Manager Engagement Matters

If you’ve been with us for any length of time, you’ll have noticed that quite often, our posts focus on supporting managers to engage and motivate their teams.

But what if you’re the manager and you’re not engaged or motivated? Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed, unsuccessful, and without direction? You’re not alone.

Gallup’s recent 2025 State of the Global Workplace Report, shows that manager engagement is down, which is no surprise, given the uncertainties of life these days.

In recent years, most companies (and their managers) have struggled with things like, post-pandemic budget cuts, the great resignation, massive layoffs, and continuous employee restructuring, among other things.

Gallup’s report speaks directly to company owners, executives, and leaders, about the effects that manager engagement can have on the rest of the company, stating that,

“Manager engagement is the key to reversing
declining productivity,
improving employee wellbeing,
and unlocking trillions in economic potential.”

Their research found that the key to creating engaged managers (which in turn creates engaged employees!), is that company executives must invest time and money in training, educating, and coaching their managers. We couldn’t agree more because we’ve seen it in action.

The report shares a 3-pronged approach:

Training for their Role

• When managers have a clear understanding about their role, responsibilities, expectations, goals, and the ways they will be held accountable, they’re more engaged and successful.
• We suggest making weekly 1:1s a priority, so that you can collaborate on what success looks like, how they’re adapting to their role, what’s changed, or what should change.

Education in their Leadership

• The report shows that when you provide regular training for managers on how to lead, motivate, and coach their teams, you can, “boost [their] performance by 20-28%”.
• We suggest using our Mattering Framework, as foundational tool to help them understand the importance of demonstrating both care and value to their employees.

Coaching for their Wellbeing

• Gallup also states that companies can, “increase manager wellbeing by 32% through ongoing manager development”.
• We know that when organizations provide both internal mentoring and/or external coaching for their managers, they’re more likely to thrive, so we suggested doing one or both.

If you’re interested in reading through Gallup’s report, click here to download a copy: 2025 State of the Global Workplace Report.

If you’re an owner, executive, or company leader, consider what it would look like to invest time and money in training, educating, and coaching your managers.

Investing in your managers will be time and money well spent. Let us know how it goes!