Globally Grounded: Episode 28
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In this episode, Kyra zooms in on one of the most striking — and most human — findings from Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace Report: the global manager crisis. Manager engagement has dropped more steeply than any other group over the past three years, and the people most responsible for holding teams together are running on empty. Drawing from her own experience leading a manager and leadership program, Kyra unpacks what the data is actually telling us about the seemingly impossible job managers have been handed, who is feeling it most, and why this looks different depending on where you are in the world. From Scandinavian servant leadership to Japan's Kaizen model to Germany's codetermination system, other cultures have built something different. Kyra closes with concrete things organizations can do to actually support the people holding everything together. This is Part Two of a two-part series, so, if you haven't listened to Episode 27 yet, start there!
Episode Takeaways
Managers are the single biggest factor in how your team shows up. Gallup's data is clear: managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement. Yet manager engagement has dropped more steeply than any other group over the past three years. The people most responsible for holding teams together are the ones most in need of support right now.
The manager role has expanded enormously without the authority or support to match. In the last five years, managers have been asked to navigate layoffs, hybrid work tensions, AI adoption, restructuring, and team mental health…often without formal training, shrinking resources, and growing team sizes.
Young and female managers are bearing the heaviest burden. The steepest declines in manager engagement globally are happening among managers under 35 and women. Both are navigating high-stakes leadership roles with less structural support and less organizational tenure to draw on.
Other cultures have built a different model, and it seems to be working. Scandinavian workplaces structure the manager role around protecting teams, not extracting from them. Germany gives employees formal seats at the table so managers aren't the sole bridge between leadership and staff. Japan distributes organizational health across the whole team rather than concentrating it in one person.
A disengaged manager population isn't inevitable, but it is a signal. In best-practice organizations globally, nearly 80% of managers are engaged, which is almost four times the global average. The gap between those organizations and everyone else isn't luck. It's intentional design, genuine investment, and treating manager wellbeing as a strategic priority rather than an afterthought.
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