Explorer’s Blog 15: Why Invest in Middle Managers

Hot take: Let me say something that the data are screaming, but that most organizations are still not hearing - we are failing our middle managers. And it is costing us in ways that are measurable, significant, and entirely preventable.

The latest Gallup State of the Global Workplace report shows that global employee engagement has fallen back to 2020 levels, the first time in Gallup's history that scores have declined in consecutive years. Worldwide, only 20% of employees are engaged. In Europe, it’s down to 12%. And the primary driver of that decline? Manager engagement, which has dropped 9 points in just four years.

Yikes. 

This is not a coincidence. Managers influence up to 70% of team engagement scores. When managers are struggling, their teams struggle too. Disengagement is contagious, and right now it is spreading.

So why are managers struggling? Of course there are multiple contributing factors and it does vary by geography. But a few notable pressures include flatter organizational structures that stretch people impossibly thin, fear about AI eliminating jobs, and persistent negative emotions that, per Gallup, still haven't returned to pre-pandemic levels. Leaders, Gallup notes, are actually less likely than those they lead to report enjoying their day. The people we put in charge of everyone else's experience are quietly having one of the harder ones themselves.

It is a genuinely hard time to be a manager.

And here's what troubles me most: many of them have been set up to fail. Research is clear that most managers never receive the training and coaching needed to guide their teams toward high performance. We promote people into leadership and then leave them to figure it out. We ask them to carry the culture, drive performance, retain talent, and hold the line through constant change without adequate support or development.

Then we measure their team's engagement scores and wonder what went wrong.

The cost of getting this wrong is real. Low engagement connects directly to lost deals, burnout (which can cost $10–20K per manager), and turnover running as high as 200% of salary. These are not abstract HR metrics. They land on the bottom line.

But here's what the data also show: organizations that choose differently get dramatically different results. World-class organizations that prioritize investing in manager development have nearly 80% of their managers engaged; nearly four times the global average. The gap between mediocre and exceptional isn't talent. It's investment.

This is precisely why middle managers are the focus of my coaching practice. These are the leaders navigating the messy middle — sitting between the C-suite and individual contributors, translating strategy into action, absorbing pressure from every direction. They are the most underloved, underinvested layer of most organizations, and they are exactly where the lever is.

As a former Global Head of Employee Experience, here is what I'd invite you to consider:

How engaged are your employees, really — and how do you know? Surveys are a start. But talk to your people. Understand what's keeping them up at night, what makes the work feel worthwhile, what's in the way.

What is the true cost of low engagement in your organization? Name it. Quantify it. Then decide what it's worth to address it.

What support are you actually giving your middle managers? Not what's on offer. What they're actually receiving, experiencing, and benefiting from.

I believe deeply that investing in middle managers is one of the highest-leverage decisions an organization can make. If you lead an organization ready to take that seriously — or if you are a middle manager who is ready for real support — come find me. This is the work I do, and I'd love to do it with you. ☎️

Source: Find the Gallup State of the Global Workforce original report here

⭐️ I am deeply invested in you being the best leader you can be, and I partner with clients on three things:

✅ Bringing calm to the chaos

✅ Having clarity in decision making

✅ Maintaining confidence in their leadership

That's what you get when you work with me — ✨ calm, clarity, and confidence. Interested? Curious? Know someone who might benefit? Let's explore, together.

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