Workplace practices are fuelling a dramatic growth in people being promoted into leadership roles without the preparation they need to succeed.
Many employees find themselves promoted to managing people, often older and more experienced than themselves, without being offered any leadership training or development. New leaders are likely to be smart, capable, and committed, but can also feel unsure, overwhelmed, and, too often, are set up to struggle rather than succeed.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Being an ‘accidental leader’ is not a new phenomenon, but it is becoming increasingly common. FE Week reports we have more ‘accidental leaders’ than ever before, a claim that is supported by recent research:
- 82% of new managers in the UK receive no formal training before assuming their role (CMI, 2023).
- 60% of leaders globally say they never received leadership development at all (CCL, 2024).
And the problem is growing exponentially. During the COVID 19 pandemic, thousands of people stepped into science-related roles running labs, managing data and delivering frontline interventions, all without formal scientific training. These 'accidental leaders' gain critical, hands-on experience, but are increasingly lacking the training and development needed to turn that practical work into professional growth.
Increasingly, those promoted are far less likely to be surrounded by talented and inspirational leaders, either working for or alongside. Without that support from senior leaders who can create a climate of psychological safety that allows individuals to learn the lessons of experience, that nurturing of new managers is often missing.
But providing a supported space to reflect on their behaviours, grow from mistakes, and recognise their people management ‘wins’ is vital to leadership success. The solution lies in formal training that can both honour the challenge of the leadership experience and provide practical skills to accelerate capability.
The Cost to the Business
Obviously, the ‘accidental leaders’ themselves are carrying a significant burden. Anecdotal evidence illustrates they often suffer from feelings of self-doubt and a fear of being exposed. That anxiety, often described as imposter syndrome, is recognised by the BMI to exist in the minds of those who appear to be successful and producing results. Despite their apparent success, beneath the surface can lie feelings of chronic self-doubt, both undermining and isolating individuals who describe sensations of fraudulence.
Over a prolonged period, this can act as a significant contributor to burnout. Gallup research suggests this accounts for 70% variance in worker well-being. Imposter syndrome affects not only the ‘accidental leaders’, but also impacts those who work for, or with them.
By contrast, CMI research reveals that trained managers are more likely to seek feedback (79%), so are more open to listening and learning. They are also more comfortable managing change initiatives which employs emerging technology such as AI (87%), find improvements in efficiency (66%) and crucially, engender greater feelings of loyalty in their teams (72%). This is likely related to their team members reporting that they feel more valued, respected and are more satisfied with their job (74%), more motivated (77%) and are satisfied with their organisation and its culture (67%).
Managers may not just influence the climate and the weather: Gallup also suggests they account for 70% of any variation in organisational performance. So, supporting ‘accidental leaders’, the evidence suggests, is vital from both a people and performance perspective, and for organisational success.
The Good News
This is a solvable problem. The skills ‘accidental leaders’ need can be developed. However, the paradox at the heart of developing them is acknowledging that leadership capability often emerges from experience. When given the chance to reflect, learn, and grow from that experience, combined with the development of new skills for leading and managing self and others, new leaders can flourish.
And here’s the elegant twist: we don’t have to choose between preparing leaders before promotion or developing them afterward. We just need to stop pretending it happens automatically. Whether development happens in advance or after the fact, the key is to make experience teachable.
Developing ‘Accidental Leaders’
Make it relevant.
Ensure the development set up (learning conditions, skills and approach) are learner-centric and learner-led, so it is applicable to the real-world challenges being faced by the ‘accidental leader’. Input focused or trainer led development, where there can be too much emphasis on making people learn academic theory, can be counter-productive. Rather, make the focus on outcomes and what can be changed in their actual practice.
Make it resonate.
Meet people where they are. Let them be themselves. Treat them like adults. Use tools that are practical and intuitive. Focus on safe experiential learning that uses their real-world challenges as case studies. And make it fun. Allow them, and their learning peers, to build on lived experience and changes in their habits, rather than feeling forced into learning abstract models.
Make it real.
Build on their own internal motivation to learn. Guide them to move from personal insight, to concrete personal action. From ‘so what’ to ‘now what’. Development shouldn’t end in the classroom, that’s where it starts. Help them track what matters, so they continue to learn, not just do.
Want to Learn More?
Cranfield’s Leading People Effectively programme is designed to turn experience into learning, reflection into insight, and potential into performance. We work with ‘accidental leaders’ to help them become the kind of leader others want to follow.
If you're building better leaders from the inside out, whether ‘accidental’ ones or not, we can help. Because some of our most powerful leaders never planned to lead. They just needed the right space to grow.
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