The Executive Voice

Don’t Let Employee Disengagement Derail 2026

According to Gallup’s State of the Workplace 2026, “last year, low engagement cost the world economy approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity, or 9% of GDP.

“Employee engagement measures the psychological attachment workers have to their work, their team and their employer. Gallup meta-analyses over the years have consistently shown a strong relationship between employee engagement and business-unit productivity, including profitability and sales.

“While engagement occurs at the team level, employees who are not engaged or actively disengaged lead to less profitable organizations, which, in turn, translates into lower economic growth.”

Further down I read with interest, “One way of thinking about employee engagement is as a measure of readiness for change. AI is a major disruption; organizations with engaged employees tend to navigate disruptions more successfully. In the age of AI, productivity gains will depend on part on how effectively workers use these tools. Disengagement will erode those gains, and active disengagement could create serious security risks”

Managers play an important role in “meaningful AI adoption”, but many employees “report a lack of active support from their managers.”

Improve Engagement by Communicating More Effectively

Here are some questions I’d be asking to better communicate with employees and thus improve engagement:

How clearly and consistently are we communicating change? Are employees hearing the same message from senior leaders and their direct manager, or five different versions?

Do employees understand what we’re asking them to do differently? Particularly with AI, are we communicating the practical change to their work, or simply telling them adoption is important?

How often do we recognise wins and successes? Especially AI projects that have delivered a result internally or for a customer.

Are we showcasing the capability, smarts and creativity of our people? Particularly teams that have worked through difficult problems or challenging projects.

Do managers regularly discuss employee feedback with their teams? If you use engagement platforms such as Teamgage, do employees hear what leaders learnt, what will change and what won’t?

Can employees see evidence that speaking up leads somewhere? Asking for feedback and then going quiet is still communication. Just not the right kind.

Where have we changed our position, broken a promise or failed to deliver on something employees expected? Did we clearly explain why, or simply move on and hope they did too?

You can invest heavily in AI. But the productivity and profitability gains still depend on people choosing to embrace change.

That won’t happen through an occasional all-hands or another employee survey.

It happens through clear, consistent communication at the coalface. And managers are central to making it happen.

An interview with tech leaders, entrepreneurs and strategic thinkers. The questions are the same: direct and challenging, the answers are uniquely individual.

A Conversation with Jeff Bogensberger

Jeff Bogensberger has worked as a CEO, general manager and sales director across technology and other industries. He’s led company turnarounds, managed large teams and client portfolios, and is now involved in several entrepreneurial ventures, including The Laughing Otter. He’s also a lifelong music fan and drummer who has played in a band writing original music.

Q1: What’s the reality of the business world you’re navigating?

“We’re living in a fascinating time that is both exciting and scary. Technology is moving at such speed, but we’ve also been programmed to accept products that don’t work properly. I can’t remember the last time I signed up for a SaaS product that simply did what the website said it would … “

More in the full interview, a 3-minute read, but plenty to think about.

Outcome Selling Has Become Another Empty Phrase

The buyer says, “We need to reduce costs.” The seller replies, “Our solution reduces costs.” Outcome selling. Tick. But that’s just another fluffy benefit statement that lands with a whimper, signifying nothing.

Outcome selling starts by asking very specific questions, hopefully, directly to the buyer and not just guessing with colleagues. It’s about asking questions that seem basic, but are nevertheless often missed, like:

What did the buyer actually ask for? As in, what is their stated outcome?

And don’t just accept their first answer. Instead ask, “what else could reasonably be improved”? And then keep going with, “And what else?” (asked three to five times) to help the buyer get to the real outcome they’re looking for.

Identify outcomes they haven't considered too using past customer experience, strong research or a carefully constructed use case.

It’s also important to pause and think through, “what can we actually prove?” instead of rushing through a sales process based on (often careless) assumptions about the buyer.

And finally, use plain, unvarnished language, that doesn’t inflate the outcome.

The point isn’t to make the outcome sound more compelling, it’s to make it more concrete so that it’s believable.

Throw out your vision & mission statements

Instead lead with a message how your company will think, decide and adapt in the second half of 2026.

Two news items from tech this past week, and what they teach us about internal and external leadership.

Groq Founder Says Poor Leadership Cost the Company

Groq founder Jonathan Ross has admitted his early leadership mistakes may have cost the AI chip company three to four years. Ross described himself as a “terrible leader”, saying the shift from technical work to managing people was difficult and that poor delegation and hiring people who weren’t ready for autonomy stalled progress.

What’s Really Being Communicated
Leadership capability has a direct impact on company performance. Being technically brilliant doesn’t necessarily mean you have the right smarts to manage a successful business.

SAP Agrees to Make it Easier for Customers to Leave

SAP has agreed to change its maintenance and support practices after EU regulators raised concerns that customers were being unfairly restricted from switching providers or ending contracts. The software giant will scrap some fees, reduce others and give customers greater freedom to choose competing support services. The commitments will apply globally for 10 years.

What’s Really Being Communicated
If you’re making it difficult or expensive for customers to leave you, just be aware that regulators, competitors or customers will likely force it on you. In any climate but especially today, strong-arming commitment will result in customers resenting you and showing less loyalty.

Phrase of the Week

AI Champions: Employees who actively use AI, experiment with it and help others understand how it can improve their work. As companies struggle to increase AI adoption, they’re increasingly turning to enthusiastic employees to influence their more sceptical colleagues.

Sometimes the fastest way to change behaviour is to consistently use language that makes people feel capable, involved yet supported.

Psychology backs this up. Self-determination theory links stronger motivation to three basic needs: autonomy, competence and connection.

Here are Five Things to Say More Often:

Here are three communication approaches:

ASK BEFORE TELLING
Create involvement before giving direction.

BE SPECIFIC WITH CONFIDENCE
Don't say, “You've got this.” Say why you trust their ability.

FOLLOW WORDS WITH ACTION
If someone tells you what they need, respond. Gallup's recent employee research points to clear, honest communication and two-way trust as persistent leadership concerns.

The right words consistently backed by the right actions from leaders create the conditions for people to motivate themselves.

If this helped you think differently about communication, forward this newsletter to someone who leads, sells or explains complex ideas in tech.