I’m so tired. My brain is foggy, my body is exhausted, but I can’t sleep. I can’t turn it off. Her shrugged shoulders and puffy eyes told me everything, and more, than her words could describe. She had just been promoted, for the 3 time in 7 years, and rather than being energized by the new opportunity, she looked like she’d been in a fight all night. To be honest, she hadn’t even applied for the last two promotions. She just seemed like the obvious choice and was willing to take on the added responsibility. Her department results were holding steady and she caught every ball her boss threw at her. All the while, her own productivity was floundering and she had no idea how long she’d be able to keep her head above water.
This prospect came to me considering coaching, and I applaud her initiative and willingness to find a solution. Coaching could certainly help her stop the hamster wheel and set clear goals to make all of her efforts work for her. What would be really good though, is a solution that engages every leader to create completion for the role because they all of the skill and the appetite to fight for it. The whole department needed support if she looked like the outlier of success compared to her peers. I can’t help but think through, what an impact leader development would have been for her and her colleagues. So I’m sharing it here for anyone who might resonate with her perspective. (And here on YouTube if you hate reading and want more examples)
Does falling engagement really impact productivity?
In 2024 engagement at the management level dropped across the country. This is only the second time it has dropped in the past 12 years. The other drop in engagement since the Great Recession was 2020 and I don’t think our goal is to stay on par with those two events. There is one group disproportionately driving this drop and it is direct and middle management. That means the Sales Manager is feeling stressed every single day saying, I don’t have enough people to hit the call quota. It means the Director of Customer Service is saying, I’m so focused on KPI I can’t build trust with the team. It means that the prospect I mentioned in the beginning is so mentally drained she can feel it in her bones.
You don’t have to be a contented cow (click here to hear how this works) to be productive at work, but you can’t possibly have energy, innovate, or inspire in that state. To make matters worse, employee engagement is 70% impacted by your manager. That means that every single sales rep working for the manager who says, I don’t have the staff to be successful. Is pulling 70% of their commitment to work is derived from that. That prospect, has a 70% impact on the energy levels of everyone who reports to her. I won’t be surprised if the Gallup 2026 State of the Global Workforce has even more staggering numbers if we keep on this trend.
What do we do to change this?
Typically when engagement numbers come in senior leaders task department managers and supervisors with creating action plans to address the numbers of their team. That is not a bad strategy.
The idea is for those closest to the impacted, disengaged, people to address the problem directly. That means this time, it isn’t the managers who create the action plan, it’s senior leadership. Because I know everyone is busy, I’m going to break down a 2 part action plan for high level leaders to invest in to re-engage, re-invigorate, and re-energize people like that prospect.
Teach leadership fundamentals
Less than 20% of managers have had leadership training, according to Gartner. Which means that 80-85% are in leadership roles without the fundamentals of how to do their job. Think of it this way, there’s a hospital with 1 trained doctor and 1 trained nurse. The rest of the staff, have stethoscopes, watched a lot of Grey’s Anatomy, and are good with a band-aid and an ice pack. Would you trust it? Probably not. You wouldn’t be confident, and neither would they.
Usually leaders are promoted because they did the work well. They are asked to supervise, not because they are equipped for that but because they were equipped for a different role. Worse than that, the middle manager is then chosen from the supervisors who lasted the longest. (AKA watched every season of Grey’s and didn’t run from the hospital in the first year.) Its no wonder more than half of managers report high levels of consistent stress as they try to do more with less in a role they were never taught how to do.
So what do we do about it?
First on the action plan is teach your leaders to lead. Work with HR and L&D for curriculum. Hire an outside consultant to train your leaders in the work you’re actually asking them to do. Remember, this is for the well being of those who keep your company going. Give them the skills to motivate, influence, have difficult conversations, and manage change. Training engages your managers and equip them to drive results and engagement in your teams. They know how to be productive themselves, equip them to inspire that productivity in others. Leadership training takes them from constantly putting out fires, to influencing and changing behaviors that prevents the fires in the first place.
Facilitate ongoing development
Of those 15-20% of managers who are trained leaders, most of them are treated like one hit wonders. The organization contracted on demand virtual training on leadership theory, patted themselves on the back, and moved on. They knew they were already above average so they checked the box and felt proud of it. I mean, how much could the building blocks of leadership change? The fundamentals may not change, but the situations do. Things are never quite as simple as they seem the first time around.
Consider this, you, as a brand new supervisor go through leader training and learn about performance management plans. Being a top performer, this is completely new to you. I mean, you knew slackers went through it but you didn’t realize how much toll the process took on a supervisor. You take away from training, it could take months of your time to remove a poor performer.
Fast forward a few years. You have a team member who’s had a difficult time personally and it’s carrying over to work. Your HR rep suggests a performance plan. Suddenly, performance management has a new meaning. It’s not the red tape preventing you from terminating slackers. It’s a structured way to support a valued member of your team to regain control of one aspect of his life. What an important new lens to look at that training through, except, you’re an experienced leader. So, you’re on your own this time. Leaving you building the plane while you fly it, watching important bolts and sheet metal falling along the way.
So what do we do about it?
Managers and leaders need consistent support. They need to be able to process these new situations and increasingly complex realities. Some companies will simply redeploy their on demand training to leaders on an annual basis. That is certainly an option and allows you to easily check the box. Your staff is likely so busy they will either find a way to bypass it or multi task their way through it because they’ve done it before.
The best way I’ve seen this accomplished is through facilitated groups following training. Group discussion allows each leader to get their own questions answered by an expert facilitator, and learn from their peers in the group. They can prepare for situations they didn’t realize they’d have better equipping them down the road. My favorite example of this was when a lack of communication in IT led to, clarity in Marketing, and a 4x increase in warm leads for Sales. (If you want the story, jump over to YouTube here.)
You’ll increase productivity with the 3 Ps.
Your managers need to feel supported in their position. They need to know there is a reason to look ahead to the future. These three points bridge that gap increasing their engagement, which again, has a 70% impact on their employees. What it all boils down to is learning and growing through presentation, practice, and produce. We present to them how to lead effectively and allow them to practice what they’ve learned. Then, they are able to produce results through their application, impacting productivity overall.
I can only imagine what that prospect would have looked and sounded like if she had these in her organization. There certainly would have still be a lot of work on her plate. Instead of the slumped posture and drooping eyes, I imagine I would have seen a woman who was eager to attack the challenge come-what-may.