Leadership
One of the most consistent patterns I have found working for the last thirty plus years with a range of companies is the perennial promotion problem...
Someone technically strong - the best engineer, the most capable operations specialist, the most reliable technical lead.
So, they are selected for promotion into management.
And they often struggle.
Because the skills that made them excellent at their technical role may have little overlap with the skills required to manage a team effectively.
This is not a criticism of often highly technically competent individual.
It is not the individual at fault; it is the organisations problem.
The way organisations fundamentally think about career progression is often flawed. (In my humble opinion...)
Technical expertise and management capability are quite different things.
Both can and should be developed.
But not every Technical Specialist is well suited to moving into a management position.
And vice versa.
With the ever-increasing need for leaner teams, more pressure to do more with less, evolving business models, AI adoption and much, much more...the Management skills gap matters more than ever.
A Manager that does not know how to manage effectively can cost an organisation way more than the cost of their salary. Whether it is through poor leadership, management inefficiency, demotivated teams, high staff turnover or any one of a number of other potential issues.
The answer is also very seldom about a single intervention. It is about selecting the right people first, then providing structured training programmes, coaching, psychometrics, practical workshops, self-development.... and much more.
So where do organisations need to start first?
By being honest about the issue and the challenge they face.
Sound familiar?
I think it is one of the most common management problems, and one we have helped so many companies with.
If you might benefit from help with analysis or development solutions for Managers...drop us a message at hello@whitecubeconsulting.com.
The most common reason we find is that managers are often promoted on the basis of their technical ability and performance. They are subsequently given insufficient development support to make the transition to Manager effectively. Managing people well can require a very different set of skills from performing well as an individual contributor, especially in a technical orientated role. Without structured development, open and constructive feedback and sustained support, managers may default to their approach to delivering technical work the way they know rather than adopting a management approach to the new role they have been given.
Yes. New managers tend to benefit more from foundational skills development, structured self-awareness work and close support through the transition from individual contributor to people leader. More experienced managers typically benefit from deeper self-insight, more honest challenge about their established habits and patterns, and development which is focused on the more challenging or complex management situations and relationships which their seniority may involve.
The most effective development normally combines multiple methods over a sustained period. Lasting behavioural change requires self-insight, constructive feedback, skills practice, real-world application and ongoing coaching or peer support. One-off training events, however well designed, rarely create the depth of change that genuine development requires. Programmes that extend over months rather than days, and that are connected to the real challenges individuals face in their roles, consistently outperform those that are not.