As 2026 unfolds, organizations are pouring money and energy into accelerating AI adoption and driving efficiency. AI strategy and execution are great, but if organizational performance is breaking down, your strategy needs a new focus. As I share in this short video, it’s breaking down because of what’s happening in the middle of the organization.
Managers need to be engaged, too
Most senior leaders are still looking at engagement from the employee level. That’s a mistake. The real pressure point sits in the middle.
Middle managers today are caught in a squeeze. They’re responsible for driving performance from below while absorbing pressure from above. They’re expected to coach, develop, engage, and deliver results—often without the training, clarity, or support to do any of it well.
That responsibility falls on senior leaders because when frontline managers are not cared for and developed, the result is predictable: they disengage. They get overwhelmed. And many are quietly burning out.
When that happens, everything downstream breaks. You’ll see team morale, retention, and performance suffer.
According to a recent Gallup report, managers are reporting higher levels of burnout than the people they lead. And burnout doesn’t stay contained. It spreads.
What Burnout Looks Like on the Ground
When managers are burned out, their teams follow.
Expand to continue reading ↓
Source:
www.inc.com
