I’ve just read some shocking stats. Employee engagement across the world was measured at a measly 20% in 2025 by Gallup in its State of the Global Workplace 2026 Report. The report analyses this as a cost of $10 trillion in lost productivity - a figure so large it makes my head hurt trying to compute it.

The star and poor performers? Well the US is doing better than many with an engagement level of 32%, whilst Europe lingers at 12%, including the UK at a staggering 10%. So, 90% of people employed in the UK are either not engaged or actively disengaged. What does that do for their wellbeing (as well as their effectiveness and productivity)?

The report states that effective people management is a skill, and that many managers haven’t been trained to successfully coach teams and individuals toward high performance. Yet many of us have trained thousands of leaders in coaching skills over the last couple of decades, across the UK and Europe (although maybe an iceberg we’ve not penetrated far below the surface of, in terms of numbers). For me, it’s a stark reminder that the The Five-Minute Coach could make a real difference to these bleak figures. A few well-placed, but powerful questions -‘on the job’ - engage and empower others and change outcomes.