Relationships Crucial to Managers’ Well-Being
New Danish research shows that managers’ well-being depends heavily on the relationships they maintain with their own manager, with fellow managers, and with a wider network within the organization. Researchers Malene Friis Andersen, a visiting researcher at the National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NFA) in Denmark, and Jan Heiberg Johansen interviewed a total of 22 managers in the Danish healthcare sector, including head nurses, in one Danish region in March 2025. The study is a collaboration between NFA and Aalborg University (Denmark). Participants had between two and 25 years of managerial experience. The findings were published in a scientific paper titled “From Individual to Group: Organizational and Relational Strategies for Nurse Leader Well-Being”.
Support from One’s Own Manager Weighs Heavily
The interviews show that the relationship with one’s own, direct manager is decisive for how managers feel. “Managers’ relationship with their own immediate manager is actually really important for their well-being,” says Andersen. Managers need room to discuss difficult situations and help prioritizing tasks, since many feel they have too much work. Especially in critical situations, such as major budget cuts or a serious complaint, the researchers say that fast and visible support from one’s own manager is decisive for the trust managers have afterward. According to Andersen, in such situations managers ask themselves: “Do I have to manage this alone, or can I count on support from my manager and my fellow managers when things get difficult?”
Peer Networks and the Role of Time
Contact with other managers also proves important. A group of managers in which colleagues help each other with dilemmas can provide support, but a poorly functioning group—for example when confidential information is passed on or used against someone—can instead lead to loneliness. A wider network of managers from other departments offers extra room to speak freely, because less personal interest is at stake there; however, siloed thinking and physical distance weaken that bond. High workloads, administrative tasks, and unclear roles leave managers little time to support one another. “Relationships need time and occasion to be able to function as support and as a buffer,” says Andersen. The researchers therefore call for organizational time and fixed meeting moments, rather than only individual interventions such as coaching. Earlier NFA research also showed that employees run a lower risk of long-term sick leave when they experience the quality of leadership as high. The study is limited to one region and sector, which limits its broader applicability.
Context
The Danish research aligns with broader international signals about rising pressure on managers. According to polls by research firm Gallup in 2020 and 2021 among full-time working adults in the United States, the share of managers who felt burned out “very often” or “always” rose from 28 percent in 2020 to 35 percent in 2021, while stress and anxiety among managers remained high and declined among individual contributors and senior leaders. Gallup cites a lack of communication and support from one’s own manager as a possible explanation; at the time, only one in four managers said they could maintain a healthy work-life balance. Together with the Danish research, this underscores that managers’ well-being is strongly determined by the relationships and support they experience within their organization.
Source: Relaties zijn belangrijk voor het welzijn van leidinggevenden, 29 October 2026
Also consulted: NFA/Aalborg University, “From Individual to Group: Organizational and Relational Strategies for Nurse Leader Well-Being”; Gallup, “Manager Burnout Is Only Getting Worse” (2021)
