Most Managers Receive No Formal Training. Here’s How Intentional Development Plans Can Support Them.
The Evolving Landscape of Leadership: Are We Setting Our Managers Up for Success?
The modern workplace is a dynamic, ever-shifting landscape, characterized by rapid advancements in technology, evolving workforce demographics, and a constant demand for adaptability. In this complex environment, effective leadership is more important than ever; yet, many organizations inadvertently set their managers up for an uphill battle.
The unspoken challenge? A widespread practice of promoting high-performing individual contributors into people management roles without providing them with a comprehensive leadership development program or guidance needed to thrive in their new capacity. This approach creates a ripple effect of challenges, impacting not just individual managers but also team productivity, employee retention, and overall organizational health.
This phenomenon often leads to what is known as the "accidental manager", according to the Chartered Management Institute – someone who excels in their individual technical or specialized role and is then "rewarded" with a promotion to oversee others. While their technical prowess is undeniable, the skills that make a great individual contributor are fundamentally different from those required to inspire, motivate, coach, and develop others. The reality is that nearly 59% of employees claim they had no workplace training, stating that most of their skills were self-taught. Even more alarming, the same percentage of managers overseeing one to two employees report having received no training at all, and 41% of managers with three to five employees claim the same. It’s not surprising that only 29% of employees are "very satisfied" with their career development and advancement options..
A significant hurdle for these newly minted leaders is understanding how to differentiate between self-management and leading others. As individual contributors, success is often defined by personal output, efficiency, and excelling at specific tasks. When promoted, many apply this same approach to their teams, leading to micromanagement, a lack of delegation, and ultimately, stifled growth for themselves and their direct reports. The skills required to lead effectively, such as coaching, empathetic communication, conflict resolution, and strategic vision, may be distinct from those that fueled their success as individual contributors. Without intentional development or a tailored leadership training workshop to bridge this gap, managers often struggle to transition from doing the work themselves to empowering others to do it.
Adding another layer of complexity is the dual burden many managers face: the need to manage up effectively while simultaneously developing their direct reports. They are expected to meet their own goals, navigate complex organizational politics, and manage expectations from senior leadership, all while fostering a supportive and growth-oriented environment for their team. This delicate balancing act, without sufficient support in the form of a comprehensive leadership development program or dedicated leadership and executive coaching, can quickly become overwhelming, leading to burnout and a decline in effectiveness.
If these challenges weren’t enough, the modern workplace presents unprecedented landmines, from the complexities of managing remote or hybrid teams to the skills and behaviors needed to foster truly inclusive and fair environments. Leaders today need agility, emotional intelligence, and a deep understanding of psychological safety to navigate the modern workplace successfully. These factors amplify the urgent need for organizations to proactively invest in leadership development, ensuring their managers are not just ‘accidental leaders’, but intentional, well-equipped catalysts for growth and positive change.
Cultivating Impactful Leadership: The Strategic Investment
So, how do we address these challenges? Organizations should shift from reactive promotions to proactive, strategic investment in talent development and leadership capabilities. The benefits of a strong leadership development program are not just anecdotal; they are measurable and transformative. Organizations with successful training programs typically see a significant increase in employee retention, including research that indicates that retention rates can rise by 30-50% for companies fostering strong learning cultures. Beyond retention, intentional development initiatives boost employee engagement, encourage innovative thinking, mitigate risks, and provide competitive advantages.
And, your team members are eager for these opportunities: 74% of workers are willing to learn new skills or retrain to remain employable, and 87% of millennials believe learning and development in the workplace is important. In fact, 76% of employees agree that a company would be more appealing if it offered additional skills training to its staff.
To truly cultivate impactful leadership, organizations should focus on several core pillars:
Developing Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Skills and Behaviors
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is widely recognized as a foundational element of effective leadership. It’s the ability to be self-aware and attuned not only to one's own emotions but also to the emotions of those around them. This skill set is strongly associated with increased leadership effectiveness, productivity, and overall efficiency. EQ encompasses a range of competencies, often categorized into a few core areas: self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal approach, decision-making, and stress management. The good news is that emotional intelligence is not a fixed trait; it's a set of skills and behaviors that can be developed and enhanced through a focused leadership development program and dedicated leadership and executive coaching. Leaders with high EQ are better equipped to build stronger relationships, navigate and resolve conflicts constructively, and make decisions that align with their values, while fostering a supportive environment for others.
Building Psychologically Safe Teams
Beyond individual capabilities, a leader's ability to foster a psychologically safe environment is essential. Psychological safety refers to a climate where people feel safe to take interpersonal risks, speak up with ideas or concerns, ask questions, and learn from mistakes without fear of shame, blame, or negative repercussions. Google’s extensive two-year study on team effectiveness identified psychological safety as the number one factor in high-performing teams, those that generate the most revenue, receive high-performance ratings, and have high retention rates. Leaders cultivate this by setting clear expectations, encouraging open dialogue, modeling constructive disagreement, acknowledging emotions, and valuing diverse perspectives and contributions.
Balancing Managing Up and Down
For many leaders, especially those in middle management, a significant challenge is effectively balancing the demands of managing up (reporting to senior leadership) and managing down (leading their own teams). This requires a mix of skills: communication, strategic alignment, and advocacy. Effective leaders understand how to translate organizational priorities from above into actionable goals for their team, while also representing their team's needs and achievements upward. Nuanced leadership training workshops that provide strategies for clear expectation setting, prioritizing tasks, and navigating organizational hierarchies to foster collaboration and support across all levels are incredibly helpful in developing these skills.
Practical Guidance and Tools for People Management Responsibilities
Even with a strong foundation in EQ and psychological safety, leaders need practical tools for managing people on a day-to-day basis.
Delegating Effectively: A common pitfall for new managers is the inability to delegate effectively, often leading to personal overload and missed opportunities for team growth. Practical leadership development programs provide guidance on how to assign tasks, provide appropriate levels of autonomy, set expectations, and empower team members, ensuring both individual development and efficient project completion.
Delivering Feedback and Coaching: Crucial for employee growth and performance improvement, feedback is often delivered poorly or not at all. It's concerning that 74% of surveyed employees feel they aren't reaching their full potential at work due to a lack of development opportunities, and 65% say they want more feedback. Additionally, companies that prioritize regular feedback have a nearly 15% lower turnover rate than those that don’t. Leaders need training on how to provide constructive, timely, specific, and empathetic feedback, moving beyond annual reviews to continuous, meaningful conversations. Developing a coaching mindset, which includes asking powerful questions and guiding employees to their own solutions, is where true leadership and executive coaching excel, transforming managers into genuine mentors.
Holding Others Accountable: While often uncomfortable (especially for new people managers), establishing and maintaining accountability is vital for team performance and fairness. Leaders require practical strategies for setting clear expectations, tracking progress transparently, providing support, and addressing underperformance constructively. This ensures that goals are met and that team members understand their roles and responsibilities within a supportive framework.
Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Leadership Growth
Building a comprehensive leadership development program in-house can be its own challenge. Organizations may find they lack expertise in areas like advanced emotional intelligence assessments or the latest leadership best practices. Others may have limited or stretched resources. Partnering with a strategic training consultant or vendor offers significant value by providing specialized expertise, guiding curriculum design with subject matter expertise, and translating development goals into actionable plans, ultimately bringing your vision to life and ensuring a strong return on investment for leadership growth.
The evidence is clear: investing in your leaders is a strategic need for organizational success, talent retention, and sustained growth. If you're ready to transform your managers into true leaders and build high-performing, psychologically safe teams, it's time to assess your current leadership development needs.
Ready to empower your talent and drive sustainable growth? Contact The Cee Suite today to discuss how our tailored leadership development program, career development workshop, and expert leadership and executive coaching can help your leadership vision come to life.
