Overview: Managers are spending more time making decisions, navigating uncertainty, and working with AI, but employees do not always experience that as engagement. This report explores why that gap persists, what is changing in management work, and what organizations can do to make manager effectiveness more visible.
The Work Managers Do Is Changing
A lot of management work now happens behind the scenes.
Managers are spending more time thinking through decisions, weighing trade-offs, solving problems, and reviewing AI-assisted work. Employees, on the other hand, tend to judge manager engagement by what they can see and experience directly, including communication, coaching, feedback, and clear direction.
That difference helps explain why managers may feel highly engaged while employees do not always experience them that way.
The Engagement Gap Persists
Managers and employees continue to see manager engagement differently.
62%
of managers said their engagement increased in the past 12 months.
51%
of employees said their managers’ engagement stayed the same.
20%
of employees said their managers’ engagement decreased.
Why the Gap Persists
The research suggests that managers and employees often define engagement differently.
Employees are more likely to see an engaged manager as someone who communicates openly, provides clear direction, listens to concerns, and supports development.
Managers may see engagement differently. They are often focused on commitment, problem solving, decision making, and taking on additional responsibility. That work matters, but much of it is less visible.
AI Is Changing Management, Not Replacing It
AI is becoming a bigger part of management work, but it is not removing the need for judgment.
Managers are using AI to automate routine work, support decisions, and handle information more efficiently. At the same time, they still need to interpret what they are seeing, weigh risks, make choices, and explain those choices to others.
41%
AI is changing productivity expectations
of managers said using AI has increased their expectations for the volume of work employees should be able to complete in a given amount of time.
AI may speed up parts of the work, but it does not remove the thinking behind it.
What Organizations Can Do
The report highlights five actions organizations can take to close the gap between what managers are doing and what employees experience.
1. Redefine manager success beyond visible activity
Recognize the thinking, judgment, and decision making that may not be immediately visible to employees.
2. Teach managers to explain decisions, not just state them
Help employees understand the priorities, considerations, and reasoning behind decisions.
3. Strengthen critical thinking alongside AI use
Support managers in using AI as an input to good judgment rather than a replacement for it.
4. Measure coaching and decision quality
Look beyond activity alone when evaluating effective management.
5. Help employees understand the invisible work of management
Make the less visible demands of management easier for employees to recognize.
What This Means at Work
If management work is becoming less visible, communication becomes even more important.
Managers need to make more of their thinking visible by explaining priorities, providing context, and helping employees understand how decisions are made. Organizations also need to recognize that effective management is not only about visible activity. It is also about judgment, decision making, and supporting people through complexity.
Read the Full Research
Download The New Management Reality: AI, Engagement, and the Invisible Work of Managers for the full findings and recommendations.
© Canadian Management Centre. All rights reserved.
