Executive summary
Strategy is set at the top and delivered by middle managers. They carry every transformation, cost program and AI rollout, and they have never been more stretched. Senior leaders get more from every strategy when they give middle managers three things: clarity, authority and capacity.
- U.S. managers averaged 12.1 direct reports in 2025, up from 10.9 a year earlier.1
- 97% of managers have individual contributor responsibilities, and the median manager spends 40% of their time on individual contributor work.1
- Manager engagement has fallen nine points since 2022, and low engagement cost the world economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity last year.2
Senior leaders who get the most from their managers make three moves:
- Clarity: they give managers ranked priorities and brief them before their teams.
- Authority: they define what managers can decide and give them a route to resolve cross-functional blocks.
- Capacity: they cap individual contributor work and train managers first on new tools.
Strategy runs through the middle
Many strategies are clear in the boardroom and fuzzy two levels down. Executives can explain the strategy. Managers can describe the projects. Few can connect the two. 31% of the senior leaders Emergn surveyed said leaders didn't explain the goals of recent initiatives well, up from 25% the year before.3
That gap matters because managers make hundreds of small decisions each week about what their teams work on. If they don't know what matters most, they guess.
Managers also carry the human side of change. They hear the worries first, coach people through new tools and absorb the frustration when a decision above them stalls. 80% of Canadian CEOs say AI success depends more on employee adoption than on the technology,4 and adoption happens team by team, manager by manager.
Managers have more people, more of their own work and more change
Gallup's analysis of U.S. teams found spans of control rising to 12.1 direct reports in 2025.1 Many organizations have removed management layers to cut costs, so the managers who remain cover more people and more ground.
They are also doing the work. Nearly all managers carry individual contributor responsibilities, and the median manager spends 40% of their time on them.1 So the job is a full workload of your own, a bigger team, a steady stream of change from above, and AI tools your team expects you to understand first.
The middle breaks down in six places
Two breakdowns are about clarity, two about authority and two about capacity.
01. Managers don't know the ranked priorities. They receive a long list of initiatives with no order, so they spread their teams across all of it.
02. Managers are the last to hear. Changes are announced to all staff and managers at the same time, so managers can't answer their teams' questions on day one.
03. They have responsibility without authority. Managers are accountable for results that depend on other teams, budgets and approvals they don't control. In a Harvard Business Review study of 7,600 managers, only 9% said they could rely on colleagues in other functions all of the time.5
04. Decisions above them stall. Their teams finish the work and wait. Managers keep people motivated through delays they didn't cause and can't explain.
05. There is no time to lead. With 40% of their time on individual work, the coaching, one-on-ones and problem solving that make a team effective get squeezed out.
06. They are learning AI alongside their teams. Managers are expected to lead adoption of tools they have had no more training on than anyone else.
Three moves let managers lead
Clarity. Give managers the priorities in ranked order, so they know what wins when there is a conflict. Brief them before their teams so they can lead the conversation. This fixes breakdowns 01 and 02.
Authority. Define what managers can decide on their own, what needs input and what needs escalation. Give them a named route and a time limit for resolving cross-functional blocks, so a stalled dependency doesn't sit on their desk. This fixes 03 and 04.
Capacity. Take individual contributor work off managers' plates so they have time to manage, and train them on new tools before their teams so they can coach. This fixes 05 and 06.
The managers who deliver in this environment lead through influence as much as position. In The Trust Advantage, I call this relatable authority: leading with credibility and connection, so people choose to commit even when you have no formal power over them. The three moves create the conditions for it.
The middle manager readiness test
Six questions, one for each breakdown.
- Can your managers name the organization's top three priorities, in order?
- Do managers hear about major changes before their teams do?
- Do managers know what they can decide without escalating?
- When a manager's work is blocked by another function, how long does it take to resolve?
- How much of your managers' time goes to individual contributor work?
- Were managers trained on your AI tools before their teams?
What organizations with strong middle managers do in practice
1. They cascade a ranked list. Every manager gets the same short, ordered list of priorities, with the trade-off rule spelled out.
2. They run a manager pre-brief. Managers hear about changes first, with the reasons and the answers to likely questions.
3. They publish manager decision rights. A one-page guide shows what managers own, what needs input and what needs escalation.
4. They set an escalation clock. Cross-functional blocks go to a named senior leader with a time limit for resolution.
5. They cap individual work. Leaders set a limit on how much individual contributor work a manager carries, and protect time for one-on-ones and coaching.
6. They train managers first. Managers get early access and training on new tools, so they coach their teams instead of catching up.
Bring The Trust Advantage to your event
The Trust Advantage is my keynote on getting teams moving and results delivered. It shows leaders how to align teams around clear priorities, influence across functions without relying on title, clarify decision ownership and turn passive delivery into active ownership. It is especially useful for managers and functional heads who carry work across boundaries.
I deliver it as a 45- to 90-minute keynote, in person or virtual, tailored to your organization and audience, with a custom tip sheet your attendees can use right away. It suits leadership conferences, management meetings and kickoffs.
Conclusion: invest in the middle
Executives set direction. Managers decide whether it happens. Organizations that give their managers clarity, authority and capacity get more from every strategy, change program and AI tool they launch.
With spans widening and manager engagement falling, the middle is where strategy will succeed or stall this year. It deserves the same attention as the strategy itself.
Read next: Decide Faster
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a middle manager?
A middle manager leads a team or other managers and reports to senior leaders. Executives set direction, and middle managers turn it into the priorities and daily work that decide whether it happens.
Why are middle managers so stretched?
Spans of control are widening, with U.S. managers averaging 12.1 direct reports in 2025, and 97% of managers also have individual contributor responsibilities. On top of that, managers carry most of the change and AI adoption in their teams.
What is span of control?
Span of control is the number of people who report directly to a manager. Gallup found the U.S. average rose from 10.9 in 2024 to 12.1 in 2025, as organizations removed management layers.
How can senior leaders support middle managers?
Give them ranked priorities and brief them before their teams, define what decisions they own and give them a fast route to resolve cross-functional blocks, cap their individual contributor work and train them first on new tools.
What is relatable authority?
Relatable authority is Suzanne Knight's term for leading with credibility and connection instead of position, so people choose to commit even when you have no formal authority over them. It matters most in cross-functional, matrixed work.
Why do middle managers matter for AI adoption?
Adoption happens team by team, and managers set the pace. If they understand the tools and the reasons, they coach their teams. If they are learning at the same time as everyone else, adoption slows.
Who is this keynote for?
Managers, functional heads and senior leaders in organizations working on execution, accountability and change. It suits leadership conferences, management meetings and kickoffs, and each talk is tailored.
About Suzanne Knight
Suzanne Knight, MBA, MA, is a keynote speaker and the CEO of mBolden, a Toronto-based management consulting firm (mbolden.co). She has led transformation in the Ontario government, at Deloitte for nearly eight years, as Director of Organizational Effectiveness at Philip Morris International in Canada, and as VP, Transformation Services at Walmart Canada.
She has advised more than 80 organizations in 14 countries, including Fortune 500 companies and governments, and has spoken on more than 65 stages in 18 months. Her TEDx talk is The myth of doing it all. Her keynotes are The Next Big Thing, Never Waste a Good Crisis, The Trust Advantage and Create More Time.
Sources and references
- Gallup. (2026, January 13). Span of Control: What's the Optimal Team Size for Managers? Source ↗
- Gallup. (2026). State of the Global Workplace 2026. Source ↗
- Emergn. (2025). The Global Intelligent Delusion (senior leaders at 751 organizations). Reported by Consultancy.uk. Source ↗
- IBM Canada. (2026, June 22). Can Canadian organizations deliver in the next era of business AI? Source ↗
- Sull, D., Homkes, R., & Sull, C. (2015). Why Strategy Execution Unravels and What to Do About It. Harvard Business Review. Source ↗