Pssst… Your Best Managers Aren’t Burning Out Because They Can’t Handle the Job
How to Release Trapped Organizational Capacity: The 34% of Payroll Walking Out the Door
Gallup research shows disengaged employees cost $3,400 for every $10,000 in salary; that’s 34% of your payroll walking out the door. Not because people lack skills, but because invisible barriers trap their potential, creating what we call trapped organizational capacity.
Here’s what your most effective managers have figured out: The problem isn’t capability alone. It’s a mindset. And mindset determines what they can see, how they respond, and whether they fight fires or prevent them.
When Good Managers Get Blamed for Bad Systems
I had a client with a great culture and brilliant people capable of rallying to solve problems at speed. They also had one position where talented people, excited about the promotion, struggled until they either left or got demoted.
After watching several people fail in that same role, we got very curious.
One manager said, “I was responsible for my team’s performance, but had no idea what half of them were working on day-to-day. They reported to me functionally, but worked on four different project teams. By the time I found out about a problem, it was already a crisis.”
Another: “I’d delegate something urgent to someone I thought had capacity, only to discover they were already underwater on two other projects. Nobody could see the whole picture; not me, not the project managers, not even the team members, until they were drowning.”
To the company’s credit, they looked in the mirror to stop blaming people and start fixing the system.
They didn’t have a capability problem. They had a systemic mindset problem.
Why This Happens (And Why It’s Costing You 34% of Payroll)
Research from Harvard, MIT, Deming, and McKinsey converges on the same truth: Organizations get 60-80% of what’s possible from their teams. The trapped 20-40% isn’t about skills; it’s about invisible barriers.
The Visibility Barrier
Sidney Yoshida’s research found that middle managers see only 4-9% of the problems their teams face. In cross-functional environments, it gets worse. Managers see less than 15% of their teams’ actual work. You’re making decisions blind, then firefighting predictable collisions.
The Attribution Barrier
Edwards Deming revealed that 94% of performance problems are system-caused, not individual-caused. But “system” isn’t just processes; it’s the culture, conversations, and collective mindset that shape how work gets done. We blame individuals for system problems, solve the wrong thing, and watch patterns repeat.
The Firefighting Barrier
MIT research found organizations spend eight hours dealing with recurring problems for every one hour that could prevent them. Managers spend 30-50% of their time firefighting because they lack visibility to see patterns and fix root causes.
The Identity Barrier
Research shows 77% of employees want to learn new skills, yet 65% resist organizational change. That’s not a contradiction; it’s self-protection. People embrace growth that enhances identity but resist change that threatens their sense of competence, belonging, or status. Traditional training adds tools without addressing the underlying anxieties that prevent their use.
The math is brutal: Managers operating with 10-15% visibility, blaming individuals for 94% system-caused problems, spending 30-50% of their time firefighting, while people protect themselves from identity threats.
What Your Most Effective Managers Do Differently
Your star performers have figured out three critical shifts:
First, they create clarity through conversations. Instead of declaring what’s wrong when problems arise, they get curious about what’s happening beneath the surface.
I watched a director transform his team by changing one thing: the questions he asked. His team had all the usual tools: project boards, status meetings, and tracking systems. But instead of asking “Why is this late?” He started asking, “What’s pulling you away from this priority? What requests are you getting that I don’t know about? Where are you hearing conflicting messages about what matters most?”
Those questions surfaced what no dashboard could show: the drive-by requests, the “urgent” emails from other departments, the competing definitions of success from different stakeholders. Same tools, same meetings, different conversations. The shift from telling to asking changed everything.
Second, they master the art of “less is more” communication with high impact. They don’t add meetings to create transparency. They’ve learned to give 100% of their attention for the least amount of time possible, while making sure people feel seen, heard, and valued.
A quick hallway conversation that surfaces a conflict. A two-minute check-in that reveals someone’s running behind. A message that aligns priorities without scheduling another meeting. They pick the right tool for the right job: a meeting when alignment is critical, a message when information needs sharing, a face-to-face when trust needs building. All before disaster strikes.
And here’s what separates good communicators from great ones: They don’t just reach out efficiently; they respond in ways that make it safe for others to reach back. When someone brings them a problem, they ask questions instead of assigning blame. When someone asks for help, they lean in with compassion. They’ve learned that how you respond to bad news determines whether you’ll hear about the next problem early or not.
Third, they’ve shifted their mindset about what they’re managing. They understand their decisions create ripple effects they can’t see. Before committing, they ask: “Who else needs to know? Where might this create problems I can’t see?”
One VP put it perfectly: “I used to think my job was delivering my function’s results. My team reaches into nearly every part of our company. Now, I understand it’s navigating the system; understanding how my decisions affect the whole.”
Most people’s mindsets were shaped by, and still reflect, a different era. People were trained for visible work, clear hierarchies, and predictable problems. Organizations built systems assuming managers could see what their teams were doing; that reporting lines meant control; those problems stayed in their lanes.
Now they’re navigating invisible work across multiple teams, matrix relationships where influence matters more than authority, and constant ambiguity where yesterday’s solution creates today’s problem.
The solution isn’t more tools or reports; it’s shifting the mindset that determines what people see and how they respond.
Your best managers have discovered they need to:
- Recognize systemic patterns: shifting from “What’s wrong with them?” to “What’s setting them up to fail?”
- Build transparency rhythms: making competing demands visible before they collide
- Prevent fires rather than fight them: one hour of seeing patterns prevents eight hours of fighting symptoms
- Think in systems: understanding how local decisions create invisible ripple effects
Most companies invest heavily in org design, change management, and new systems. What they rarely invest in is adaptive capacity, helping people shift their mindset to navigate constant change.
That trapped capacity isn’t locked because people need more training. It’s blocked by invisible barriers nobody taught managers to navigate.
Shift the mindset that creates barriers, and capacity is already there. When people see things differently, they act differently. When they understand the system rather than just their piece, they stop fighting problems and start preventing them. When they recognize that 94% of problems are system-caused. Including culture and conversations, they stop blaming individuals and start creating conditions for success.
What This Means for You
Think about your best managers, the ones everyone wants on their team. They haven’t developed superhuman skills. They’ve shifted their mindset in ways that give them visibility others lack.
Here’s the question: How much of your managers’ capacity is trapped behind outdated mindsets? What if that 34% of payroll became available, not by working harder, but by shifting thinking patterns that keep it locked away?
Your best managers have discovered how to shift their thinking to release capacity. The question is: When will your systems catch up?
Ready to Release Your Trapped Capacity?
We developed Capacity: Unleashing Human Potential, to help managers shift mindsets that trap potential; building visibility instead of hoping for heroics, seeing patterns instead of fighting fires.
Schedule a conversation to learn more.