Managers Are Checking Out. Here’s How to Re-Engage Them
By Emma Sarro, PhD and Laura Cassiday, PhD Maria, a mid-level manager at a tech firm, sits at her desk staring blankly at yet another meeting invite. Lately, her days feel like a blur of back-to-back Zoom calls, shifting priorities, and constant fire drills — with little recognition or clarity from senior leadership. Once energized by leading her team, she now finds herself just going through the motions. The sense of purpose that used to drive her has slowly faded, replaced by a growing sense of detachment and fatigue. Maria’s experience is becoming the norm. According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2025 report, managers are not okay. While overall employee engagement dropped from 23% in 2023 to 21% in 2024, and individual contributor engagement, while low, at 18%, remained steady over the two years, manager engagement saw a steeper decline, falling from 30% in 2023 to 27% in 2024. The trend is especially alarming for young and female managers, who were the most affected, dropping by 5 and 7 percentage points, respectively. All of this occurred over the period of just one year. Manager disengagement should be viewed as an early warning sign for team disengagement. It’s difficult for an individual contributor to care deeply about their work when their manager is just going through the motions — and employee disengagement affects team performance, productivity, and employee retention. Gallup estimates the recent 2% dip in global engagement cost the world economy a staggering $438 billion. To reverse this trend, organizations must focus on re-engaging their managers, which in turn could help drive engagement among the rest of the workforce. Increase manager training Lack of role preparation may be a key reason for the burnout and disengagement managers are experiencing. In fact, the Gallup report reveals that only 44% of managers worldwide have received management training. Even those who have received training are encountering entirely new situations. At NLI, we’ve found that roughly half of the skills leaders need today are new, such as building AI fluency within their team, while the other half are just harder to practice, such as helping their team make swifter, unbiased decisions. NLI’s LEAD program was designed to help leaders develop the skills needed to navigate today’s complexities. LEAD provides the essential skills for all leaders, at all levels, using a brain-based framework that helps learners build skills to manage themselves to optimize their own performance, mobilize others to push their team towards high performance, and drive results to make better decisions under pressure and remain agile through change. Democratize coaching with AI tools The value of coaching lies in the tailored insights it leads managers to—insights that turn into meaningful action. For leaders like Maria, a coach could help her identify the root of her disengagement and reconnect with her purpose. However, coaching can become very expensive when scaled across all managers in an organization. It could cost over $1.2 million per year for 100 managers. But with dedicated leadership AI tools, every manager could receive coaching in the flow of work, effectively democratizing coaching. For example, an AI coach like NLI’s NILES costs only $30/month per manager, or $36,000 per year for 100 managers. NILES integrates into a manager’s workflow, providing real-time coaching, mentoring, feedback, and role play, all informed by a layer of research-backed “neuro-intelligence” — a specialized neuroscience-based programming that works with your brain’s natural patterns for insight, decision-making, and social interaction. For example, if Maria felt overwhelmed by shifting priorities, NILES could help her structure a team meeting to sync expectations, a foundational habit of proactive accountability, ensuring everyone is aligned and clear. Establish a feedback culture In many organizations, feedback is a top-down, once-a-year event during a performance review. For managers like Maria, the silence from senior leadership is demoralizing, leaving her to wonder if her work has an impact. This lack of connection is likely a major driver of managers’ disengagement. To remain engaged and aligned with organizational goals, managers need both positive and constructive feedback. Building a true feedback culture requires a top-down shift that reimagines how feedback is given — enabling it to spread throughout the whole organization. When senior leaders regularly model asking the managers under them for feedback, it immediately reduces the inherent status threats of feedback, creating a rewarding and constructive interaction instead. When managers ask for feedback from their direct reports, they signal that feedback isn’t so scary and should actually be sought out. Over time, the manager’s team will become feedback-seeking, too, asking their manager for feedback to get better themselves. When Maria’s boss asks, “What’s one thing I could be doing to better support you?” it not only makes Maria feel valued but also gives her a model to replicate. This simple act opens up dialogue, builds trust, and helps her feel more connected and effective, co-creating success with her team. Managers are like a canary in the coal mine for the entire company: When they’re disengaged, others soon follow. But it doesn’t have to be this way. By supporting their managers through increased science-backed training, scalable AI coaching, and a robust feedback culture, organizations can reverse this trend. With new leadership insights and tools, busy managers like Maria will rediscover their purpose, more effectively lead their teams, and leave positive impacts on the organization.
