Why the future does not belong to managers, but to coaching leadership
The headlines of recent weeks do not lie: major international companies
are cutting their middle management on a massive scale. ASML is halving its management layers, Amazon aims
to have thousands fewer middle managers by March, and Google, Meta, and UPS are following
the same path. This is not out of urgent financial necessity, but because organizations want to become
more agile. Decisions must be made closer to the front line, bureaucracy must be eliminated, and the energy-draining meeting culture is being addressed.
This comes as no surprise.
It aligns perfectly with what we have seen in organizations for years: the classic middle manager, acting as a supervisor and messenger, is rapidly losing relevance.
Why is this role disappearing?
Because systems are taking over the work.
ERP systems, dashboards, and artificial intelligence now perform much of what used to be the domain of middle management: monitoring, reporting, and controlling.
But managing people (literal translation: “administering“) has never been the core of leadership.
Developing people is.
In practice, it appears that the difference in engagement between teams is attributable to the leadership style in 70% of cases. This is yet another signal (proof) demonstrating how important it is today to evolve from “managing people” to “coaching leadership.”
And many have never truly been trained for that.
The result?
Over the past ten years, the majority of layoffs have occurred in middle management. Not because managers are unwilling, but because the role has remained stagnant while the organizational context evolves at lightning speed.
From manager to coach:
leadership that inspires, connects, and empowers
Where does your added value as a leader lie today?
How consciously are you working on growing the human capital you are responsible for in terms of competence, independence, and intrinsic motivation?
The world of work is changing rapidly. New generations bring different expectations: more autonomy, more meaning, more collaboration. What once worked—directing, controlling, reporting—is no longer sufficient.
Leadership is about trust, ownership, and development, and the management component within it is shrinking by the day.
Coaching leadership helps organizations grow from within. Not by directing harder, but by guiding better. The shift is clear: your role is evolving from manager to coach.
What is coaching leadership?
Coaching leadership is the ability to provide direction while also providing space.
A coaching leader:
- stimulates self-reflection, ownership, and independence
- provides impactful feedback with a focus on helping people develop
- brings out the best in every individual
- builds a culture of learning and trust
The result?
Greater intrinsic motivation, better collaboration, and leaders who truly make a difference.
When teams are given more autonomy, engagement increases.
When leaders coach instead of control, ownership grows.
When people take responsibility, the organization becomes more agile.
Self-management is not a buzzword.
It is the only sustainable way of working in a complex world.
The manager who survives is the one who transforms
Should all middle managers be eliminated? No. Absolutely not.
Strong management remains essential to absorb shocks, provide direction to
organizations, tolerate tensions, and set others in motion. But the
fulfillment of the role is evolving toward coaching leadership.
There is a need for leadership.
But not for layers or formal hierarchy.
Not for exclusive control.
Not for merely passing on what others devise.
The leaders who continue to create value have one thing in common: they evolve from manager to coaching leader.
They listen instead of broadcasting.
They empower talent instead of distributing work.
They create connection instead of reports.
They lead based on trust instead of rules.
And that is exactly how we at 4Result have been supporting organizations, teams, and individuals for 25 years:
empowering, connecting, and growing responsibility so that self-management can emerge.
With more energy, more clarity, and more results.
References:
De Tijd, After the layoffs at ASML and Amazon: the middle manager is suddenly an endangered species – https://www.tijd.be/ondernemen/algemeen/na-de-ontslagen-bij-
asml-en-amazon-de-middenmanager-is-plots-een-bedreigde-soort/10646434.htmlGallup, State of the American Manager: “70% of a leader’s impact stems from the quality of coaching, development, and people-oriented behavior” – https://d46w5x9vt7qfg.cloudfront.net/businessreport/2015/04/StateOfAmericanManager_032715_mhLowRes.pdf