Consider these data points, all from 2025:
Gallup found that manager engagement has dropped to 27%—the lowest of any leadership level. DDI's global research showed that 71% of leaders are under increased stress, with 40% actively considering leaving their roles. The average span of control per manager has grown 50% since 2013, rising to 12.1 direct reports per manager. Yet 44% of managers never received formal training in how to actually manage people. And 77% of chief HR officers lack confidence in their bench strength of middle managers.
This is a crisis, and it's largely invisible because middle managers are the ones holding the system together. They're absorbing the stress so that senior leaders can focus on strategy and boards can see stable results. But they're burning out. They're not being developed. And they're increasingly disconnected from what their teams actually need.
This matters at the best of times. In the midst of significant change—like AI transformation—it matters enormously. Middle managers are the translators of strategy into practice. They're the holders of psychological safety on their teams. They're the people who decide whether AI adoption succeeds or fails.
Why Middle Managers Are Carrying the Load
Three structural issues are colliding:
First, the compression of layers. Most organisations have flattened in the past decade. This creates efficiency at the senior level but doesn't reduce the amount of work that needs to be managed. It just concentrates it at the middle. The complexity is higher. The decision-making load is greater.
Second, the expectation that managers do their own work plus manage. The ideal is that a manager spends the majority of their time developing their team, making decisions, and setting direction. The reality is that managers are expected to contribute individual output whilst also managing a team. This dual role leaves little time for the development and connection that actually drives team performance.
Third, the lack of clear support and development. Many managers are promoted because they were good at their previous role. They're rarely trained in how to manage people, how to have difficult conversations, how to develop their teams, or how to make decisions in ambiguous environments.
Into this already stressed environment, add AI transformation. Now managers are also responsible for helping their teams understand AI, supporting experimentation, creating psychological safety around new tools, and making decisions involving AI systems they themselves don't fully understand. It's too much.
What Needs to Change
First, audit and, where possible, reduce span of control. Ask honestly: how many people can one manager actually develop well? The research suggests it's somewhere between 6–8. If your managers are supervising 12–15 people, they're not managing—they're firefighting.
Second, ask your managers what they actually need. Don't assume you know. Create an anonymous survey or, better, run listening sessions. What support would actually help you do your job better? What's keeping you up at night? Where do you feel under-equipped?
Third, make manager development a genuine priority. This doesn't mean once-annual training. It means protected development time—even two hours per month compounds into significant capability development over a year. It means coaching available to managers who want it. It means peer learning groups where managers can discuss real challenges and learn from each other.
For AI transformation specifically, managers need development in three areas: understanding how AI works and where it adds value; facilitating learning and adaptation in their teams; and maintaining psychological safety and connection whilst managing significant change.
The Business Case
Your frontline teams' experience of the organisation is almost entirely shaped by their manager. When managers are engaged, connected, and well-supported, teams have higher engagement, lower turnover, better customer outcomes, and higher performance. When managers are burnt out and unsupported, everything suffers.
The investment in middle manager development isn't an HR nice-to-have. It's a business critical priority.
Try This
Audit your middle managers' span of control. Are they genuinely able to manage, develop, and connect with their teams? If spans are above 10–12 people, you have a problem.
Ask your managers what they actually need to do their jobs better. Run an anonymous survey or, better, listening sessions. Use the answers to shape your support and development strategy.
Ring-fence protected development time for managers: two hours per month minimum for learning, peer discussion, and reflection. Over a year, this compounds significantly.
References
DDI (2025) Global Leadership Forecast 2025. Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International.
Gallup (2025) State of the Global Workplace Report. Washington, DC: Gallup Press.
WorldatWork (2025) Span of Control and Organisational Design Survey. Scottsdale, AZ: WorldatWork.
Zenger, J.H. and Folkman, J. (2014) The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders. 2nd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.