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MCE Quarterly
First Edition 2026
Journal of the American Management Association and Management Centre Europe
EDITOR’S PICK
Employees Still Feeling Disconnected With Managers
If you are a manager, and you believe your employees understand you and the reasonings for the decisions you make, I hate to break it to you—they probably don’t.
Don’t take just my word for it. This issue’s cover story, “From Disconnect to Alignment: Employees See Engagement Differently,” highlights AMA/MCE’s research, which shows while managers believe they have been more engaged with employees and effective, employees say they are seeing either no real change or an actual decline in their leaders’ engagement. While the majority of managers surveyed saw achieving departmental goals as the most important management function, a majority of employees ranked communication first. Many of the articles in this issue address how to fill that gap in connection and improve communication between managers and employees. In “The Human Side of Management: Leading with Empathy,” Tom LeNoble talks about how bosses can become true coaches by equipping, empowering, and inspiring employees to figure out addressing change together. Filip Pesek, in “From Boss to Coach: How Modern Managers Create Space to Lead,” highlights how bosses need to become coaches. And Julie Ferris-Tillman, in “The Manager as Teacher: Start Sharing Know-How,” discusses how classroom learning techniques can show managers how to coach, not correct. These articles are a few highlights in our special management issue of AMA/MCE Quarterly that address how leaders can be better at connecting with and supporting their employees, so the whole team thrives. AMA/MCE’s mission continues to be providing the educational and leadership training that will improve not only you but your entire organization.
AMA/MCE RESEARCH :
From Disconnect to Alignment:
Employees See Engagement Differently
While nearly 6 in 10 managers reported feeling more engaged than a year ago, most employees said their managers’ engagement had stayed the same—or even declined.
The result is a revealing gap between perception and experience, one that sheds light on how our evolving workplace is redefining what it means to manage people. Page 4
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
- From Boss to Coach: How Modern Managers Create Space to Lead
The old “boss” model leaves no space for the kind of leadership that actually moves things forward. By Filip Pesek - The Human Side of Management: Leading with Empathy
Leaders who thrive today are those who equip, empower, and inspire people to figure it out together. By Tom LeNoble - The Manager as Teacher: Start Sharing Know-How
Leadership today isn’t about logging the most years. It’s about being open to learn from anyone at any stage. By Julie Ferris-Tillman - The Hidden Leverage Layer: Middle Managers
As organizations have grown more complex, middle managers have become the critical connective tissue that holds everything together. By Kendra Johnson - Burning (and Replacing) Your Management Playbook
Before you can pack the right gear, you have to ditch the dead weight. By Jimmy Burroughes - The New Manager’s Toolkit
Management is a practice. It requires intention, systems, and yes, actual tools. The good news? You don’t need to figure it all out from scratch. By Jessica Eastman Stewart - Change Agility: The New Manager’s Essential Skill Set
Managers struggle most often when trying to create stability in a chaotic environment, but the ones who succeed learn to ride the waves instead of fighting the current. By Leslie Ellis - Managing Across Generations in the Age of Digital Fatigue
To manage across divergent generational mindsets while cutting through digital noise, leaders need to design systems that respect differences, bridge gaps, and create room for every generation to thrive. By Ryan Ferrier - How Can Managers Measure Happiness at Work?
Happy teams are more stable (lower turnover), more energetic, more collaborative, more creative, more attractive (attract support and resources), more effective, and ultimately more profitable. By Nic Marks - The Manager’s New Mandate
No longer occasional change leaders, managers now operate in a state of continuous transformation where AI adoption is both a technology shift and a human challenge. By Andrea Schnepf - Why Humans Remain Indispensable in the Age of AI
Leaders owe their organizations, and the people who keep them running, an honest look at what’s being overlooked in this rush to automate. By Greg Shewmaker - Communication About AI Initiatives Matters
Downplaying AI’s impact on an organization will almost certainly undermine employee trust in leadership capability or intention, leading to lower employee engagement, performance, and retention. By Donncha Carroll
What to Explore Next
Management Centre Europe
Management Centre Europe (MCE) is the leading provider of International Management Development in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Founded in 1961, MCE is part of the American Management Association’s (AMA) Global Network. We inspire more than 1,000 organizations and over 10,000 managers and leaders through our Open Enrolment Training Programmes and our Customized Learning Solutions each year. We have been in the EMEA region for more than 58 years and our team of Learning and Development professionals can support you to achieve the impact you need at individual, team and organizational levels.