HR managers, directors, or members of the C-suite team, when your people managers are struggling, they rarely raise their hands and ask for help. Instead, the warning signs show up in their daily habits and how their team operates.

Here are the four-manager persona’s that are a telltale sign that your manager needs some support:

I spend a lot of my week chatting with managers who are genuinely trying their best to be supportive. They sit down for their 1-to-1s or their team meetings with the best of intentions.

Yet, so often, their team members leave those meetings feeling like they’ve just been through a box-ticking exercise.

How well do you delegate? Are you sure?

Delegation is the subject I find new managers struggle with the most.

Everyone else in this room knows what they’re doing. I’m the only one faking it.

When I’m coaching new managers, I hear this message constantly. They look around the meeting room, see colleagues delivering polished updates, and assume everyone else is perfectly confident.

They assume confidence is a personality trait. Something you’re born with, or something you ‘catch’ once you reach a certain level of seniority. And it’s a big reason I do what I do.

Stepping into a management role for the first time or even taking over a new department is a massive shift. The temptation is to start "acting like a boss" or making a name for yourself in the boardroom. If you want to succeed, you need to do the exact opposite. 

Here are the three things you should prioritize.

Being a middle manager is often described as being the "meat in the sandwich." You’re squeezed between the operational realities of your team and the strategic pressures from senior leadership.