Every Strong Team Has One Thing in Common
Leaders often tell us they want employees who take initiative, care about the quality and the impact of their work and get more done. Every strong team with those results has one thing in common: a manager who is equipped and confident to lead it.
You can’t expect those behaviors from a team that reports to a manager who is worn down, unsure of themselves, or just getting by. The team feels it. The best action you can take is to focus on the manager.
What the research says
Gallup has studied this for more than a decade. Its State of the American Manager research found that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement. In plain terms, the biggest factor in whether a team takes initiative, focuses on quality and stays productive is the person leading it.
The newest data shows why that matters right now. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2026 report found:
- Falling manager engagement accounts for most of the recent drop in employee engagement worldwide.
- Global manager engagement fell from 27% to 22% in a single year, and it’s down nine points since 2022.
- Managers used to be more engaged than the people they lead. Now, Gallup says, they are “increasingly only as engaged as those they lead.”
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Development is how you engage your managers
Think about how most people in ag become managers. They were the best at the job: the operator who knew every process and piece of equipment, the agronomist growers trusted, the top salesperson. Then one day they’re responsible for a team, and nobody showed them how to lead one.
Gallup puts it bluntly: “few managers have natural management talent, and many have not received the training they need.” That gap wears people down. A manager who isn’t sure how to handle a tough conversation, set expectations or coach someone who’s struggling doesn’t feel confident.
And a lack of confidence shows up in the day-to-day. Tough conversations get put off, so small problems turn into big ones. Expectations stay fuzzy, so people guess at what good looks like. Managers jump in and do the work themselves because it feels faster than coaching someone through it. Over time, they spend their energy second-guessing decisions instead of leading, and their team picks up on it. Initiative slows, quality slips, and good people start to wonder if there’s a better place to work.
The impact doesn’t stop with the team. Managers who feel worn down, stretched thin and unsure of themselves are also more likely to leave. And turnover at the manager level has a compounding effect. The team loses its leader, someone new must learn the role, and the uncertainty can push more people out the door. One manager leaving can ripple through every person who reported to them.
Development closes that gap. When managers learn the skills to be successful in their role, things change:
- They feel more confident. They know what to do in situations that used to keep them up at night.
- They lead instead of firefight. They don’t get pulled into day-to-day issues. They focus on the work with the biggest impact, with a team that’s equipped, empowered and engaged to handle the rest.
- They feel invested in. Being chosen for development tells a manager the business sees a future for them.
An engaged manager brings that energy back to the team. That’s how engagement spreads through an operation: one leader at a time.
Questions to ask yourself
If your list of priorities includes lowering turnover, increasing productivity, reducing costly mistakes and having fewer problems land on your desk, look one level up from the frontline.
Ask yourself:
- Are our managers energized by their role, or are they stretched thin and just getting through the week?
- Are they having tough conversations they need to have and holding people accountable?
- Are they leading their teams, or getting pulled into day-to-day issues?
- What have we invested in our managers’ growth in the past two years?
Every strong team has one thing in common. Make sure your managers have what they need to be it.
Sources
- Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, pp. 7–9.
- Gallup, Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement (April 2015), drawn from State of the American Manager.
- Gallup, State of the American Manager (2015).