By Karl Wood (Paraphrased in British English)
It’s a familiar pattern in many organisations: a high-performing individual is promoted into management a moment of celebration. Yet, not long after, enthusiasm gives way to stress, performance dips, and confusion sets in. What went wrong? Quite simply, we handed someone the reins without ever showing them how to drive the carriage.
In truth, we’re setting too many managers up to falter. According to the Chartered Management Institute, a staggering 82% of first-time managers receive no formal training. That’s four in five. These individuals are not lacking in potential they’re simply under-equipped. And when leadership is left to chance, the consequences ripple far beyond the individual.
The Accidental Manager Trap
Time and again, we reward technical brilliance with promotion. The top-performing analyst becomes the team lead. The best developer is now a people manager. But what we fail to recognise is that technical excellence and leadership capability are two different currencies.
Leadership demands a different kind of toolkit one rooted not in mastery of a task, but in understanding human dynamics. Without that, even the most well-meaning new managers begin to flounder. Micromanagement creeps in. Communication fractures. Stress builds. And gradually, team morale begins to erode.
This isn’t isolated to one industry or geography it’s a pattern that plays out globally. The “accidental manager” has become a silent saboteur of growth and wellbeing in organisations.
Sink or Swim Is Not a Strategy
We would never hire someone into finance and expect them to “figure out” the numbers. Yet we do exactly that with people leadership. We assume it will come naturally that time, exposure, or instinct will suffice.
But managing people is a skill one as learnable and measurable as any technical craft. When we subscribe to a sink-or-swim mindset, we don’t just risk the manager failing; we compromise the team’s experience too. Productivity stalls, motivation dwindles, and trust is slowly eroded.
In the hospitality world, we understood this early on. A five-star experience doesn’t happen by chance it’s the result of coaching, standards, and culture working in harmony. The same logic must apply to our leaders.
Leadership Is Not Just Delegation
Many believe that management development is about time allocation or task delegation. But true leadership is about clarity, connection, and care.
Great managers do three things exceptionally well:
- They instil purpose. They help teams understand why their work matters, connecting daily actions to wider organisational ambitions.
- They listen and engage. Leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue. It’s about creating safe space for feedback, listening with intent, and acting with empathy.
- They tailor their style. Every individual brings unique strengths and motivations. Effective managers adjust their approach, building trust through understanding rather than control.
Put simply, they lead by example, not by instruction. They foster environments where people feel seen, trusted, and motivated to excel.
The Hidden Cost of Untrained Managers
When we neglect management training, the fallout is profound. Disengagement rises. Attrition follows. And productivity falters. Replacing an employee costs between six to nine months of their salary but the real cost is cultural. Toxic work environments are not born overnight they’re nurtured by poor leadership.
Creativity becomes a casualty. Innovation is stifled. And stress becomes the norm. This isn’t just bad for performance it’s corrosive for long-term organisational health.
And yet, despite this evidence, many firms still treat leadership training as optional. Why?
The Real Culprit: Structural Inertia
Even when leadership development exists, it’s often isolated from organisational systems. We build individual capability but then return managers to environments that punish autonomy and reward control.
Research shows managers tend to excel in areas like self-awareness and emotional intelligence but struggle to influence culture or strategy. Not because they lack capacity, but because the structures around them restrict it.
Leadership can’t flourish in a vacuum. If the surrounding culture doesn’t evolve, even the best-trained managers will feel like they’re steering against the current.
A Better Way Forward
If we truly want to build future-ready organisations, we must reframe how we develop leaders. Here’s where to start:
- Nurture a leadership culture. Leadership isn’t reserved for the boardroom. Encourage initiative and accountability at every level.
- Empower decision-making. Micromanagement kills momentum. Give managers the autonomy to lead, not just execute.
- Commit to continuous learning. Leadership is an evolving craft. Provide ongoing coaching, peer learning, and feedback loops to help managers stay adaptive.
Creating cultures of excellence starts with intentional design not one-off workshops.
Leadership Is Learnt And It’s Time We Started Teaching It
Leadership is not innate. It’s cultivated. It’s coached. And above all, it’s practised in context.
Throwing people into the deep end doesn’t build resilience it breeds burnout. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
When we invest in building strong managers, we don’t just elevate individuals we unlock the full potential of our teams and organisations. The road to operational precision and people-powered performance runs through leadership. Let’s stop treating it as a luxury and start treating it as the competitive advantage it truly is.
