An urgent note about middle managers
We can't ignore this
Hey team,
PwC’s latest ‘Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey’ landed recently and it confirms something I’ve seen play out for over a decade sooo we really need to chat about it.
I have seen that, for years, middle managers (anyone who sits in between SLT and non-people managers) have been quietly carrying organisations on their backs.
And now the data has finally caught up:
Yep, you read it correctly. Employees trust their direct manager far more than they trust senior leadership.
They feel safer speaking openly with them.
They believe them more.
They go to them first when things feel uncertain, confusing or unfair.
Which tells us something most businesses still don’t want to fully face:
Culture does not live in the C-suite.
It cannot be dictated from the top.
It lives in the day-to-day relationship between a middle manager and their team.
Middle managers are the translators.
They turn direction from the top into clear outcomes and priorities.
They keep teams focused when pressure spikes.
They translate strategy into day-to-day decisions.
And yet…
They are still the most undertrained and overstretched layer of the organisation.
We are asking them to carry the emotional weight of the business without giving them the skills, systems, or support to do it well.
This is exactly why Fresh Start exists.
Fresh Start is my six-week new manager boot camp, built specifically for people operating in this middle space, where pressure comes from every direction.
It’s not text-book theory.
It’s practical, grounded content that helps managers to:
– Lead without people-pleasing
– Handle difficult conversations properly
– Run 1on1s that actually build trust
– Delegate properly
– Build cultures with engaged teams that drive results and love their job
Almost 500 managers have already been through Fresh Start and the results have been incredible. Read the reviews here.
Our next cohort opens for enrolment next Tuesday, 17th Feb, with only 150 spaces available.
The waitlist is filling up verrry quickly and everyone on there gets priority access and launch day discounts.
👉 Join the Fresh Start waitlist
Investing in our middle managers is officially absolutely crucial.
Speak soon,
H
P.S. If you have 5+ managers who you want to level up together, Fresh Start is even more powerful when you enrol a group of managers.
You get faster behaviour change, shared language across the team, and far less time lost to misalignment and rework.
Book a no-pressure consultation call here to find out more and get bulk discounts.
Very interesting!
I think trust is always the result of daily communication and interaction. And that’s exactly what happens between an employee and their manager, not between an employee and the c-level.
In small teams (the kind I write about and for), where there are no management layers, the chief level is usually your direct manager with all the constant interactions that come with it. In that sense, we could assume that the overall trust coefficient in small teams is generally higher than in big orgs.