U.S. employee engagement just fell below 30% for the first time in 15 years. New Gallup research finds that only 29% of U.S. employees were engaged at work in the third quarter of 2026. That’s down two points from the previous quarter and seven points below the 2020 peak. Gallup estimates it means about 11 million fewer engaged employees than in 2020. Source: Gallup, U.S. employee engagement, Q3 2026. The numbers behind the number Only 46% of employees strongly agree they kno

Most leaders, teams and organizations hit a plateau eventually. Growth comes fast, results stack up, and then progress stalls. The same effort that once produced breakthroughs now produces the same results, month after month. Many leaders respond by pushing harder on what worked in the past. It is an understandable instinct, but it usually keeps them stuck. In most cases, the plateau comes from the very approach that produced the growth in the first place. What got you here h

The engagement survey came back better than last year. People like their jobs, they like their managers, and they say they'd recommend the company to a friend. Six months later, the numbers that run the business haven't moved. Quality is flat, the same problems keep coming back, and leaders are still the ones solving them. The survey is a valid measurement tool. It just isn't the thing that drives results, and what the consultants call engagement has drifted a long way from i

“If they really wanted to change, they would.” Most of us have said it, or thought it, about someone on our team. We're usually wrong. In our experience at Team Trek, when people fail to change, it is rarely for lack of good intent. The leader who wants to listen better, the supervisor who wants to stop reacting, the manager who wants to delegate more: they mean it. What they are missing is an understanding of how growth actually works, and a system that supports change long

Listening is one of the great paradoxes of leadership. Most of us are wired for action, and listening can feel like doing nothing. As a result, it’s easy to convince ourselves that it’s more efficient to just tell people what to do. Although we may see it as being helpful, other people often experience it as micromanaging. Is it any surprise that only 19% of employees strongly agree they trust their leadership? In our work at Team Trek, listening sits near the top of the list

When the meeting ends on time and the real conversation starts in the hallway, you had the wrong conversation. Tension on a team is normal, even healthy. It’s what happens when capable people work hard on things that matter. The damage comes when the team avoids the conversation and leaves the tension unnamed and unresolved. A few years ago, we wrote that the absence of conflict is resentment. When people stop talking, it is a sign that trust is low, concerns are not being vo