The latest Employee Engagement report from Gallup landed, and what it tells us, I think is quite sobering…

 

Global employee engagement has now fallen for the second consecutive year, sitting at just 20%. In Australia, we are at 21% (down 2 points).

 

That means 4 in every 5 people going to work every day are either switched off or actively miserable ☹

 

Four in five. Let that sit for a moment.

 

Disengagement is not just a number on a report. It has a face.

 

It is the person who used to bounce ideas around in meetings and now sits quietly, avoiding eye contact.

 

The one who used to stay back without being asked, who now watches the clock.

 

The enthusiastic new hire whose energy slowly drains away because nobody noticed what they needed.

 

Disengagement does not arrive loudly. It creeps in.

 

It looks like missed deadlines, it feels like a team that stops celebrating wins, and sounds like silence where there used to be conversation.

 

There is an old saying, “A fish rots from the head.”

 

Culture is not built from the bottom up. It flows from the top down. And the Gallup findings make this impossible to ignore, revealing.

 

The sharpest decline was not among employees. It was among managers, down nine percentage points since 2022.

 

When the people leading the team stop believing, it seeps into the culture until disengagement becomes the new normal.

 

That is not a management failure; it’s a human one.

 

For me, this is where the real work begins. People do not want to be managed; they want to be understood.

 

They want to know that the role they are in was chosen for them thoughtfully, not filled out of urgency. That someone considered:

 

• Who they are and how they think.
• What brings out their best.
• Where they are most likely to thrive.

 

It’s a question that needs to be answered before the role is filled, not after. And answering it well takes a blend of three things:

 

The insider knowledge of the hiring manager, the science of objective assessment, and a genuine curiosity about the human being in front of you. Get that combination right, and everything changes.

 

Engagement is not a programme you roll out. It is a feeling. And it begins at the top.

 

What are you witnessing on the ground? Are you seeing the “manager burnout” Gallup describes in your industry? I would genuinely love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

I sat down this week to write a post about leadership.

 

And then I stopped.

 

In times like these, rising costs, global uncertainty, the constant noise of the news cycle, the usual conversations about growth and strategy feel a little hollow. Not because they don’t matter. But because people matter more.

 

The leaders I admire most aren’t the ones who lean hardest on the data. They’re the ones who know when to put the report down and simply be present with the person in front of them.

 

Uncertainty is exhausting.

 

Trying to make good decisions about people, whether you’re building a team, navigating change, or simply trying to support those around you, takes more than it gets credit for.

 

If you’re finding it heavy right now, that’s not weakness. That’s awareness.

 

And awareness is what this moment is calling for… whether you’re leading a large multinational or a small family business. Heightened awareness shapes better strategies, clearer decisions, and more human actions.

 

That feels like the real work right now.

 

I’d love to know, what are you finding most useful, or most challenging, in how you’re supporting your people through this period?

 

Share your experience in the comments. Let’s learn from each other.

Your best people aren’t leaving because they don’t care.

 

They’re leaving because they cared too much, for too long.

 

A new HRD Magazine article published this week has put a name to something NFP leaders have been living with for years.

 

It’s called “burnover.” It’s the moment burnout converts into turnover.

 

And the 2025 Pro Bono Australia Salary Survey has the numbers to back it up.

 

29% of people who left NFP roles in the past year did so because of burnout.

 

A massive 21% increase on the previous year!

 

What makes burnover different from ordinary turnover?

 

When someone resigns because they’re exhausted, the work doesn’t disappear. It lands on the people still there.

 

People who are already stretched.

 

So, the team that’s left behind? They’re now doing more, with less support, less knowledge, and less energy than before.

 

The exit creates the next exit.

 

That’s the burnover cycle. One person’s burnout becomes the fuel for the next person.

 

And in NFPs, where teams are lean, missions are heavy, and there’s no slack in the system, it spreads faster than anyone expects.

 

The article highlights something many NFP leaders already sense but rarely have data to act on:

 

Your middle managers are in the firing line.

 

They’re promoted for being great at their work; then left to manage competing demands from above and below, often with no formal leadership support.

 

They become the default problem-solvers. The bottlenecks.

 

The ones who care the most and protect everyone else …until they can’t anymore.

 

What’s the Fix?

 

The article is clear: it’s not yoga days. It’s not wellness apps.

 

It’s structural. It’s about understanding what’s really driving pressure inside your teams, before people start walking.

 

This is exactly where validated people data can be a game-changer.

 

Not performance reviews. Not annual surveys that arrive too late.

 

Measurement built specifically around the dimensions that drive burnover.

 

Things like:

 

• Predictive Burnover Mapping: GPI’s behavioural assessments identify high-pressure roles by correlating stress demands with employee resilience markers to enable early intervention.

 

• Alignment and Job Fit Calibration: Re-benchmarking roles ensures employees are naturally wired for their current workload intensity, preventing the roll creep exhaustion.

 

• Leadership Resilience Training: Using 360-degree feedback helps managers recognise early signs of strain and redistribute tasks effectively to protect their teams.

 

• Retention-Focused Onboarding: Using psychometric data during hiring matches new starters with supportive mentors to build an immediate buffer against workplace fatigue.

 

When you can see the pressure points, you can act before they become exits.

 

You stop guessing.

 

You lead with evidence. You intervene early. You protect your people — and your mission.

 

The HRD article puts the cost of replacing one experienced NFP employee at between 30-200% of their annual salary.

 

Think about what that means across your organisation.

 

Then think about what it would mean to catch even a handful of those exits earlier.

 

Burnover isn’t inevitable.

 

But it does require more than good intentions.

 

It requires deep insights into your people, so you can lead proactively, not reactively.

 

For those working in or leading NFPs, I’m interested to know what your experience has been. Are you seeing burnover play out in your teams?

Technical skills are no longer enough to keep a job in 2026.

 

If a machine can do the task, your “hard skills” are officially a commodity.

 

The real value now lies in what we used to call “soft skills”, but there is nothing soft about them.

 

Just for a moment, think about your best team leader.

 

It’s rarely the person who is the fastest at data entry or the one that is best at coding.

 

It’s the person who can read the room during a tense meeting. It’s the one who stays calm and doesn’t drop their bundle when a project goes pear-shaped.

 

For years, we treated empathy and resilience as “nice-to-haves.”

 

But the data tells a different story.

 

According to Deloitte Access Economics, soft-skill-intensive occupations are set to account for two-thirds of all Australian jobs by 2030.

 

These aren’t just “bonuses” anymore; they are the core of our economy.

 

These are now your Power Skills.

 

The GPI Approach

 

The adage goes: You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

 

Recent findings from the LinkedIn 2026 Workplace Learning Report show that 95% of ANZ learning and development professionals believe human skills are becoming the most competitive edge in an AI-driven economy.

 

At Great People Inside (GPI), we don’t guess who has these Power Skills, we prove it.

 

By using data-driven assessments, you can identify the power players in your workforce:

 

Identify who has the natural EQ to lead through change.

 

Measure resilience before your team hits burnout.

 

Develop the social influence needed to drive local results, and all at an affordable price too!

 

Stop hiring for what people know. Start hiring for how they work with others.

 

I’ve put together a Checklist on the 5 Power Skills every leader needs in 2026. Email us with “POWER” in the subject line at [email protected] and we’ll send it straight to you.

The competition for top talent in 2026 isn’t going to ease up.

 

You’ll still be facing off against massive corporations that lure candidates with brand prestige, big salaries, and lavish perks.

 

As a small-to-medium enterprise (SME), you know the true cost of a bad hire, and the ongoing expense of an empty role.

 

But what if the solution isn’t about matching their budgets, but about changing the rules of the game entirely?

 

The Great Talent Filter: Why SMEs are Losing Out

 

For too long, hiring has been a high-stakes, subjective gamble, especially for SMEs. You’ve been programmed to scan CVs for “pedigree” and “years of experience”, the very criteria that extensive studies show are poor predictors of actual job performance.

 

This traditional approach acts like a filter, actively screening out great people: the self-taught prodigy, the high-aptitude career-switcher, and the experienced professional whose CV doesn’t have the perfect linear path. Why?

 

Because the focus is on resumes, references and qualifications, rather than the core characteristics that truly define a top performer, such as resilience, motivation, reasoning, and learning agility. Big corporations can afford this narrow search. You cannot.

 

Your strength is your agility and your culture. You need people who are an undeniable fit for both the role’s demands and your team’s dynamic. Relying on subjective interviews and generic personality tests is not only unreliable but actively hurts your bottom line through increased turnover and lower productivity.

 

Hire for Fit, Not History

 

Imagine having a tool that cuts through the noise of a polished CV to give you a clear, objective measure of a candidate’s fit with the actual requirements of the job, not just the technical skills, but their inherent attributes, work style, and core motivations.

 

This is the power of hiring using customised insights and data that quantifies and qualifies the precise requirements of the job you have on offer,  and it’s the key to unlocking the vast, untapped talent pool you’ve been missing.

 

1. Broaden Your Pool Instantly: By focusing on fit , you look beyond traditional industry experience and qualifications. This immediately opens the door to high-potential candidates from diverse backgrounds and non-traditional career paths.

 

2. De-Risk Your Decision:The science is clear: hiring based on gut feel, resumes, and subjective interviews results in a top performer only about 25% of the time. Hiring based on objective data increases your success rate by 200%. You rely on data that predicts long-term success and cultural alignment, not just luck.

 

3. Compete on Value, Not Salary:When you hire for fit, you secure candidates naturally aligned with your mission and culture. For them, your company’s unique value, the agility, the impact, the closeness to leadership, becomes more compelling than a competitor’s extra dollars.

 

Your Strategic Edge for 2026

 

Our Great People Inside tool, levels the playing field by giving SMEs the objective, scientific hiring edge of a large corporation without the enterprise-level price tag. Its customisable, modular approach provides instant, role-specific insights into the critical success factors needed to define and secure top performers.

 

Ready to stop gambling on gut instinct and start hiring with confidence?

 

Click here to sign up for a FREE trial of Great People Inside and discover how to access your untapped talent pool in 2026.