4 Massive Mistakes Many Companies Make When Promoting New Managers A person who is very good at her job is not automatically going to be equally good supervising other people doing that job.

By Shawn Doyle Edited by Jessica Thomas

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Thomas Barwick | Getty Images

Imani was really great at customer service. Everyone viewed her as a superstar. Coworkers, customers and management loved working with her. She had a giant fan club in the company. When one of the leaders of the company left to pursue other opportunities, management decided to make Imani a supervisor. She was promoted and overnight had a small army of 16 people reporting to her. Imani was delighted to be so well regarded and to get promoted, but she was nervous because she had no management experience. She mentioned it to her boss one day and her boss said "Oh Imani, don't you worry, you are going to do a great job." Within two weeks she felt very overwhelmed and wasn't sure if the company had made the right choice. Maybe promoting her was a big, stupid mistake. She was a nervous wreck and wasn't sure if she was going to make it.

Related: Invest in Your Business by Developing Leaders From Within

The scenario above is fictional, but it's based on many real scenarios I have observed with my clients. Unfortunately, it's very common. There are some massive mistakes companies are making about management, which leads to miscommunication, conflict, poor morale, reduced productivity and high turnover. We are failing newly promoted managers in the following ways:

1. Promotion without training.

Far too often, we promote someone because they are technically competent, but it doesn't necessarily mean they know how to lead. Just because someone was good at selling something doesn't mean they will be a good sales manager. Just because they were good at IT, doesn't mean they will be a great IT manager. Star quarterbacks don't always make great coaches. Any team member who gets promoted to a leadership role should be taught all the critical leadership skills they will need. If we don't, we are throwing them into the pool and expecting them to know how to swim. That is very unfair to them and to the people that report to them every day.

Related: 4 Signs It's Time to Let That High-Potential Employee Go

2. Not developing them all along.

In the case study above, if the company thought Imani was going to be a future leader, they should have already had her in a leadership development program or had her working with a mentor to get her ready for the future. Companies should have a process in place to identify, coach and train people -- to groom them for future opportunities and build bench strength of future leadership talent. Senior leadership should work carefully with HR, training and operations to fill the talent pool.

3. Not discussing it.

In every organization, I believe that beyond the performance review there should be a separate meeting for every team member to discuss their career goals with their manager. It is sad, but this discussion almost never happens in organizations. There is not time, effort or commitment made to this process that is so important. This discussion helps organizations identify who is interested in being in a leadership role and who isn't. The discussion about leadership and a future management role should not be a mystery or cloaked in secrecy. It should be an open, honest and frank discussion about their goals short, mid- and long-term. The manager should then commit to helping them get where they want to go through training, development, experience or stretch assignments.

Related: Master These 6 Coaching Skills to Lead Your Team Where They've Never Dared Go

4. Not making leadership development the responsibility of all leaders.

Many leaders don't do this because they don't have time and are extremely busy. They may also be threatened by people who report to them developing and surpassing them. I think it should be the responsibility and expectation of all leaders to develop future leaders of the company. How many companies set this as an expectation? Almost none that I know of or work with around the country. Leadership development is not part of the leaders' performance reviews or part of leaders' objectives, but it should be. People in a leadership role should be tasked with developing and fostering talent and building leadership bench strength. The future of the company depends on having great leaders to lead growth, to drive results, sales and productivity.

As Jack Welch once said "Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."

Shawn Doyle

President, New Light Learning and Development Inc.

Shawn Doyle is a professional speaker, author and executive coach. He is the president of New Light Learning & Development, a company that specializes in training and leadership-development programs.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Money & Finance

How Much Money Do You Need to Retire Comfortably in Your State? Here's the Breakdown.

Regardless of where you spend your golden years, it pays to be realistic about the cost of living.

Money & Finance

Turn Simple Ideas Into Never-Ending Paychecks With This Low-Effort Passive Income Strategy

A micro-hustle lets you build once, sell forever and earn money while you sleep.

Buying / Investing in Business

Former Zillow Execs Target $1.3T Market

Co-ownership is creating big opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Coinbase CEO Says Company Won't Pay Hackers' Ransom

In a company blog post, Coinbase outlined how it planned to respond to a recent massive breach.

Business News

Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Affected at Least 800 in Software Engineering, According to New Documents

About one-third of the total roles cut were reportedly at Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington.