Organizations can launch many initiatives to boost engagement, but it’s important not to overlook perhaps the most immediate factor: the role of the manager.
A Gallup study estimates that 70% of the variation in employee engagement can be attributed to the immediate manager. This means that when comparing engagement across teams or departments, roughly 70% of the differences (for example, why one group is more engaged than another) can be linked to who the manager is and how they lead. The immediate manager, therefore, plays an enormously important role in driving engagement.
Managers as a Reason for Job Changes
Just as a manager can drive engagement, they can also drain it. Research from the Danish labor market shows that dissatisfaction with the immediate manager ranks among the top reasons employees leave their jobs. Poor management can lead to declining engagement, which eventually results in turnover.
How Managers Can Boost Employee Engagement
How can managers actively foster engagement? Some of the leadership skills and practices most consistently linked to higher engagement include:
- Creating meaning and purpose – Employees engage when their work feels meaningful and connected to a clear mission.
- Focus on development and coaching – Managers who actively support learning, career growth, and skill development enhance engagement.
- Demonstrating their own engagement – Managers with an engaged, transformational leadership style boost both individual engagement and team performance.
- Involving employees in decisions & providing autonomy – Managers who give employees influence over their own work increase motivation and engagement.
- Building trust in manager-employee relationships – Managers who foster strong, high-quality relationships support engagement.
- Recognition and feedback – Managers who provide recognition and meaningful feedback enhance employees’ sense of value and engagement.
- Promoting psychological safety – Managers who actively create psychological safety encourage creativity and engagement.
Leadership Feedback: A Tool for the Practice Field
Changing the way people are managed may be one of the easiest ways to boost engagement within an organization. Leadership that drives engagement is essential – but it’s also challenging. It requires focus and plenty of practice.
Structured leadership feedback can serve as one tool for the practice field. It provides employees with an opportunity to give feedback to their manager, while giving managers a mirror to see how their leadership is perceived. For some managers, receiving feedback can be a challenging experience. They may have previously experienced feedback as a showcase, encountered unconstructive or unfiltered criticism, or felt it was a popularity contest.
Used positively and constructively, however, structured leadership feedback can strengthen managers’ development and enhance engagement for both employees and managers alike.
Creating a Safe Environment for Leadership Feedback
If you want to collect leadership feedback, it’s important to create a sense of safety for managers regarding the purpose, process, and outcomes.
- Focus on purpose: Clearly communicate to both those giving feedback and those receiving it what the purpose is. For example, the purpose may be to strengthen leadership skills.
- Clear process and early involvement: Involve managers early in the process to give them ownership. Outline clearly when each step will take place and how insights from the feedback will be used and communicated.
- Keep feedback factual and constructive: Prepare employees to provide feedback that is objective and constructive, with the intended purpose in mind.
- Highlight strengths as well: Emphasize that feedback is not only about identifying weaknesses but also recognizing and leveraging strengths that can be further developed.
- Train in receiving feedback: Provide managers with training on how to receive feedback constructively. This helps manage any feelings of vulnerability and promotes a more productive dialogue.
HR insights
“We experience that the immediate manager plays a crucial role in employee wellbeing and engagement. A good manager at OK sees the individual, is present, and shows genuine interest in what drives the employee. At the same time, the manager manages to set direction, create meaning, and establish the right expectations and framework, where both wellbeing and performance can flourish.”
Stina Bonde, SVP, HR, ESG & Kommunikation, OK
“Wellbeing and engagement are a shared responsibility; no one carries it alone. The manager plays a key role in creating the conditions for development, learning, and community. Through their leadership, they set the tone and help employees feel valued and engaged.”
Louise Bonde, Head of HR, Bucherer
“Managers are the key to fostering both wellbeing and performance in our organization. This year, we’ve invested heavily in improving managers’ wellbeing. Managers are ‘super-spreaders’; if they lack energy, it affects the entire team.”
Steen Demskov, HR-Director, Carl Ras Gruppen
“The manager primarily acts as a trust broker and competence coach, granting our GIMsters (our employees) the autonomy necessary to utilize their strengths and dedicating specific time for continuous self-development. They are responsible for fostering a safe, psychologically supportive environment for open communication where team members feel genuinely valued as individuals.”
Isabella Oksama, Head of People, GIM Robotics
“At Amero, the immediate manager is the most important bearer of culture. This is where engagement translates strategy into everyday practice through close dialogue, trust, and curiosity. The manager is both coach and compass – able to see both the person and the goal.”
Sebastian Kastrup, HR Director, Amero
Collect leadership feedback with GAIS Surveys
The GAIS platform can be used for leadership feedback. A targeted leadership survey allows you to explore the aspects of leadership that drive employee engagement.
You can, of course, also create your own questions.
