After analyzing over one million assessments of more than 75,000 leaders worldwide, Zenger Folkman identified six critical leadership capabilities in their I-RAISE model. The first, and they argue most important, is Inspiration: "Delivering results is often the 'push,' but leaders also need to know how to 'pull' by inspiring and motivating their colleagues."
Their research shows that having a profound strength in inspiration alone brings leaders nearly to the top quartile of effectiveness. The impact is measurable and contagious: "Leaders strongly influence the people who report to them, but it doesn't stop there. It flows down to the levels below."
Yet despite this clear evidence, most organizations struggle to develop inspirational leadership at scale. According to Gallup's Q2 2025 employee engagement data, U.S. employees remain detached from their organizations, with only 32% engaged at work. The cost of this disengagement now exceeds $2 trillion in lost productivity. Most employees (51%) are actively looking for other opportunities, and only 19% are extremely satisfied with their employer.
Gallup's research identifies what employees want most from leaders is hope, defined as "a clear vision of the future and their role in it." Yet 32% describe their workplace as isolated or impersonal, 29% lack clear communication from leaders, and only 28% feel their opinions count.
For contact centers, this detachment crisis arrives at the worst possible moment. As AI and self-service deflect simple interactions, agents increasingly handle the most emotionally charged and complex contacts. The cognitive load intensifies. Stress accelerates. Burnout follows. High attrition drives up hiring and training costs, erodes service quality, and makes consistent customer experiences nearly impossible to maintain.
In this environment, workforce stability becomes your #1 competitive moat.
The problem runs deeper than individual capability. Organizations lack the systems that make inspirational leadership practical and consistent.
Why Distance Kills Inspiration
Zenger Folkman's research on leadership contagion reveals why. Leadership behavior flows down through organizations, level by level. But that contagion requires proximity and consistency. You cannot inspire from a distance. You cannot build trust through announcements. You cannot demonstrate commitment through emails.
The challenge becomes acute in large organizations. How do you create the proximity and consistency required for inspirational leadership when senior executives are three levels removed from frontline teams? Traditional performance management doesn't solve this. Dashboards show data. Reports highlight gaps. But none create the authentic connections that drive engagement.
Zenger Folkman's latest research on team development reinforces this point. They found that organizations invest heavily in individual leadership development but neglect the infrastructure for building great teams. Their analysis of high-performing teams identified critical factors including strategic alignment, cross-functional cooperation, mutual support, and positive recognition culture - all of which require consistent interaction, not periodic speeches.
Building the Connection System
At TouchPoint One , we've watched this in action through A-GAME Leagues within our Acuity platform. The Xtreme league demonstrates this. Senior leaders draft their own teams from frontline agents across the organization and compete based on actual performance metrics
This creates what research says matters:
Weekly matchups create natural coaching touchpoints. Real metrics drive competition. Leaders bet their reputation on their team's success. Gamification becomes infrastructure for the behaviors research identifies as critical.
The Results
When Aucera (a ResultsCX company) implemented A-GAME Leagues, results validated the infrastructure thesis.
The qualitative feedback matters as much as the numbers:
"Just engaging with the leaders and playing A-GAME made me want to come to work more - it was inspiring to me!"
"My agents actually get excited about their scores now. When they see they're moving up they come to ME asking how to improve."
Aucera's Chief Client Officer Lissa Love said it well.
"This program provided a platform for our executive team to connect with the heart and soul of our operation. It allowed us to step out of our traditional roles and leverage our experience and passion for supporting our team members in a truly meaningful way."
Time to Build the Moat
As AI reshapes contact centers by deflecting simple interactions, your agents handle increasingly complex and emotionally demanding work. They're more valuable than ever - and more vulnerable to burnout.
If engagement scores remain stuck despite leadership's commitment to improvement, examine your infrastructure. Are your systems designed only to measure performance, or do they actively create the proximity, consistency, and shared stakes that make inspirational leadership contagious?
Most organizations built performance management for monitoring and control. Workforce stability requires infrastructure for connection and engagement. The organizations that build this won't just see better engagement scores - they'll develop genuine competitive advantage in an era where most of the workforce feels detached and is actively looking for their next opportunity.
To learn more about how TouchPoint One's Acuity platform and A-GAME Leagues create infrastructure for leadership engagement, visit touchpointone.com or schedule a demonstration.
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/692954/anemic-employee-engagement-points-leadership-challenges.aspx
https://www.gallup.com/analytics/656315/leadership-needs-of-followers.aspx
