Quick Links
💰 The Cost of the Leadership Disconnect
🤲 Why Proximity Matters More Than Presence
🌉 How HR Can Help Bridge the Leadership Gap
🧑 The New Leadership Imperative
🤔 Final Thought
In a year defined by constant change, heavy workloads and economic uncertainty, one theme cuts through all the data, stories and conversations we’ve had with HR and people leaders:
Employees don’t feel understood.
They’re not calling for perfect leaders. They’re not expecting all the answers. What they do want is something far simpler — and far more powerful:
Leaders who genuinely “get” what their day looks like, what’s challenging right now, and what support they truly need.
It sounds small. But the impact is huge.
According to WorkBuzz’s latest People Priorities: Future of Work 2026 report, confidence in senior leaders is highly dependent on one thing: connection built through effective two-way communication. Where communication is strong, confidence in leadership is 58 points higher. But where communication is ineffective or one-directional, trust drops sharply — and engagement declines with it.
And in the video that inspired this article, WorkBuzz People Science Director Ryan Tahmassebi put it plainly:
"Employees say leaders do a good job sharing decisions and strategy — but they need to listen more and understand the day-to-day challenges colleagues face."
This frontline–leadership divide isn’t about competence. It isn’t about intent.
It’s about distance — and the effects are being felt across organisations.
The Cost of the Leadership Disconnect
The WorkBuzz 2026 report highlights some stark patterns:
- Senior leaders are further removed from the employee experience than ever before
Shrinking HR teams, increased transformation, and the relentless productivity push have created a culture where leaders are often too far from the operational reality.
Employees feel it — and engagement stalls when leaders aren’t visibly connected to their world.
- Employees doubt leaders' ability to make “right decisions for the future”
Confidence in senior leadership decision-making has dropped by more than 20 percentage points over five years.
Not because leaders aren’t capable, but because employees can’t see evidence that decisions are grounded in their realities.
- Culture suffers when not actively championed from the top
Where culture is seen as vague or disconnected from daily experience, engagement is 3.5× more likely to decline.
When leaders make culture tangible — and show they understand the work their people do — engagement improves.
- Communication becomes broadcast, not conversation
Employees consistently report that leaders communicate at them, not with them.
This makes change feel imposed rather than co-created, and trust erodes quickly.
Why Proximity Matters More Than Presence
This isn’t about leaders spending every day on the frontline.
It’s about cultivating emotional proximity, even when physical proximity isn’t possible.
Ryan described compelling examples in the video:
– CEOs who call a random colleague once a month just to hear about their week
– Executive teams spending one week a year shadowing frontline roles
– Leaders using monthly listening to answer real questions directly through short videos
These aren’t stunts.
They’re practical rituals that close the gap between “the boardroom view” and “the shop floor reality.”
And they work because they show something employees value deeply:
empathy in action.
When leaders understand the human experience behind the metrics, everything from strategy to communication to wellbeing becomes far more credible.
How HR Can Help Bridge the Leadership Gap
HR can’t (and shouldn’t) carry the weight of reconnecting the organisation alone.
But HR can play a powerful role in designing the mechanisms that bring leaders closer to their people — and turn listening into leadership.
Here’s what the data tells us matters most:
- Build structured two-way communication into leadership routines
Where communication is effective, confidence in leadership skyrockets.
But it must be:
- Frequent
- Transparent
- Two-way
- Delivered across multiple formats (e.g., video, audio, live Q&A)
Employees want leaders who are available, not just visible.
- Elevate employee listening from data collection to human connection
Listening is wasted if leaders don’t act on what they hear.
And when listening drops — which we saw this year, as more organisations reduce survey frequency due to shrinking HR teams — employees lose trust in the entire process.
Teams using regular listening and rapid action tools like ACT or People Science AI demonstrate to employees:
“We hear you. And we’re doing something about it.”
- Bring leaders closer to the employee experience — literally
HR can help embed simple, powerful mechanisms into the leadership rhythm:
- “Reverse leadership shadowing” — leaders join frontline shifts
- Monthly “employee voice calls” with randomly selected staff
- Leader engagement in pulse survey follow-up sessions
- Real-time sentiment briefings using AI-powered summaries
The goal isn’t surveillance. It’s connection, understanding, and insight.
- Make culture a shared strategic responsibility
In organisations where culture is treated as an HR initiative, engagement suffers.
When leaders co-own culture — not just endorse it — employees feel the difference immediately.
- Use AI to narrow the gap faster
HR teams are overloaded, and leaders are busy.
AI gives both groups more time, clarity, and visibility — quickly.
In organisations adopting WorkBuzz’s People Science AI, leaders gain instant visibility of:
- Priority issues by department
- Sentiment shifts
- What’s improving, and what’s at risk
- The “story behind the numbers”
This creates a much tighter and more authentic feedback loop.
The New Leadership Imperative
In today’s workplace, leadership is no longer defined by expertise, authority or even strategy.
It’s defined by connection.
Employees want leaders who are:
- Curious
- Empathetic
- Willing to listen
- Willing to learn
- Willing to understand challenges firsthand
Because, as Ryan reminds us:
“Connection is not about the physical presence — it’s about emotional connection.”
And organisations where leaders are connected to their people? Those are the organisations where engagement improves, wellbeing stabilises, culture strengthens, and trust becomes a competitive advantage.
Final Thought
To lead effectively, leaders must understand the lived experience of their people.
Not through dashboards alone.
Not through cascaded updates.
But through real, human connection — the kind that brings leaders closer to the heartbeat of the organisation.
Because ultimately:
You can’t lead what you don’t understand.
But when you do understand your people, they will follow you anywhere.