Truth, Lies and Work

Why Are Middle Managers Being Set Up to Fail? (And How to Fix It) with Kristien Turner

Are middle managers facing an absolute existential crisis? According to today’s guest, the answer is a resounding, 100% yes.

In this episode of Truth, Lies and Work, Al and Leanne sit down with Kristien Turner, founder and CEO of TK Talent Group, who works with global brands across the Americas and Europe to solve the modern talent crisis. Together, they pull back the curtain on why middle managers are drowning under the weight of AI disruption, corporate layoffs, and a severe lack of actual leadership training.

If you are a middle manager who feels like they are drowning, or an executive wondering why engagement numbers are plummeting, this episode offers a raw, practical roadmap to reclaiming control of your career and leadership strategy.

🔥 Key Takeaways From This Episode


The "Sally" Problem: Companies consistently reward top-performing individual contributors by promoting them into management without giving them a toolkit, a coach, or proper support mechanisms.


The AI Illusion: Many organizations are cutting headcount assuming AI can fully replace human roles, failing to realize that technology cannot navigate tricky performance reviews, handle workforce drama, or look a struggling employee in the eye.


The 8x8 Structural Trap: Middle managers are stuck acting as an emotional buffer for massive teams (sometimes up to 64 people deep) while running on an empty battery themselves.


The Gen Z Shift: A massive shift is occurring where younger generations do not aspire to traditional corporate management roles and prefer gig or portfolio careers, paving the way for a severe leadership skills gap by 2030.


The Power of Volunteering: How stepping outside your day job to give back can radically boost your mental health, redefine your core purpose, and expand your executive network.

🎒 Your 3-Step "Kit Bag" Strategy to Protect Your Career

If you’re a manager struggling to stay afloat right now, Kristien outlines three immediate actions you must take this week:


Have the Honest Conversation: Be vulnerable with your senior leader. Show them what is broken, present the data on why it isn't working, and ask for support. Give your organization one last chance to show up for you.


Stop Trying to Be Everyone's Everything: You are not a workplace therapist, a buffer, or a corporate savior. Share the load by implementing peer mentoring programs and opening up communication access to the senior leadership layer above you.


Build Your Kit Bag Now: Don't wait for a corporate restructuring call. Keep your CV polished, optimize your LinkedIn profile, and get out to in-person networking events to build real-world connections.

🔗 Connect with Kristien Turner & TK Talent Group


Website: https://tktalentgroup.com/


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristienturner/

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

🧠 Mental Health Support

UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines: https://findahelpline.com

🎧 Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.

In this episode of This Week in Work, Al and Leanne dive into a massive career longevity study, a leaked corporate memo from Microsoft, the sudden collapse of a 50-year-old hiring ritual, and the surprising psychological impact of the "good old days."

📰 The News Round-Up

The Rise of "Stalling Out" in Mid-CareerInside

New research from the Burning Glass Institute and NYU reveals a hidden crisis: stalling out. This happens when a professional goes five or more years without a meaningful promotion and experiences little to no wage growth. The study analyzed over 1.3 million career histories and found that nearly 1 in 4 mid-career professionals (24.2%) are completely stuck.


Read the full study in the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/white-collar-workers-career-nyu-study-a81a7d9c

Microsoft’s Leaked Employee Engagement Survey

Thanks to an internal memo leaked to Business Insider, we get a rare sneak peek into employee sentiment at Microsoft. While their overall "Thriving" score hit a healthy 79%, critical management metrics took a significant hit. The score for managers coaching employees fell five points to 76%, and giving clear feedback fell four points to 79%.


Read the leaked memo details on Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-surveys-employees-sentiment-memo-2026-6

The Death of the Technical Interview

For 35 years, tech giants like Google and Amazon have relied on grueling, whiteboard-based technical interviews. Now, Steve Yegge—the legendary senior engineer who helped build these systems—declares them completely broken. Internal data showed interview scores had almost zero correlation with actual on-the-job performance.

🧠 Truth or Lie: Can Nostalgia Make Teams Stronger?

Is looking back holding your company back, or is it a secret leadership superpower? Leanne puts "organisational nostalgia" under the psychological microscope.


The Case For: Peer-reviewed research from 2024 tracking over 3,800 employees found that during massive organizational change, employees who felt higher workplace nostalgia became better colleagues.


The Case Against: When nostalgia occurs naturally during the workday, it can make employees distracted, reduce daily task performance, and trigger lower daily well-being.


The Verdict: It's a conditional truth. Nostalgia is a powerful tool for resilience during major organisational shakeups, but leaders must use it intentionally.

🏥 The Workplace Surgery


Question 1 (Introverted Recognition): Most of my team are introverted. If I praise them publicly, they look like they want the ground to swallow them up. How do you make people feel valued without making it awkward?


Question 2 (Financial Anxiety): I get the feeling my team are carrying a lot of anxiety about the economy and layoffs. Should managers acknowledge that sort of thing, or is it better not to open a conversation you can't really solve?


Question 3 (Handling Unpopular Corporate Mandates): Our company has just mandated more days in the office and my team are not happy. How do you handle that as a manager when you end up being the face of a decision you had no say in?

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

When you don’t know the answer to a problem at work, what is your immediate reflex? Do you search for a quick answer from an AI chatbot, or do you pick up the phone to ask a colleague?

In this episode of Truth, Lies & Work, we dive deep into the hidden cultural cost of digital convenience. While artificial intelligence is incredible for cutting through administrative noise and streamlining corporate tasks, it is quietly automating away the most critical asset your business has: human connection.

Our guest today is Sean O'Shea, the brilliant mind behind Craft Your Culture and Locon. Sean spent a fascinating decade working at Microsoft, sandwiched perfectly between the leadership of Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella. He witnessed firsthand how a radical shift in corporate mindset and the intentional removal of rigid, performance-stifling systems could skyrocket a company's share price from $30 to over $540.

Now, through his data-driven work at Locon, Sean is on a mission to measure the "relationship gap" between team members. He breaks down the phenomenon of "messy moments"—those vulnerable, slightly awkward, but entirely essential human interactions that act as the true engine for workplace psychological safety, team learning, and high performance.

If you are a business leader, founder, or manager trying to navigate remote-first challenges, return-to-office mandates, or AI integration, this conversation will completely change how you design your team interactions tomorrow morning.

Key Takeaways From the Episode


The Trap of the Frictionless Workplace: AI onboarding bots and agents are fast, non-judgmental, and always available. However, by relying on them exclusively, employees bypass the vulnerable moments of asking a peer for help—the exact moments where corporate trust is built.


The High Cost of the "Relationship Gap": High performance isn’t just an aggregate of individual talent. It is directly limited by how well your people actually know each other. Loneliness and disconnection don't just hurt morale; they actively cost businesses billable hours.


The 3 Pillars of Accelerated Trust: How do you build genuine, bulletproof workplace relationships when everyone is short on time? Sean reveals the three non-negotiable ingredients: vulnerability, shared emotionally significant experiences, and active, empathetic listening.


Overcoming the "Eye of Sauron" Management Style: Reflecting on his time under Steve Ballmer's mid-year review process, Sean highlights how defensive corporate cultures destroy innovation. True leadership requires getting your ego out of the way and letting your team collaborate without you always being in the loop.


The 6 Pillars of Team Effectiveness: Sean breaks down the core framework measured by Locon: psychological safety, accountability, connection, learning, clarity, and adaptability.

Episode Timestamps


00:00 – Cold Open: Are chatbots silently killing your team's natural human connection?


01:15 – Meet Sean O'Shea: The mission to turn people potential into business performance.


04:20 – What is a "messy moment" and why are modern teams hiding from healthy conflict?


07:30 – The 3 critical elements needed to fast-track real human relationships at work.


10:45 – The AI paradox: Why a small business champion is incredibly worried about the rise of perfect tech.


15:10 – Designing connection: How leaders can architect micro-moments of collaboration instead of boring, packed agendas.


23:15 – The Train Experiment: The fascinating behavioral science proving we are terrible at predicting social interactions.


30:30 – Lessons from Microsoft: The real story behind Satya Nadella's growth mindset revolution.


39:45 – Quantifying wasted time: The data showing how many hours your team loses each month by not collaborating.


45:10 – The story of Locon: Using six-week experimental sprints to give teams true agency over their culture.

Connect with Our Guest

To learn more about Sean's work, access his data diagnostics, or follow his daily insights on corporate culture, use the links below:


Craft Your Culture Website: www.craftyourculture.co.uk


Locon Website: www.locon.co.uk


Sean O'Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soshea7/

About Truth, Lies & Work

Truth, Lies & Work is the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. Hosted by Al Elliott and Leanne Elliott, a chartered occupational psychologist, we are here to help you simplify the science of work, boost employee engagement, and build high-performing teams.

Truth, Lies & Work is a proud part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the ultimate audio destination for business professionals.

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.

This week, hosts Al Elliott and Leanne Elliott unpack the sleep science taking over TikTok, a massive shift in how Google interviews tech talent, and the ethical dilemma of corporate accountability after a major cyberattack. Plus, we dive deep into the data to see if "years of experience" actually matters on a CV, and answer community questions from the experts at The Business Psycho.

🔥 Stories Covered

1. Word of the Week: Dark Showering

Imagine a simple way to wind down your body and brain after a hard day at work using something you already do every day. Leanne introduces "dark showering"—the practice of showering in a completely dim or pitch-black bathroom as part of a bedtime routine. Far from just a social media trend, sleep researchers explain that the rapid cooling of your body post-shower mimics natural circadian signals, while the darkness stimulates melatonin production and lowers cortisol.


Source: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/dark-showering-improved-sleep-experts-debunk

2. Google Embraces AI in Job Interviews

While most companies are actively trying to ban candidates from using AI during interviews, Google is leaning all the way in. Starting later this year, software engineering candidates will be allowed to use Google's Gemini AI assistant during code comprehension interview assessments. Instead of testing rote memory, interviewers will explicitly evaluate "AI fluency," including prompt engineering, output validation, and debugging skills.


Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/google-job-interview-software-engineers-ai-assistant-coding-2026-5

3. The M&S Cyberattack: Who Pays for Corporate Failures?

Following a massive cyberattack that wiped £131.3 million off annual profits and dropped market value by 12%, UK retailer Marks & Spencer made a sweeping decision: no employee bonuses will be paid this year. This affects 63,000 workers, from the shop floor straight up to the CEO. While leadership "sharing the pain" equally sounds noble, it raises major workplace culture questions.


Source: https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/m-and-s-cyberattack-wipes-131m-off-annual-profits-xrlldf7lb

🧠 Truth or Lie: Is Experience the Best Predictor of Job Performance?

We have all seen job postings demanding "5 to 10 years of experience". It feels like the safest metric for hiring managers. But does a century of organisational psychology actually back this up?

💬 Workplace Surgery – Special Edition with 'The Business Psycho'

This week, Al and Leanne take a trip into the online community forum The Business Psycho—a hub founded by Mary Luu for business psychologists, HR leaders, and curious professionals. Leanne tackles three brilliant questions submitted straight from the community members:


Can business and occupational psychology skills be applied outside work and in everyday life?


What is the single hardest workplace problem Leanne has ever had to solve as a Chartered Occupational Psychologist?


Is work-life balance actually realistic in highly competitive industries?


Connect with Mary Luu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trambaoluu/


Check out the community forum: thebusinesspsycho.framer.website/forum

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture.

As artificial intelligence accelerates and automation becomes a fixture in our workplaces, a massive shift is happening. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs data maps out the skills that will define the next five years, and the top of the human skills list reads less like a traditional training catalogue and more like a description of a great therapist: empathy, active listening, resilience, and the ability to influence without authority.

This week, we are joined for a third time by management and leadership coach Vince Sanderson. With 14 years of coaching experience and millions of likes on social media, Vince’s mission is to teach leaders the vital human-centric skills they very often never get formal training on.

In this episode, we break down these "soft skills" into actionable workplace behaviours, discuss why a manager has more impact on an employee's life satisfaction than a therapist, and identify the single "multiplier" skill that will define successful leadership this decade.

🔑 Key Takeaways from the Episode


The Shift from "Soft" to "Core" Skills: The term "soft skills" originated in the 1960s US Army to differentiate human capabilities from equipment hardware. Today, framing them as human-centric or core skills is vital to demonstrating their financial and operational importance to a business.


Complexity Translation & Pattern Recognition: Analytical thinking in leadership isn't just about data; it’s about taking strategic plans and translating them into meaningful language so individual team members see how their role fits into the bigger picture.


The 4 Levels of Listening: Most people operate in conversational listening (waiting for their turn to talk). True leadership requires active listening—employing silence, reflection, and simple coaching questions to let employees uncover their own clarity.


Influence vs. Manipulation: Social influence is the ability to move people without relying on positional authority. The difference between influence and manipulation comes entirely down to intent—true influence serves the collective good, built on the law of reciprocity.


The Power of Emotional Regulation: To foster a resilient and psychologically safe team culture, managers must first master their own emotional regulation and be willing to role-model vulnerability and setbacks.

🎙️ Meet the Guest

Vince Sanderson is a highly sought-after management coach, keynote speaker, and content creator dedicated to helping corporate leaders bridge the training gap.

Connect with Vince:


Website: www.vincentsanderson.com


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vince-sanderson-9957a5254/


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vincent_sanderson/


TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vincentsanderson


YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vincentsanderson460

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

Truth, Lies & Work is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. Help us simplify the science of work by connecting with us below!


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork


Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott


Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne


Email: hello@truthliesandwork.com


Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

🧠 Mental Health Support

If you or someone you know is struggling with workplace burnout, stress, or mental health challenges, please reach out to these free and confidential resources:


UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org


UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk


US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org


Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au


Global helplines: https://findahelpline.com