Leadership:
Who sees the person who is expected to see everyone else?
A manager’s and leader’s role is to see and hear their people – and to create the conditions that enable them to do their best work.
For people to know what is expected of them.
To feel that their work matters and that they contribute to something bigger.
To feel that there is room to share ideas, opinions and challenges.
A good leader is there when needed – while also trusting people’s ability to think for themselves, find solutions and take responsibility within clear boundaries, mandates and shared goals.
But who is there for the leader?
Who sees and hears the person who is expected to see and hear everyone else?
Who gives the leader feedback, challenges their thinking, listens to their ideas and provides a safe space for the difficult conversations too?
We expect a great deal from leaders.
They are expected to be clear and empathetic. Courageous and attentive. Goal-oriented and inspiring. They are expected to make decisions, manage conflict, deliver results, develop people and, at the same time, carry the organisation’s culture and direction.
And yet, a leader is also a human being.
Someone who sometimes doubts, gets tired, feels worried, needs to think out loud or simply does not have the answer yet.
Not every conversation belongs with the team – and not everything is easy to discuss with one’s own manager, leadership team or board either.
That is why we need to ask an important question:
What conditions are we creating for our leaders to succeed in their roles?
Gallup’s research shows that managers have an enormous impact on team engagement: around 70% of the variation in engagement between teams can be attributed to the manager. At the same time, only 22% of managers globally were themselves engaged at work in 2025.
That should make us stop and think. Who takes care of the person whose role is to take care of everyone else?
Does the organisation have a shared foundation for how we want to lead?
Do leaders have continuous opportunities to develop – not only their professional expertise, but also their skills in communication, relationships, feedback and difficult conversations?
Do they have space for reflection, coaching and support – even when nothing has actually “gone wrong”?
We do not only need to develop our employees. We also need to support and develop the people whose role is to create the conditions for everyone else to succeed.
At Positive Solutions, we support organisations, managers and leaders through leadership development, coaching leadership, team coaching and individual coaching.
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Curious about what this could look like in your organisation?
Get in touch – and let’s start with a conversation.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (2025 data).
