70% of Engagement Comes Down to One Thing. Your Boss.

Featuring Burl Stamp, FACHE, President, Stamp and Chase | Author, Becoming a Better Boss

Before we get started, sit with this number: 70%. That is how much of employee engagement is determined not by your comp structure, your benefits package, or your culture initiative. It comes down to one thing. The person they report to.

Bo sits down with Burl Stamp, former hospital CEO, fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and author of the most timely leadership book in healthcare this year. Burl has spent more than two decades studying what separates the leaders people want to follow from the ones they simply tolerate.

🧠 The Middle Manager Crisis Has a Second 70% Nobody Quotes
Gallup's landmark research showed that 70% of employee engagement is determined by the manager. The second stat from that same study almost never gets cited: 70% of middle managers said they felt ill-prepared for the challenges they face. That was before the pandemic, in 2018. Today, with span of control reaching 60, 80, and even 100 direct reports in some nursing roles, the white flag is going up.

📋 The TEAM Framework: Four Levers That Actually Work
Burl's framework built from the research: Teach, Empower, Align, Mentor. His top three practical tactics for any middle manager starting today: listen more than you speak in every team interaction, give small doses of immediate feedback consistently rather than saving it for annual reviews, and take care of yourself, because staff can tell when their manager is running on empty and when they are genuinely present.

🔍 Where Leadership Development Fails
Organizations spend enormous energy on learning objectives and workshop design. Then the workshop ends. Burl's direct assessment: worry more about what happens after the workshop than before it. If behaviors are not changing and turnover is not moving, the workshop score does not matter.

📖 Resources

Becoming a Better Boss by Burl Stamp: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Better-Boss-leader-tolerate/dp/1971718149/

Connect with Burl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burlstamp | stampandchase.com

Great leaders are, first and foremost, self-reflective. They are always asking how they lead and how they can lead better.

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