---
title: "Episode 36: Employee Engagement: Fixing the Survive Work Problem — with Patrick Manigault"
description: Executive Coach Patrick Manigault explains why only 21% of employees feel engaged and how relational leadership and trust fix a survive work problem.
---

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Activating Greatness Podcast Episodes July 6, 2026 | Episode 36

# Employee Engagement: Fixing the Survive Work Problem — with Patrick Manigault

## We Have a Survive Work Problem: Patrick Manigault on Fixing Employee Engagement

**In this post:** *Employee engagement sits at just 21% globally, and Executive Coach Patrick Manigault says most programs treat symptoms. He explains how robot culture, busyness, and transactional leadership keep people surviving work, and how relationship-based accountability changes that.*

During the pandemic, Patrick Manigault watched one organization try to protect itself from a looming recession. Leaders worried about revenue targets and falling behind. So they raised performance expectations and, at the same time, tossed a bunch of well-being resources at their people.

Manigault calls it the "gather acorn strategy." The intent was good. The result told him something bigger about employee engagement.

"I was working with people who were not just trying to survive a pandemic, but what I eventually concluded was that they were also trying to survive their jobs," Manigault said on Episode 36 of *Activating Greatness*, the leadership podcast from Velocity Advisory Group.

Manigault describes himself as a former physicist turned business consultant and executive coach. He has spent 25 years in professional services, has coached more than 500 business professionals, and now coaches with Velocity. His forthcoming book, *Humanity at Work: How Caring People Will Create Thriving Workplaces*, argues that most engagement efforts fail for a simple reason: They treat symptoms while the underlying system keeps grinding.

## Why Employee Engagement Programs Stall

Manigault's definition of engagement is plain. It is "how much I want to be there in my job and how much I'm willing to give it my best."

He cited a Gallup survey of the global workplace that found just 21% of people are engaged at work. Disengagement shows up as poor motivation, weaker work quality, missed days, and people staying quiet when they should speak up.

Companies have responded with recognition programs, better communication channels, well-being support, development, purpose, and belonging. Manigault calls them good things and stops short of calling the approach broken. "It's actually just inadequate to produce thriving work environments," he said, because "we're treating symptoms and not actually the underlying issue or cause."

The result is a contradiction. "It's almost like we have our foot on the gas to make things better," he said. "And then we also have our foot on the brake at the same time."

## Surviving the Week

"We have a survive work problem," Manigault said.

Burnout and overwork are the symptoms. When he asks the people he coaches why they are surviving their jobs, and sets money aside, the answers repeat: poor relationships with managers and colleagues, missing opportunities, and a sense that the organization does not see, respect, support, or value them as human beings.

The problem is built into everyday language. People talk about a case of the Mondays, getting over hump day, and thank God it's Friday. Ask what someone would do after winning the lottery, and most say they would quit on the spot. "It's always anything but this," Manigault said.

> "We have a survive work problem."
> 
> *Patrick Manigault, Executive Coach, Velocity Advisory Group*

## Where Robot Culture Came From

Manigault traces the problem to what he calls the machine mindset, or robot culture. Workplaces "really weren't built with human beings in mind," he said. "They were built to optimize productivity, focused on efficiency, control, and output."

The roots run to the Industrial Revolution. Manigault credits the era with real technological progress, but he quotes a line attributed to Henry Ford: "Why is it that I always get the whole person when what I really want is a pair of hands?"

Frederick Taylor's scientific management theory, built partly on principles from physics, pushed the same direction. For a former physicist, the flaw is obvious. Taylor "was applying the science of objects to organizations and people," Manigault said.

That mindset survives in modern systems. On one project, his organization urged everyone to collaborate for the client while running a forced ranking performance review. Everyone knew they had to beat the person next to them to get promoted. "Little things started to creep up," he said. People withheld information and quietly undermined one another.

He does not frame the answer as people or profit. Leaders swing back and forth between the two, he said, when they should "figure out how do we value both equally."

FREE ONE-PAGE CHECKLIST

### The Survive Work Checklist

Use it to spot the systems, habits, and relationships that leave your team surviving work, then pick one brake to release this week.

[Get the free checklist](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/survive-work-checklist)

## Relationship-Based Accountability

To explain the shift from transactional to relational leadership, Manigault turned the question on host Alec McChesney, a sales leader. Why can't a slide deck full of numbers close a deal?

"People only buy from people that they know, like, and trust," McChesney said.

Then he applied the idea to accountability. In his twenties, friends would give up an entire day to help him move, sometimes before he had even packed. "At no point during that experience do I say, oh well, I'm going to hold you accountable to helping me move," he said. If a friend had to back out, that friend would call, apologize, and try to find someone else.

"I call that relationship-based accountability," he said. At work, the same bond means a colleague thinks, "I don't want to let Patrick down." If someone capable still is not following through, the leader's job is to find out what is blocking them.

## From Busyness to Presence

Relational leadership starts with the leader. Manigault names three requirements: self-care, self-regulation, and self-awareness. A depleted leader who has not eaten well or exercised will struggle to regulate emotions, let alone support anyone else. "They all have to be there in order for me to show up as a relational leader," he said.

His book challenges several core beliefs about work. One is that work is not supposed to be fun. Fun, he argues, is "an indication that we're working together the right way." He also devotes a chapter to busyness killing the heart. The shift, he said, "is from urgency and busyness to presence" and discernment.

His daily habit makes presence practical: clarifying others' agenda. Even with his own plan in hand, he asks the room, "Is there anything else that we need to make sure that we give time to?"

The best advice he ever received works against robot culture, too. "Don't compare your inner to other people's outer," he said. People show up with their best face, and "you don't always see what's going on behind the scenes unless you ask them."

Other guests on *Activating Greatness* have made a similar case. Dan Silvert of Velocity explained [why relationships drive culture](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-3-the-human-advantage-dan-silvert), Lisa Calicchio described [how leaders can fix work](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-28-fixing-broken-work-lisa-calicchio), and Laura London shared how to [calm the chaos instead of just surviving it](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-24-calm-the-chaos-laura-london).

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Why is employee engagement so low?

Patrick Manigault, an Executive Coach with Velocity Advisory Group, points to a Gallup finding that only 21% of people globally are engaged at work. He argues that most engagement programs treat symptoms while the underlying machine mindset remains. Workplaces built for efficiency, control, and output leave people surviving their jobs.

### What is relationship-based accountability?

Relationship-based accountability is Patrick Manigault's term for follow-through that comes from connection instead of oversight. He compares it to friends who show up to help you move without being held accountable. When colleagues know and trust each other, they do not want to let each other down. If a capable person still does not deliver, leaders should find out what is blocking them.

### What is the difference between transactional and relational leadership?

Transactional leadership focuses on tasks, numbers, and output. Relational leadership invests time in getting to know people, which builds the trust that makes collaboration and accountability easier. Patrick Manigault said the one thing great leaders must stop doing is "prioritizing transactions over relationships." He argues organizations must value people and profit equally.

### How can leaders reduce burnout and busyness culture?

Patrick Manigault recommends shifting from urgency and busyness to presence and discernment, which means slowing down long enough to check in on how people are doing. Leaders also need self-care, self-regulation, and self-awareness to show up well for others. Self-compassion matters too, he said, in a system that always asks for more.

HOW VELOCITY HELPS

### Velocity Executive Coaching

Manigault's argument starts with the leader: self-care, self-regulation, self-awareness, and the discipline to choose presence over busyness. Those habits are hard to build alone, especially under pressure to hit the next number. Velocity's Executive Coaching offers confidential one-on-one work with a Velocity Coach, a space to examine how a leader builds trust, shares accountability, and shows up for the team. The aim is a leader people want to follow, not one they survive.

[Explore Executive Coaching](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/executive-coaching/)

## The Takeaway: Bring That Person to Work

Manigault closed with a line from the conclusion of his book. "Remind yourself of who you were in the most caring moments of your life," he said. "Remember how great it felt to be that person. Then bring that person to work."

The advice sounds soft, but the logic is hard-edged. Engagement will not rise while systems pit people against each other and busyness crowds out every conversation. Leaders who fix the relationships fix the brake. Everything else they are already doing for engagement finally gets a chance to work.

## Listen to the Full Episode

Hear Patrick Manigault's full conversation with host Alec McChesney on *Activating Greatness*. [Find it on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@VelocityAdvisoryGroup), or listen on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/4LcgAut0KyYiGyDhFvMjPD) and [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1868386871).

FREE GUIDE

### The Relationship-Based Accountability Model

Build follow-through on trust instead of oversight. This framework helps you invest in real relationships with your team, spot what is blocking capable people, and replace transactions with connection.

[Get the free guide](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/relationship-based-accountability-model)

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