Just because an individual is great at a task doesn’t mean they can be equally accomplished in helping others do it. Something along these lines has likely crossed your ears before.
The current workforce promotion gap in management is a testament to this. Research from the American Management Association (AMA) shows that among 1,000 professionals worldwide, 51% found themselves in managerial positions without first receiving proper training in leadership.
Manny Avramidis, President and CEO of AMA, pointed out that “Organizations have a valuable asset right in front of them: employees who are ready and motivated to grow. The risk is that many managers have not been given the tools or support to turn that motivation into performance.”
Promoting experts to management roles only becomes a tragic error when a company fails to provide them with the support they need for transition. This article will share three main reasons why most experts struggle in their new management roles so that organizations can extend the needed assistance.
Expertise Can Become a Roadblock in Delegation
Ironic as it is, many expert employees find their strengths ultimately become the loopholes that make delegation difficult. Now, the reason they get promoted is that they’re good at what they do: understanding the processes, detecting problems, delivering top-notch results, and so on.
The issue that may stem from this level of expertise is surrendering control to someone else. Many new managers cannot help but micromanage the process as they constantly dictate to those under them. What should have been done is to guide the employees but allow them the freedom to achieve goals their own way.
At large, a certain degree of independence is vital. In May 2026, Reuters noted Meta’s plans to redirect 7,000 employees into AI projects while trimming managerial roles. The changes were expected to affect about 20% of the company’s workforce.
This type of restructuring is much broader than a typical promotion. However, the takeaway that expertise becomes more valuable when it enables people to take ownership still matters. A manager who takes care of every difficult decision sounds impressive in theory, but may end up being a bottleneck in practice.
What to Do
- Make a clear distinction between the decisions employees can take freely as compared to those that require managerial approval.
- Let newly promoted managers have opportunities to delegate complete projects instead of isolated tasks.
- Establish an incremental review process that allows managers to check progress without controlling every step.
- Encourage managers to teach those under them through their mistakes, resisting the urge to take the work back.
- Make provisions for rewarding team independence, so managers feel motivated to lead through guidance rather than constant intervention.
Existing Expertise May Not Have What It Takes for the New Role
The expert who just got promoted was (and is) capable of many things. However, does this mean their niche expertise will help them manage the other processes that surround it? Now, that raises a question mark in many cases.
A 2026 Deloitte survey found that 70% of business leaders consider agility and speed to be their most competitive strategies for the upcoming three years. What’s the implication here? Organizations need to ensure their employees in transition can easily adapt to their new roles through relevant skill sets.
A top salesperson may have an in-depth understanding of customers but could struggle to plan resources for the entire team. The same goes for healthcare, where a nurse adept in patient care may face unique demands as an executive.
Their nursing experience may remain valuable in their senior leadership position, but they must also make decisions regarding staffing, finances, and resource allocation. This is where a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) comes into the picture since it is designed for advanced professional practice and leadership.
As Baylor University notes, students pursuing this degree learn to allocate resources across current and future care delivery strategically. It’s a useful example of how professional expertise can be expanded to cover responsibilities that become important as someone moves up the ladder.
Plus, those who pursue online DNP leadership programs don’t have to cease their current work to gain advanced skills. The main purpose of this example is to impart the lesson that organizations must consider the gap between what the expert knows and what they must know as a manager.
What to Do
- Identify and train the expert so they are equipped with the new technical, strategic, and people-management skills required.
- Compare the new skills to what the employee already possesses to avoid subjecting them to generic training.
- Choose mentorship programs and courses that directly address the skills gap.
- Let the employee participate in budgeting and cross-functional projects before they are fully responsible for those areas.
- Start preparing employees with high potential early on, especially when you know their promotion is on the horizon.
Performance Metrics Are No Longer the Same
The human brain requires rewiring, as they say. There is no easy switch that can be turned on or off on command simply because an employee’s role has changed. All of this is to say that an expert may continue to measure themselves against the same metrics that their individual performance was rewarded for.
So, they may be hyper-focused on productivity or technical output even when the rules of the game have changed. Since they still feel burdened to concentrate on personal output, the motivation is to micromanage and keep everything under control.
As per Gallup’s research, only 8% of managers agreed that their performance reviews inspire them to do better. The same study also found that managers represent 70% of the factors driving differences in team management. Given the influence managers can exert on their teams, evaluations that fail to focus on managerial outcomes will have no useful framework to rely on.
Does that mean individual accountability must go out the window completely? Most certainly not, but organizations must acknowledge the way a manager’s contribution has changed since their transition. This means their success is now to be seen as a part of what the team achieves as a whole.
What to Do
- Slow down the emphasis on individual performance and reward the manager for wisely distributing work among the team.
- Renew their role’s metrics in terms of team output, including combined goals for productivity, quality, and so on.
- Besides expectations, ensure incentives also change, so managers feel motivated to prioritize their new responsibilities.
- Give them a clear definition of success that is based on how they drive results through their team, not personal work.
FAQs
Why do high-performing employees sometimes struggle after becoming managers?
They mainly struggle because management requires skills beyond their existing expertise. They must now delegate responsibilities, guide team members, and focus on collective outcomes. Excellence as an individual contributor does not automatically prepare someone to manage people, resources, and organizational priorities.
How can organizations prepare experts for management roles?
Organizations can identify the skills required for the new position and compare them with the employee’s existing capabilities. Targeted training, mentorship, practical experience, and formal education can help close specific gaps. Preparing employees before or during the transition can make the move into management easier.
How should companies measure newly promoted managers?
Companies should shift beyond individual productivity and consider how effectively managers lead team performance. Relevant measures can include team productivity, quality, progress toward organizational goals, and the manager’s ability to achieve results through employees.
Key Stats and Data Points to Consider
| American Management Association research involving 1,000 professionals worldwide | 51% found themselves in managerial positions without first receiving proper leadership training |
| 2026 Deloitte survey | 7 in 10 business leaders consider speed and agility to be their most competitive strategies for the next three years |
| World Economic Forum’s 2026 Chief Officers’ Outlook report | A mismatch in identifying skills is emerging as a notable workforce challenge |
Organizations that want to reward their best experts with a promotion are welcome to do so. Just don’t treat this move as simply pushing someone one step higher in the hierarchy.
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2026 Chief Officers’ Outlook report, a mismatch in identifying skills is emerging as a notable workforce challenge. Don’t be a part of this statistic.
Since the expert’s responsibilities have changed, reconsider the skills and metrics attached to the new role. Communicate the same to the employee in question and give them time to flourish in a whole new way. With time, they will become a pleasant surprise because capabilities and willingness just need a gentle nudge in the right direction.
