Sustainability urgently needs the talents of middle managers. But how do you turn sceptics into champions?

The marzipan layer – those middle managers who sit in the tiers between the icing of the C-Suite and the cake of junior employees - often get the blame from the CSR crew for slow progress on corporate sustainability.

But think a bit about their roles, and it’s not hard to see why they might put up the odd barrier. Their professional culture is often defined in ways that don’t work well with the change, innovation and risk that sustainability strategies invariably require. Their KPIs usually focus on things which have little to do with delivering long-term environmental and social value. Their practical experience means they know how difficult it is to implement apparently simple action on anything from purchasing to energy to marketing. And their operational focus makes them sceptical about the impact and value of strategic plans. As one middle manager put it to me: ‘corporate strategies are like alien spacecraft. You can’t be sure if they’re here to make friends or wipe you out, but usually they just sail past overhead making no contact at all’

So how do you bring middle management on-board with sustainability? We convened an event to find out, at last week’s Resource 2015 show at Excel. Managers from a diverse range of organisations set out the challenges they’ve faced and how they’ve been overcome – and crunched these findings down into eight rules.

Define the value.

Middle managers need to see the possibility that more sustainable approaches can create the kind of business value that they are measured on. Clearly articulating and monetising the environmental and social value of new approaches makes it far easier for them to engage.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Recognise that becoming a more sustainable organisation is a business change programme and therefore needs to be managed as such – impact of culture on sustainability strategies must not be overlooked?

Invest in champions.

Recruiting the most enthusiastic middle managers to a network of champions or ambassadors for sustainability within the business can be a powerful base from which to spread a culture of sustainability. Make this role aspirational, and the effect is even greater. Include something about providing training/ upskilling on all things sustainability?

Don’t feel obliged to call it ‘sustainability’.

The world now needs people who get the basic idea of sustainability and have their own professional competence through which to apply it.   Convene them around the issues they care about, rather than telling them what to do, and hold the conversation in their language rather than sustainability speak.

Exploit professional pride.

Pointing out how competitors are pushing ahead with sustainability action can be an important motivator. Nobody wants to look like they are behind the game.

Formalise expectations.

It’s all very well the CEO saying that environmental limits must be respected, but it’s just words if job descriptions and targets are all about aggressive sales growth.

Create a platform.

Now that sustainability is everyone’s job, it’s vital to find a way to unlock the diverse experience they have. Online platforms within organisations and connecting up value chains are an increasingly popular and effective way of enabling managers to access what they need, without having to sign up to or care about the big plan, or see themselves as joining some kind of movement.

Marzipan is made of people.

Middle managers are not some weird and different breed, they are people like you with values, ambitions, desires and irrational behaviours. All the normal rules about effective communication therefore apply. Logical information and edicts from on high will not be enough to change longstanding habits.

Ultimately, middle management will be the place where sustainability is formalised, normalised and made to work. If you fail to engage the marzipan layer, then it might continue to be a barrier. While that might be a good thing in a cake, it’s really bad news for operationalising sustainability.