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The right manager can make or break productivity, performance and goal achievement. But they can also have a substantial impact on employee and organizational well-being.
Nearly 70% of workers globally said their manager had as much impact on their mental health as their spouse, and over half said they have an even greater impact than their doctors, according to a UKG report.
All of this only highlights how important it is to invest in creating more people-centric managers. Instead, we’re seeing a surge in what's being called "accidental managers."
Investors in People found that 71% of employers in the UK admit they don’t train first-time managers, 50% of employees cite bad managers as the reason for leaving their job, and a whopping 68% of managers self-categorize as accidental managers, in effect admitting that they are not set up for the role.
The damage caused by accidental managers has been quantified by Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace Report, which found 59% of employees are disengaged (quiet quitting) and 18% are actively disengaged (loud quitting) — figures that cost the global economy $8.8 trillion or 9% of global GDP.
What Is an 'Accidental Manager'?
Anyone who is thrust into a people management or leadership role without the necessary skills, training or preparation falls under the accidental manager umbrella. These are often professionals chosen for their individual performance or knowledge in their field, rather than their ability to lead, motivate and develop others.
Several factors cause outstanding individual performers to become accidental managers.
For instance, when people are promoted based on past performance rather than role fit. Unfortunately, past performance is not a good indicator of future performance, especially in managerial roles. This was best captured in the satirical Peter Principle which proposed that employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent.
Bruce Holoubek, president and co-founder of Contracted Leadership, takes it a step further with what he calls the 'Holoubek Principle.' It proposes that sometimes people are advanced to a level of 'dispassion,' which can be as damaging as incompetence. In other words, not everyone wants to be become managers — some people just like to be specialists.
Poor recruitment practices can often result in all non-technical skills being bundled into catch-all phrases such as ‘soft skills.’ Such vague descriptions belie the significance those skills play in success on the job.
Finally, cultural misfits can also be seen as accidental managers. For instance, lateral hires at mid- and senior-positions sometimes just don't ‘get’ the company culture or are unable to find acceptance as a leader among team members that have been there longer.
Related Article: Middle Management Is Stuck. Time for a Reset
Accidental Managers Hamper More Than Productivity
No matter how accidental managers get there, the damage they can cause is real — not just to the business, but equally to team members and the manager themselves.
While the managers themselves often suffer from imposter syndrome, anxiety, and a sense of alienation or rejection, the team may feel demotivated, disconnected from their job, confused about goals, micromanaged, or stuck without proper feedback and guidance.
Accidental managers without a learning mindset often suffer from ‘unconscious incompetence’ (I don’t know what I don’t know). This means they also deprioritize or misread the learning needs of their teams, and are unable to coach them effectively.
A chronic accidental manager problem not only impacts performance and people, but can also sabotage HR’s other efforts at engagement, culture-building and employee well-being.
Address the Root Causes of Accidental Managers
Stop Equating Skills as an Individual Performer With Management Skills
Assuming a technically skilled person will automatically make a good manager is a trap. High individual performance doesn't necessarily equate to competence in influencing, building consensus, coaching, making decisions under stress or delegating.
These deficiencies won’t sort themselves out with time or experience — people don’t ‘grow into roles’ in a few months. They need specific interventions and upskilling, said Marion Parrish, accidental manager coach and author of the book, "Step Up — The Accidental Manager's Guide to Leading a Team."
Working under accidental managers in her own career got her to the point where she only did enough to stay employed, rather than striving to excel, she said.
She’s not alone. Forty-one percent of ‘quiet quitters’ cited managerial-related reasons for their lack of engagement, for instance, not enough recognition of member contributions, unapproachable managers, low autonomy, a lack of respect, unclear goals and poor guidance.
“If you consider that around four in five managers are accidental managers, then maybe 80% of people are working for managers who don’t know how to get the best from them. The cost of losing all this discretionary effort isn’t just a business issue — it affects whole economies,” she warns.
Related Article: The Big Shift: How Managers' Jobs Are Changing and How to Adapt
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Build a Succession Plan for Multiple Levels, Not Just One Level Down
“Assume that the next level of people is, for some reason, just not available. How would you then train the once-removed layer for the same role?” asked Holoubek.
One approach he suggests is the ‘assess, identify, and develop’ process. By exposing people at all levels to various forms of exploratory job or project rotations, HR can evaluate them beyond technical competencies in real-life situations. The insights can be used to plan career paths and succession.
Train People for Effective Communication
Communication is an area most people assume anyone can handle naturally, especially mature professionals. But perhaps HR should acknowledge that the managers who are supposed to implement their policies and initiatives are not operating at the level HR thinks they are, said Parrish.
Most of the accidental managers she works with have never held a 1:1 with a team member because they literally don’t know what a 1:1 is, the outcomes they are designed to achieve, or what they would say to their team members during a 1:1. "They are scared to have conversations with their teams because they don’t know what they can and cannot say, or how to say them," she noted.
One accidental manager Parrish coached discovered — in her first ever 1:1 — a production issue that was costing the business £40,000 per year. She had no idea it was even a problem, but once surfaced in the conversation, they were able to solve it overnight.
Invest in Structured Coaching
While structured training and upskilling for technical skills are common, it is much less so for managerial capabilities. While large companies may offer management development, it’s rarely compulsory, and often in the form of leadership development. This doesn’t address the basic, day-to-day people management skills that all managers need.
Startups in particular get sucked into the vicious cycle of accidental managers that cause high staff turnover and as a result, even more accidental managers. Founders should invest in leadership coaching for themselves, and management coaching for their future leaders from the start.
Parrish suggests investors should insist on it as a condition of funding, and accountants — sometimes the only business advisors that startups consult — should show founders the “training gap” in financial terms.
Related Article: Why We Need Middle Managers
Better Collaboration Between HR and Business
The business and HR teams should collaborate to arrive at the right job description and the right metrics to measure performance for the role.
For instance, when consulting for a company with high sales team turnover, Holoubek identified the sales leader — who was a brilliant individual performer — as the cause of attrition. His individual performance metrics were strong and had led to several promotions. “But a holistic examination with HR and business leaders revealed that he was costing us more than he brought in, in terms of turnover, recruitments and employer reputation.”
In response, they began a coaching program and spoke to direct reports and managers about their perception of whether this person could improve. They identified a project where he could develop specific skills in a realistic situation, while HR could measure improvements in an observable environment.
Removing the stigma around being an accidental manager and bringing more transparency so all key stakeholders are supportive of helping the manager improve can be important to success, he finishes.
Accidental managers may be a common and complex phenomenon, but with the right approach, there’s no reason why they can’t grow into highly competent and effective managers and help the future managers in their midst.
