution at the frontlines, start rethinking what you’re handing the middle.

This is where strategic internal communication becomes a strategic performance lever—not just a message machine.

The right internal comms approach equips managers with clarity, context, and conversation-ready tools so strategy gets translated, understood, and acted on.

 To help you spot the weak points before they derail strategy, I created a Red Flags Checklist. It highlights where execution risks build up in the middle and what to do next.