The Vanishing Middle – Reimagining the Connective Layer of Leadership 

By Sarah Jenkins, Menzies Leadership Foundation

Flattening the hierarchy is easy. Rebuilding the connective layer of leadership is the true test of resilience in 2025. 

Leadership is often imagined as a pyramid: vision at the top, action at the base, and a critical middle layer translating between the two. But in 2025, that middle is vanishing. Not only in organisations, where middle managers are being cut in favour of flatter structures, but across communities and systems. 

In governments, intermediary agencies are consolidated. In civic life, local associations lose funding. In companies, supervisors are tasked with more reports and less coaching. Everywhere we look, the connective tissue is thinning. The danger is clear: when connectors disappear, systems lose their ability to translate, adapt, and sustain trust.

Flattening Without Connection 

In corporate life, the trend is unmistakable. Many organisations have pursued “delayering” to reduce costs. While the intent is agility, the outcome is managers with ballooning spans of control, and staff with less guidance and mentoring. 

The Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2025 report confirms this strain, showing falling engagement globally, with weaker connections between employees and managers. 

At the societal level, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 identifies societal polarisation as one of the most acute risks, amplified by disinformation and weakening civic institutions. 

Simultaneously, the Edelman Trust Barometer 2025 records that two-thirds of people feel “the system” is stacked against them. This sense of unfairness is magnified when intermediary organisations — the very bodies that bridge systems and communities — are hollowed out. 

Why the Middle Matters 

The middle is often undervalued because it is less visible. Senior leaders attract attention with vision. Frontline actors are celebrated for delivery. But it is the middle that ensures alignment, coordination, and trust. 

• Middle managers guide teams, interpret strategy, and provide feedback loops.
• Community intermediaries convene voices, mediate conflicts, and make policy relatable.
• Civic connectors — from local journalists to neighbourhood associations — ensure information flows both ways.

Without these roles, leaders at the top lose touch with lived reality, and those at the base lose context and purpose. Systems become brittle, easily fractured by shocks or polarisation. 

Leadership Across Levels 

At the individual level 
Each of us can act as a connector. A teacher who links curriculum to students’ lived experiences. A nurse who bridges clinical advice with cultural context. A mentor who translates abstract opportunities into actionable steps for a young leader. These small acts of translation are forms of leadership, even if they rarely make headlines. 

At the organisational level 
For companies and institutions, the challenge is to invest in connective roles even when efficiency pressures mount. Frontier firms adopting AI still require human connectors to interpret outputs and sustain culture. The middle manager’s role must be reimagined: less about gatekeeping, more about enabling. Technology should strip away administration, not human connection. 

At the community and system level 
Here, the stakes are highest. When governments centralise decision-making, or when community organisations are defunded, the connective capacity of society erodes. Policies may be well designed but fail in practice because they cannot be translated locally. In Australia, the gap between federal initiatives and local realities is often filled by councils, NGOs, and community leaders. When these actors lack resources, grievance grows. 

Connective Leadership in Practice 

• Indigenous-led organisations in Northern Australia act as connectors between government frameworks and cultural realities. When resourced, they translate policy into programs that resonate. When neglected, mistrust deepens.
• Local councils during climate disasters, such as the 2022 floods, coordinated between state authorities and citizens, translating orders into action. Without them, response efforts faltered.
• Corporate connectors — team leads in hybrid workplaces — determine whether distributed work feels empowering or alienating. 

These examples reveal a consistent truth: the middle holds systems together. 

What Leaders Can Do 

1. Reframe the role of the middle 
   Stop seeing middle layers as bureaucracy. Recognise them as translators, culture carriers, and enablers of resilience. 
2. Invest in connectors 
   Provide resources, training, and recognition for roles that hold complexity — from middle managers to community intermediaries. 
3. Redesign workflows 
   Use technology to automate administrative tasks so human connectors can focus on coaching, convening, and culture. 
4. Support local capacity 
   Fund councils, NGOs, and civic groups that act as bridges between citizens and institutions. Without them, policy legitimacy weakens. 

Risks of Ignoring the Middle 

If leaders continue to hollow out the middle, three risks emerge: 

• Disconnection: Leaders at the top lose touch with lived experiences, leading to tone-deaf decisions. 
• Disengagement: People at the base feel unseen and unsupported, fuelling mistrust. 
• Fragility: Systems lose adaptive capacity, making them vulnerable to crises and polarisation. 

Flattening hierarchies may create short-term efficiency. But without connective tissue, the long-term cost is legitimacy. 

The Leadership of Connection 

The vanishing middle is not inevitable. It is the result of choices. Leaders can choose to rebuild connective roles — valuing them not as cost centres but as strategic assets. This requires imagination: rethinking the manager’s role, revaluing intermediaries, and designing systems that honour connection. 

Ultimately, leadership is not just about vision or execution. It is about the capacity to connect — to bridge perspectives, translate complexity, and carry culture. Reimagining the middle is not a technical fix; it is a civic responsibility.  

🔗 Research Links for Embedding 

• WEF Global Risks Report 2025 (PDF): https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2025.pdf 

• WEF digest page: https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2025/digest/ 

• Edelman Trust Barometer 2025: https://www.edelman.com/trust/2025/trust-barometer 

• Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2025 (PDF): https://www.gallup.com/file/workplace/659528/state-of-the-global-workplace-2025-download.pdf