Why Managers Aren’t Happy at Work (and How to Fix It)

No one wants to be a manager. We’ve all seen the TikToks: people venting about how miserable it is to be a manager, and others swearing off management as a career path altogether. The reasons? Overload, endless admin, and pay that rarely matches the pressure. It seems the upper echelons of the workplace are being dismantled by a severe reality check. Career track to management? – No thank you. 

According to Gallup’s chief scientist Jim Harter, workplace disruptions—including post-pandemic job reshuffling and the rise of artificial intelligence—are to blame for this “anti-management” philosophy. 

But I don’t believe this tells the full story. As a culture coach who has supported managers and teams across industries, I’ve seen the deeper issues that are driving frustration, burnout, and disillusion among today’s managers.

Let’s unpack what’s really going on—and more importantly, how we can fix it. 

Role Overload (and Vagueness)

I often call middle managers the Mr. Stretches of the workplace. Pulled in every direction, and expected to wear all the hats. They’re still doing their old job, while also supporting their team, managing admin, managing decisions, and playing therapist and mediator.

The result? More stress, longer hours, and endless pressure.

To make matters worse, job descriptions are often vague. What is success in a manager’s role? When it’s tied only to how the team performs—without clarity—it quickly leads to burnout, resentment, and frustration.

No Real Power

Here’s the bitter truth: middle managers rarely have real decision-making power. 

Most decisions are still made at the top by senior managers, forcing middle managers to push requests upward for permission or sign-off, and then being the unwelcome messenger of relaying these decisions to their team. This creates bottlenecks, slows down progress, and fuels frustration. Stuck in the constant cycle of seeking permission. 

For those who decide to play the rebel and seek forgiveness rather than permission, it often turns into criticism of their character rather than recognition that the structure itself is broken.

Middle management is a powerless place to be.

Isolation

Managers sit in a lonely “in-between” space:

• They are seen as the “parent” of the team.
• They are seen as the  “child” of senior leadership.

They often feel frozen in the middle, unable to belong to either group.

On top of that, many managers believe they must “act differently” once they step into the role—putting on a professional mask, avoiding friendships, and losing authenticity. The result? Even an even deeper sense of isolation. 

Many Never Wanted to Manage People

For many, becoming a manager wasn’t a choice — it was simply the only path offered. It’s the way to get a pay rise, progress in your career or get a new challenge. 

But leading people requires a completely different skill set—one they may not have, and may never have wanted to develop.

This mismatch fuels frustration on both sides: the manager and the team. The team doesn’t like the way the manager manages, and the manager never wanted to manage in the first place.

If we want to solve the management crisis, we need to rethink the role entirely. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, I want to bring in a collection of self-managing practices that can offer some alternative solutions. 

Give Real Decision-Making Power

Instead of bottlenecking decisions at the top, give teams genuine decision-making authority.

That means:

• Distributing power across roles. 
• Setting clear boundaries around what teams can decide. 
• Providing training so they feel confident in using decision-making methods.  

This frees managers from being the “middleperson” and allows teams to operate with more autonomy. Besides, many of the decisions being made, are the ones that affect the teams work – so ideally they should be the ones deciding together. 

Clarify and Distribute Roles

No single manager should be expected to do everything. Break down responsibilities into clear roles that can be shared across the team.

For example:

• Team Coach 
• Workflow Coordinator 
• Strategy Lead 
• People Support 

These roles can be rotated or taken on by those with the interest and skills. This also helps to remove the vagueness of the “manager” label. 

Co-Create Team Goals

Managers are expected to create not only individual goals for their team members, but then the team goal. So if we imagine a manager has a team of 5 people, that’s 5 individual goals, and then 1 overall team goal. Not only is that a substantial piece of work, but it removes the very people who can help to make those goals effective – the team and the individual. 

Instead of top-down directives, let teams co-create their own goals. 

Teams understand their workload best, so they’re better placed to set realistic, meaningful targets. This approach not only reduces pressure on managers but also builds inclusion and ownership.

Rethink Career Pathways

Stop making management the only path to career progression. Unfortunately, this is why management is in this mess. For too long, a linear management career path has been the only option available. Management shouldn’t be the only route to advancement.

A few alternatives include; 

Dual career tracks:

• Expert path – for those who want to deepen technical mastery, mentor others, and gain recognition without managing people. 
• Leadership path – for those motivated to coach and mentor people, and align teams with purpose. 

Personal Career Pathway – Creating bespoke growth and progression journeys for individuals and their aspirations. 

This way, people can grow in the direction that matches their strengths and passions—not just into management by default.

The truth is, the role of “manager” as we know it is broken. It piles on unrealistic expectations, strips away power, and isolates people who never wanted to manage in the first place.

But there’s hope. By rethinking leadership through shared responsibility, clear roles, and distributed power, we can build healthier workplaces—where both managers and teams thrive.

The real question is: do we even need managers as we currently define them?

Perhaps the future of work isn’t about managing people at all, but about building systems where everyone shares responsibility and leadership.