Stop Promoting Great Performers into Bad Managers: What You Should Do Instead
It’s one of the most common—and costly—mistakes in organizations: promoting high-performing individual contributors into management roles without preparing them for the shift.
The logic seems sound: they deliver results, they’re reliable, they know the business. But great execution doesn’t always translate to great leadership.
The Performance Trap
What makes someone an exceptional individual contributor—technical mastery, speed, independence—can actually make them struggle in leadership. Suddenly, the job isn’t doing the work—it’s enabling others to do it.
New managers often default to micromanaging, avoid difficult conversations, or struggle to coach because they were never trained to lead. And when that happens, engagement drops, team performance suffers, and top talent walks.
The Real Cost of Poor Management
According to Gallup, managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement. Yet most new managers say they received little to no management training before stepping into the role.
This isn’t just a learning gap—it’s a business risk.
That’s why our approach to leadership training, transformational leadership training, and soft skills training puts people leadership—not just project oversight—at the center.
📥 Explore our latest downloadable resource: Investing in Your People
This guide helps HR and L&D leaders structure growth pathways that prepare future leaders long before the promotion letter lands.
What You Should Do Instead
- Decouple promotion from performance – Reward great ICs without forcing them into roles they may not want or be suited for.
- Create dual career paths – Let top performers grow as experts or as leaders.
- Start leadership development early – Use mentoring, job shadowing, and peer learning before the official title change.
- Invest in first-time manager training – Equip new leaders with AI for managers, feedback skills, delegation models, and people-first thinking.
Where AI Can Help
AI doesn’t replace leadership—but it can help develop it. In our artificial intelligence training and AI training programs, we help new managers:
- Receive coaching prompts based on communication style
- Track learning goals and team feedback in real time
- Gain insight into behavioral patterns and engagement signals
These tools help first-time leaders stay aligned, stay accountable, and stay human.
Sales Managers Need This Too
Sales is one of the most common places this mistake happens: top performers become managers, only to discover that coaching reps and managing pipelines is a different game.
That’s why our sales training course Singapore, sales training courses, and sales training Singapore offerings include leadership modules, soft skills training, and peer-to-peer learning. Because the best sales leaders don’t just know how to sell—they know how to lead.
📅 Book a consultation to build better leadership pathways in your organization
Final Thoughts
Leadership shouldn’t be a reward—it should be a responsibility.
If we want better managers, we have to stop treating promotion as the finish line. Through smarter management training, better leadership development, and intentional use of AI in learning, we can help great performers become great leaders—or support them to grow in other ways.
Let’s promote people when they’re ready—and make sure they’re set up to succeed.