When companies launched hybrid working models, much of the attention went to two ends of the organisational spectrum.
C-suite leaders were busy setting the tone, writing policies and broadcasting trust-based messages. Employees were excited, cautiously optimistic and vocal about their preferences. In between sat a critical group—managers—quietly expected to make it all work.
And this is where things have started to unravel.
Because the reality is: hybrid models don’t live or die at the top. They succeed or fail in the messy, everyday middle. That means team routines, collaboration patterns, informal norms, and performance feedback. In other words, the manager’s domain.
If your hybrid model is flailing, don’t start with your policy. Start by asking: how equipped, aligned and empowered are your managers?
Chances are, the answer is: not very.
Let’s explore why middle managers are the make-or-break link in hybrid working—and what needs to shift to help them thrive in this new era.
1. Managers are caught between conflicting signals
Many organisations have declared bold visions around flexibility and autonomy. But those messages are rarely matched by clear guidance or consistent behaviour from senior leaders.
Managers, in turn, are left to navigate mixed messages. They’re told to foster performance and cohesion—but also support flexibility. They’re encouraged to trust employees—but still meet targets and manage visibility. They’re expected to champion the culture—but often have little support in redefining what that culture now looks like.
So they default to what they know.
For many, that means leaning back into presenteeism, over-scheduling meetings, and rewarding those who are more visible rather than more effective.
It’s not a failure of intention. It’s a failure of system design.
2. Most managers were never trained for this model
Let’s be honest. Very few managers were trained to lead hybrid teams.
Traditional leadership training focused on in-person visibility, annual reviews, and static team structures. Now they’re expected to lead dispersed teams, run inclusive hybrid meetings, navigate wellbeing challenges and foster psychological safety—while still hitting KPIs.
It’s like asking someone to switch from driving a car to flying a plane without changing the controls.
What’s worse is that the support many managers get is superficial—think a webinar or a toolkit link buried in the intranet.
But hybrid leadership is not an information issue. It’s a capability issue. And capability takes time, attention and reinforcement to build.
3. Managers shape the lived reality of hybrid
Your hybrid policy might be brilliant. Your office might be beautifully designed. Your tech stack might be cutting-edge.
But none of that matters if managers don’t create the conditions for hybrid to succeed day-to-day.
Managers decide:
- How often the team meets in person
- Whether remote workers feel equally heard
- How flexible someone can truly be
- If outputs matter more than hours
- Whether feedback loops are frequent or rare
- What behaviours are rewarded
In short, managers are the hybrid experience. And yet they’re often the least engaged in its design and execution.
4. Performance management hasn’t caught up
One of the biggest stress points for hybrid managers is performance measurement.
Without the day-to-day visibility of in-office interactions, many struggle to assess contribution, engagement and potential. So they rely on proxies—speed of response, calendar visibility, virtual presence—which are often misleading and biased.
The absence of updated frameworks leaves managers unsure how to have meaningful check-ins, give developmental feedback, or track team effectiveness in a hybrid rhythm.
And when performance management falters, trust erodes. Promotions become inconsistent. Recognition becomes skewed. And the very equity hybrid promised begins to fracture.
5. Managers are burnt out and overlooked
Let’s not forget: managers themselves are often overextended.
They’re managing upwards, downwards and across. They’re dealing with attrition, morale, shifting business priorities and constant change. And now they’re being told to reinvent how work happens—without the power or time to do it properly.
It’s no surprise that middle managers are reporting higher levels of burnout than any other employee group in hybrid environments. They’re sandwiched between responsibility and lack of control.
And when managers are exhausted, everyone feels it.
So what do great organisations do differently?
Forward-thinking companies are starting to invest seriously in their managerial layer. Here’s what that looks like:
1. Reframe the manager’s role
Stop treating managers as policy enforcers and start recognising them as culture builders. In hybrid models, managers are the primary experience designers for teams. They need to be empowered and trusted as such.
2. Provide real, ongoing training
Not a one-off course. Not a PDF. Ongoing, cohort-based learning that builds confidence in leading hybrid teams, managing outcomes, and having human conversations. Make it experiential, not instructional.
3. Clarify expectations and guardrails
Give managers permission to shape how their teams operate—within a clear set of hybrid principles. Provide templates for team charters, examples of good hybrid rhythms and access to coaching support.
4. Align leadership modelling
Make sure senior leaders are walking the talk. If the top team is contradicting hybrid norms, no manager will feel safe enforcing them. Leadership alignment is the bedrock.
5. Redesign performance frameworks
Move away from input-based metrics (time online, meetings attended) and build frameworks that reward value created, trust built and collaboration achieved.
6. Recognise and reward good hybrid management
Shine a light on great managers. Celebrate those who build inclusive, effective hybrid teams. Make hybrid competence part of the leadership pipeline—not just a side skill.
Final thoughts
We talk a lot about reimagining work. But if we don’t reimagine the role of managers, everything else risks falling apart.
Middle managers are not the problem. They are the missing link. And unless we treat them as central players in the hybrid transformation, we will continue to see good ideas fall flat in practice.
Fix the middle and you’ll unlock the model.
