Why 79% of Your Managers Are Disengaged (The 1:1 Coaching Solution)
The Executive Dilemma of Disengagement
For executive leaders and business owners, the ultimate metric is discretionary effort,the willingness of employees to genuinely go above and beyond. We know the stakes are incredibly high. If top performers produce 400% more output than average performers, motivating that talent is the single biggest key to success.
We invest in the best people. We invest in the training. But why are we still fighting internal battles?
Here is the hard truth: Globally, only 21% of employees are truly engaged. Despite massive investment in generalized training programs, many high performers eventually plateau or even leave. Why? Because motivation is complex and easily misunderstood.
I spent years wrestling with this problem. My personal journey into leadership consulting began with one foundational question: What truly makes an employee bring their best energy and commitment every single day?
It wasn't the perks. It wasn't the paychecks alone. It was something far deeper.
We will explore the proven drivers of sustained motivation and why generalized training consistently falls short. I will share my origin story and demonstrate, through a real case study, the unparalleled power of personalized 1:1 Executive Coaching to unlock peak performance.
Mike's Origin Story – The Search for Intrinsic Drive
Effective leadership is driven by understanding what fuels human behavior. My passion for leadership consulting began not in a classroom, but in my own early experience, when I realized the massive gap between mandated performance and inspired commitment. I saw people going through the motions, driven by duty, not passion.
I realized: if we can bridge that gap, we unlock extraordinary business results.
Debunking the Myths that Kill Motivation
Like many executive leaders, I used to believe that motivation was purely extrinsic,driven only by external rewards. We believed if we paid enough or offered enough benefits, dedication would follow. This thinking is outdated, and it actively kills potential.
Make note of these common mistakes that many businesses still rely on:
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Myth 1: Money is the Best Motivator. Money only prevents dissatisfaction. That is it. The reality is that deeper psychological needs,autonomy, mastery, and purpose,have a much stronger, longer-lasting effect.
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Myth 2: Perks are Enough. Free coffee or game rooms don't replace essential human needs. They don't replace trust, career growth, or a genuine sense of purpose.
Defining the True Drivers (Intrinsic Motivation)
True, sustainable commitment is intrinsic,driven by internal satisfaction and enjoyment. We need to focus on building that internal engine, because that is where the 400% output comes from.
Motivation is built on three core pillars:
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Drive: The innate need to succeed.
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Autonomy: Control over one’s work, allowing them ownership of the process.
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Meaning: Connection to a greater purpose.
The key realization for me was this: To get an employee's best, leaders must stop offering generalized rewards and instead cultivate the specific environment that fuels these intrinsic needs. This is the only way to facilitate real change and sustained commitment.
When Group Training Isn't Enough,The Need for Individual Attention
Executive leaders invest heavily in L&D, sometimes billions globally. But often, generalized group programs simply cannot penetrate the unique behavioral obstacles of individual managers.
The Generic Failure
We need to look critically at the "one-size-fits-all" methodology. Motivation and engagement fade quickly when they are addressed this way.
Generic courses provide abstract theory. They are good for introduction, but they fail to help the individual manager apply these concepts within the specific context of their role and team. Make note: This is where the ROI vanishes.
The Personal Barrier to Performance
Low motivation in employees is often a symptom, not laziness. The core issues are highly specific to the individual and often rooted in deep psychological needs.
These issues might include:
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Feeling unsafe to speak up or take risks.
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A persistent lack of clarity regarding expectations.
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Unintentional micromanagement from their own supervisor.
The Managerial Imperative
Here is why this personalization matters to you, the executive leader: Managers alone drive 70% of the variance in team engagement.
Therefore, training managers successfully require personalized attention and coaching that addresses their specific weaknesses, not just a universal curriculum. If a manager struggles with delegation, a group session on budgeting won't solve it.
To truly motivate staff in the long term, leaders must discover what motivates each employee individually. This hyper-specific understanding of Purpose, Autonomy, and Mastery is the gap group training cannot fill. You cannot afford to manage generically when the output difference is so profound.
The Unparalleled Power of 1:1 Coaching
One-on-one coaching is the premium solution designed to address specific needs, overcome toxic behaviors, and tailor development plans for maximum individual impact. This is the necessary step when generic programs stop delivering ROI.
The Manager as the Engagement Coach
Great leadership today requires great management, and great managers must be effective coaches. They must be able to hold frequent, meaningful conversations with their teams. Coaching equips the executive leader to understand those core psychological needs we discussed earlier.
You are moving from being a task master to an Engagement Coach.
Tailoring Growth for Peak Performance
Coaching ensures development is tailored specifically to the high performer’s ambition and skill gap, actively preventing demotivation. We are moving past general theories and targeting the specific behaviors holding that individual back.
Make note of how effective coaching shifts the focus:
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Coaching focuses on empowering managers by delegating problems, not tasks. This provides the challenge, development, and autonomy they crave.
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It enables managers to utilize their individual strengths every day. Focusing on strengths is a powerful driver of sustained engagement.
High performers need real, useful feedback,not bland generalities. This feedback must be well-thought-out, specific, and actionable. Coaching teaches leaders exactly how to deliver this consistent, high-impact feedback.
Building Psychological Safety
Coaching provides a confidential setting,a safe space,to address complex issues. Often, managers are struggling with deeply ingrained habits, like micromanagement tendencies, which systematically undermine psychological safety on their teams.
Psychological safety is the absolute foundation for all motivation, creativity, and necessary risk-taking. You need a personalized approach to fix these root causes, ensuring the real change you want actually sticks.
Real Case Study – Transforming a Struggling Manager (The ROI)
Theoretical knowledge is cheap. Personalized transformation is where you see the return on investment. I want to share a real case study,a high-stakes example that demonstrates the necessity of targeted 1:1 Executive Coaching intervention.
The Challenge
Let me introduce "Sarah." She was a high-potential manager in a technology firm. She was smart, driven, and technically capable. Yet, she was struggling deeply with Reliability and consistent Communication.
Sarah was completing tasks, but her efforts were driven by duty, not passion. She lacked confidence and was burning out, failing to lead her team effectively. Her productivity was high, but her engagement was low.
Analysis: Sarah’s immediate supervisor mistakenly thought more money or a tighter deadline would be the solution. In reality, she lacked Autonomy and felt unsafe giving honest progress updates when things went wrong. Her problem wasn't a lack of skill; it was a psychological barrier preventing her from giving her best.
The Coaching Intervention
Through 1:1 Executive Coaching, the focus immediately shifted. We moved away from judging Sarah's lack of execution and focused entirely on her core psychological needs.
Coaching provided a safe space for her to be vulnerable, ask for help, and truly identify her strengths. This dedicated attention helped her build vital Self-Awareness,she began to see the patterns that held her back.
The coach worked with her to define clear expectations and, crucially, helped her supervisor delegate problems, not tasks. This instantly boosted her sense of Autonomy and ownership. Make note: We gave her the reins to figure out the how, not just the what.
The Results
Sarah transformed into an engaged employee. She began to demonstrate traits like dedication and sustained confidence, which were immediately visible in her team. This led directly to improvement in team performance and higher productivity.
This case illustrates the critical return on investment. When leadership development is personalized and targeted at the root cause, it delivers real change,the discretionary effort that generalized training simply cannot touch.
Conclusion: Investing in Personalized Excellence
The ultimate goal for executive leaders is not just to manage tasks, but to cultivate an environment where employees are driven, capable, and committed to success. We know now that generalized programs,the one-size-fits-all approach,simply cannot deliver this personalized transformation.
The high-stakes game of retaining talent and achieving exponential output requires targeted action.
To finally and fully answer the question, "What makes an employee give their best?",it is the consistent, personalized assurance that their work is meaningful, their voice is valued, and their growth is a priority. This assurance is delivered by a highly engaged and individually coached manager.
If your current programs are struggling with plateaued performance or failing to retain your best talent, it’s time to shift your investment. Move from generalized training to premium, individualized 1:1 coaching that focuses on the core drivers of motivation: Purpose, Autonomy, and Mastery.
Remember this: Leadership is daily, not dramatic. Small changes in behavior, enabled by personalized coaching, create massive real change in your overall business performance.
Stop managing symptoms of disengagement. Schedule a confidential consultation today to explore a premium coaching roadmap designed to unlock the full potential of your leadership team and drive measurable business results.
To your continued growth,
Mike Williams Senior Partner,
