The middle way: Managers can bridge perception gaps between leaders and employees
New data shows that managers are caught in a unique position communicating to both parties.
Managers are culture carriers, team motivators, and the people explain leadership decisions to their teams and vice versa. But what can managers do when there are gaps in experience and expectations between individual contributors and leaders?
According to SurveyMonkey’s 2025 Workplace Culture and Trends, there are significant gulfs between how individual contributors and leaders perceive the same company, leaving managers in the middle to communicate with both groups. For example, the survey data indicated that 56% of leaders reported they are transparent when asked about company strategy and finances, but only 32% of individual contributors agreed with that assessment. That dissonance leaves managers in a bit of a bind, with the need to communicate both up and down. However, with help from internal communicators, managers can facilitate understanding between the two groups.
Here are a few ways managers can communicate their way through this gap, illustrated by the data.
Make leadership’s strategy as clear as possible for employees — and raise employee concerns back to leaders
The transparency gap stats are a great place for managers and communicators to start to bring leaders and individual contributors closer together. For instance, communicators should work with leaders and managers to help them carefully structure their language to avoid jargon that obfuscates the point they’re trying to make. Additionally, communicators can assist managers by helping them distill leadership’s strategy messages into easy-to-consume bites of information, like one-sheeters.
Communicate the growth path more clearly
Growth is an important factor in most people’s careers, but the data revealed that there’s a pretty big difference in optimism between leaders and employees in that realm. 53% of individual contributors reported that they thought there were growth opportunities at their companies, while 68% of leaders perceived growth as a possibility.
Managers can help here by openly discussing what avenues are open to their reports, and comms can give them a hand by highlighting examples of colleagues who are making leaps within the company. Profiles on an intranet platform that share the stories of employees advancing within their roles make the prospect more tangible — and if managers have something concrete to point to, they can build confidence in their individual contributors to know the path forward.
Address gaps in work-life balance perception
The data revealed that while 63% of individual contributors felt they needed to sacrifice their sense of work-life balance to get ahead at their jobs, 74% of leaders felt that sacrifices needed to be made to advance. Given a manager’s position as a cultural translator for their teams, they’re uniquely positioned to help address this. Comms pros and managers can with leaders to tell stories of how short term sacrifices created long-term gains, illustrating a path forward within the organization. Modeling advancement paths can turn an intangible process into a real prospect for individual contributors.
Communicate motivation in both directions
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that the data showed individual contributors and leaders have different motivations. These differences in thinking about work provide an opportunity for managers to communicate both upward to leaders and downward to their teams to foster better understanding between the two groups.
Leaders and individual contributors don’t need to think the same way to both be part of a successful organization. But managers need to know how to communicate how both parties approach their roles to foster a sense of alignment between the two.
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.
