Hi Reader
In most services, there is one person everyone leans on.
The manager who takes the late calls.
The senior who covers the shift gap.
The person who “just handles it” so the rest of the team can keep moving.
The problem is, what happens when that person has no one of their own?
No space to think.
No sounding board to test decisions.
No place to say, “I am at the edge,” without someone telling them to hold a little more.
That is the hidden cost of unsupported managers.
The whole service feels it, long before the org realises it has a leadership problem.
Today’s Hyphae article starts with a moment I’ve seen too many times.
A manager standing in the corridor at 4:55 p.m., holding a roster gap in one hand, a family concern in the other, and absolutely no space left to process either.
She wasn’t overwhelmed because she lacked capability.
She was overwhelmed because she had become the system’s shock absorber.
In the article, I walk through how this happens, why it’s so common across aged care, health, and community services, and the hidden cost organisations pay when the strongest person has no support of their own.
This email is the short version. The article shows you what leaders are really carrying and what it signals for 2026.
As this cost is not only burnout.
It shows up as:
- Slower decisions, because there is no safe place to think them through.
- Good people leaving, because their manager has nothing left to give.
- Near misses that are really signals that a leader is carrying too much alone.
Unsupported managers keep services running, until they do not.
📖 Read the full article on The Hidden Cost of Unsupported Managers https://www.hyphaenetwork.com/latest-news-2/hidden-cost-of-unsupported-managers
Where mentoring changes this
When managers finally get structured support, the shift is noticeable.
In past Hyphae mentoring cohorts, I have seen managers:
- Use mentoring sessions to unpack one difficult decision each fortnight, then stop second guessing themselves.
- Bring one “jam” from the week, work it through with a mentor, and turn it into a repeatable pattern for their team.
- Stay in roles they were planning to leave, because they no longer felt alone in the load.
Mentoring does not remove pressure.
It gives managers a circuit breaker, so the pressure does not turn into harm.
And that is where mentors become part of stabilising the whole system.
An invitation, if you are the person others lean on
If you are the person your colleagues call when they have a hard day or a hard decision, you are already doing informal mentoring.
The Hyphae Mentoring Program gives that instinct structure.
As a Hyphae mentor, you:
- Bring your lived experience in aged care, health, or community services.
- Meet regularly with a leader who is carrying real responsibility.
- Help them turn weekly pressure into clearer decisions, better boundaries, and steadier teams.
You are not there to fix their service.
You are there so they do not have to navigate it alone.
If this newsletter series has sounded uncomfortably familiar, and you want to be part of changing the story for the next wave of managers, I would love you to consider joining the mentor pool for the 2026 cohort.
👉 Apply Now (Mentor) https://www.hyphaenetwork.com/mentor
For managers who see this in their team (or themselves)
If you read this and thought, “This is me,” you are not alone.
If you read this and thought of one person on your team who is carrying more than they should, forward this email to them.
Most managers will not put their hand up first.
Sometimes we need someone to say, “You do not have to hold all of this alone.”
The 2026 Hyphae Public Mentoring Cohort is for leaders across aged care, health, and community services who want:
- A confidential space to think clearly under pressure.
- Practical systems to stop decisions piling up.
- Support to stay in the work, instead of burning out of it.
If you are a senior leader, this is one of the simplest things you can put in place to stabilise your leadership pipeline in 2026.
👉 Learn More (Mentee) https://www.hyphaenetwork.com/mentee
There is no expectation to decide today.
Right now, it is enough to know that support exists, and that places for 2026 will be limited.
Your reflection for this week
Take five minutes and ask yourself:
- Who do I go to when I am at the edge of my capacity?
- What is one decision I have been avoiding that would feel lighter if I could talk it through?
If your answer to the first question is “no one,” this is your signal, not a judgement. Support is not a luxury for managers. It is part of safe care.
Small systems.
Real support.
That is the work.
Warmly,
P.S. After three years away, I'm back with a stronger mentoring program. Just for you. There are only 20 places. Consider securing your seat early.
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Six months. Six conversations.
One mentor who understands your world.
Structured support for leaders who’ve led reform from the front and want to sustain it.
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