The Quiet Crisis in Middle Management (And Why It Deserves Urgency)

Middle managers are the organisational glue we keep forgetting to reinforce.  They lead teams, translate strategy, manage projects, soothe clients, mediate tension, uphold culture, and respond to both executive pressure and frontline frustration; often within the same day, sometimes within the same meeting.

They are not just conduits.  They are shock absorbers.  And they are breaking.

Data Doesn’t Lie: Middle Managers Are in Trouble

McKinsey’s 2023 “State of Organisations” report found that middle managers experience the highest rates of burnout across the organisational hierarchy.  Higher than executives. Higher than entry-level. Why?

Because their role is complex, ambiguous, and thankless:

• 72% say they feel caught between conflicting demands from leadership and teams

• 59% report a lack of role clarity, making prioritisation nearly impossible

• Fewer than 1 in 5 feel they receive sufficient support or training to lead effectively

In advertising, marketing, and creative industries, where deadlines are tight, feedback loops are brutal, and client demands shift by the hour, the pressure compounds.

Burnout Isn’t the Only Risk, Culture Decay Is

When middle managers break down, organisations fray from the inside out.  Here’s what gets lost:

• Psychological safety, because team leads are too exhausted to model it

• Strategic alignment, because translation gets muddled under pressure

• Talent retention, because high-potential staff don’t see clear role models worth following.

According to Gallup, 70% of team engagement is directly tied to the manager.  That means the middle layer doesn’t just matter, it determines whether teams thrive or flee.

We’ve Asked Them to Be Superheroes Without a Manual

Truthfully, we’ve treated middle managers like utilities, not leaders.  We expect them to be:

• The cultural torchbearers

• The communication translators

• The informal coaches

• The performance gatekeepers

• The safety net

And yet we rarely invest in their development, rarely coach them for complexity, and rarely listen to the reality of what their job has become.  

This isn’t a pipeline problem. It’s a leadership problem and an empathy gap.

The Middle Needs More Than a Pat on the Back

At True North, we believe middle managers are your most untapped lever for sustainable success.  We help organisations shift from burnout to balance through:

• Leadership coaching focused on self-awareness, influence, and capacity building

• Clearer scopes and expectations grounded in reality, not fantasy

• Peer learning communities where managers share, reflect, and recharge

• Practical frameworks to manage up, coach down, and navigate sideways

When you build capacity in the middle, everything strengthens, from culture to performance to retention.

It’s Time to Get Real

• If your managers are stretched too thin, your strategy won’t land.

• If your middle lacks meaning or support, your top talent will leave.

• If you don’t invest in the middle now, your future won’t have one.

This isn’t optional.  It’s foundational.  

Support your middle managers like the future of your organisation depends on it, because it does.