Stop Promoting Top Performers To Leadership

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹.

Hands down, one of the top challenges I hear from leaders is that they were never taught leadership.

- They crushed it as an individual contributor.
- Got promoted into a management role.
- And then… they struggled.

It makes sense why:
- New role
- New responsibilities
- No direction

This isn’t just your company’s issue — 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:
- Retail
- Services
- Sales
- And beyond

𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀) 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗯𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.
Do this instead:

- Listen to your team.
↳If a top performer asks to be a manager, ask them why.
↳Money alone is NOT a good reason.

- Your best leaders may not be your top performers.

↳They could be your middle-ground performers.
↳Especially in sales, most teams don’t need help on how to sell — they need someone to clean up the process between the sale and fulfillment.

The best leaders are often:

-The operations person who smooths out the process
-The person with a knack for teaching and coaching

The Problem:
-Most companies aren't doing enough to bridge the leadership gap.
-That’s why turnover is so high.
-That’s why leaders are running back to being individual contributors.

If you’re a manager and got promoted due to performance — you didn’t do anything wrong.
Actually, you probably did a lot right.
The challenge is that most company systems and onboarding programs don’t address this problem.

If this is you, 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘅:

- Ask Questions – Be curious about how others lead.
- Ask for Help – You don’t have to figure it all out alone.
- Learn from Those Crushing It – Find the best and study their process.

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 — 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱.
What do you think?
Are you seeing the same challenges in the workforce today?