Research from the Chartered Management Institute with YouGov, a 2023 survey of 4,500 UK workers and managers, found that 82% of people entering management roles have had no formal management or leadership training (source). CMI calls them "accidental managers": people promoted into management without being prepared to manage people.
The problem is not that these people lack potential. It is that they are given the responsibility to lead before they are given the tools to lead well.
Why the Best Performer Gets Promoted
In most organisations, the person who steps up is the person who is already excellent at the job. They turn up on time, know the process, understand the standards and solve problems before they grow. Managers trust them and colleagues respect them.
So when a team leader or supervisor role opens up, they look like the obvious choice. It is like a football team making its best player captain. It makes sense: they lead by example, they know what good looks like and they already have credibility with the team. Often, they are the right person.
But being a brilliant individual contributor and being ready to lead other people are not the same thing.
The Role Changes Overnight
Before promotion, success depends on your own output, your own standards and your own reliability. After it, success depends on other people. That is a completely different challenge, and people are rarely as straightforward as a process, a product or a system.
Someone can have 20 years' experience as an engineer, technician, operator or specialist and still be an apprentice when it comes to managing people. They may know five ways to solve a technical problem but never have been taught how to delegate, adapt their communication to different personalities, or give difficult feedback to someone they used to work alongside. Or to someone they consider a mate.
From the Training Room
A newly promoted supervisor notices someone is late at the start of a shift. It matters, not because of five minutes in isolation, but because the whole shift depends on people being where they need to be. Someone else waits, a handover is rushed and the pressure moves elsewhere.
The supervisor knows this but says nothing clearly the first time, or the second. Maybe they joke about it or drop a hint. Then, when frustration has built up, the conversation comes out badly. What could have been a calm conversation about expectations has become personal. The other person feels attacked, the supervisor feels undermined, and sometimes HR has to step in.
The original issue was not complicated. The leader simply did not yet have the confidence, structure or language to address it early.
What New Leaders Struggle With
New leaders rarely struggle for lack of effort. They struggle because they are still trying to succeed the way they did before. They keep doing the work themselves because it feels quicker, and become the bottleneck. They avoid difficult conversations to keep the peace. They assume expectations are obvious, then get frustrated when people miss them. And they keep communicating like a peer, even though the relationship has changed.
When the relationship changes, the same words land differently. A joke between colleagues feels different coming from someone with authority. A blunt comment that used to be brushed off can sound like criticism. That does not mean a new leader has to become distant or formal. It means becoming more aware, more intentional and more consistent.
Why It Matters to the Whole Team
First-line managers shape the culture people experience every day. They influence whether problems are raised early or hidden, whether standards are clear or vague, and whether people feel supported or blamed.
When new leaders are not supported, the cost rarely stops with them. Morale drops, teamwork suffers, good people leave, and the manager can burn out trying to do their old job during the day and their new one around the edges. A strong team can slowly become a leaky bucket, often starting with a promotion that made complete sense on paper.
Strong technical people can absolutely become strong leaders. Some of the best leaders are the people who know the work and have earned the team's respect. But they still need support with the transition: how to prioritise, delegate, set expectations, motivate different people, and stay fair and calm when things get difficult.
A Quick Win
Ask any new or aspiring leader one question: "What am I still doing myself that I should now be helping someone else learn?"
It often opens a much better conversation, because the first challenge for many new leaders is not learning something new. It is letting go of the old version of success.
Final Thought
Promotion gives someone the responsibility to lead. Practice, feedback and support are what help them do it well. If this made you think of someone in your organisation, it may be worth asking whether they have had the support they need.
Our New & Aspiring Leaders programme supports people in the 12 months either side of promotion. Explore the programme or book a free discovery call.
