A few months ago, I was speaking to a business owner about one of their managers.
“She’s brilliant at her job,” they said.
“Clients love her, the team respect her and she’s one of our best people. But she’s struggling to manage the team.”
It’s a conversation I’ve heard many times.
Not because people are being promoted too soon, and certainly not because they lack ability.
More often, it’s because the skills that make somebody successful in their job are not always the same skills required to lead other people.
Research from the Chartered Management Institute suggests that 82% of people entering management roles receive no formal leadership training. In many organisations, people are expected to learn management through experience rather than development, which helps explain why similar challenges appear time and time again.
Having worked with many owner-managed businesses over the years, I’ve noticed that when first-time managers struggle, the challenges tend to be surprisingly similar.
Avoiding difficult conversations
One of the most common mistakes new managers make is delaying conversations that need to happen.
Whether it’s addressing poor performance, challenging behaviour or clarifying expectations, there is often a temptation to hope the issue will resolve itself.
Unfortunately, problems rarely become smaller through avoidance. More often, frustration builds, standards drift and other team members begin to notice the inconsistency.
Good managers aren’t effective because they enjoy difficult conversations. They’re effective because they understand that honest, timely feedback is an important part of helping people succeed.
Continuing to be the doer
Many first-time managers are promoted because they’re excellent at what they do.
When problems arise, their instinct is often to step in and solve them.
The challenge is that leadership requires a different measure of success. It’s no longer about individual output; it’s about helping the team perform.
Managers who continue doing everything themselves often become bottlenecks, limiting both their own effectiveness and the development of those around them.
One of the biggest shifts for new managers is learning that leadership is less about having all the answers and more about helping others find them.
Assuming communication has happened
Most managers believe they communicate more clearly than they actually do.
What feels obvious to one person can be interpreted very differently by somebody else.
Many of the performance issues we encounter aren’t performance issues at all. They’re communication issues.
Expectations haven’t been clarified. Priorities haven’t been understood. Assumptions have been made.
Effective managers create clarity. They don’t just communicate information; they make sure it has been understood.
Managing everyone in the same way
A common trap for new managers is assuming that what motivates them will motivate everyone else.
The reality is that teams are made up of individuals with different strengths, motivations, ambitions and levels of confidence.
Some people need autonomy. Others need more structure. Some thrive when challenged. Others benefit from additional support.
The best managers recognise these differences and adapt their approach accordingly, while maintaining consistent expectations and standards.
Believing management is common sense
Most people have worked for managers throughout their careers.
As a result, organisations sometimes assume that people will naturally know how to manage once they receive additional responsibility.
In reality, management is a professional skill set in its own right.
Communication, delegation, accountability, coaching and performance management all require practice and development.
The best organisations recognise this and invest in helping managers build capability before problems emerge, rather than waiting until they do.
A final thought
Most first-time managers don’t need rescuing.
They need support.
Given the opportunity, most capable people can develop into capable leaders. The challenge is that too many are expected to figure it out alone.
For business owners, the question isn’t whether management development is a nice-to-have.
It’s whether the people responsible for leading your team have been given the tools to succeed.
Because when managers grow, teams perform better, owners gain confidence to delegate and businesses become better equipped for sustainable growth.
About Evolve
At Evolve, we work with organisations to develop confident, capable managers and leaders through practical programmes built around real workplace challenges.
If you’d like to understand the strengths and development opportunities within your leadership team, our Leadership Assessment Scorecard provides a useful starting point.
For organisations looking to support new, emerging or accidental managers, the Evolve Manager Accelerator provides practical development focused on the challenges managers face every day.
