The accidental manager: what a landmark UK study tells us about why leadership training can't wait
There is a term that has been circulating in management circles for years, but it took a major piece of research to put a number on it.
The accidental manager.
In October 2023, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) published one of the most comprehensive studies of UK management and leadership ever conducted. Taking Responsibility: Why UK plc Needs Better Managers was carried out in partnership with YouGov, drawing on responses from over 4,500 workers and managers across the UK.
The headline finding: one in three people have left a job because of a bad manager or a toxic workplace culture. But that is just where the story starts.
The scale of the problem
One in four people in the UK workforce holds a management role. Only 27% of workers describe their manager as highly effective.
Three out of every four employees, in other words, are being led by someone they would not describe as highly effective. When you sit with that figure for a moment, the scale of what we are dealing with becomes hard to ignore.
Of those workers who did not rate their manager as effective, half planned to leave the company in the next year. Only a third felt motivated to do a good job. Only one in four were happy with their overall compensation.
Under effective management the picture looks completely different. 72% of workers who rated their manager as effective felt valued and respected. That figure dropped to 15% where the manager was rated as ineffective.
Promoted for the wrong reasons
82% of managers who enter management positions have not had any formal management or leadership training. They were good at their jobs. They were popular. They were available. So they were promoted into a role that required an entirely different set of skills from the ones that got them there.
These people are called accidental managers. Nearly half of managers surveyed (46%) believed colleagues won promotions based on internal relationships and profile rather than ability and performance.
This is not a criticism of the individuals who end up in these positions. Most accidental managers want to lead well. They were never given the tools, the training or the support to do so. The fault lies with the systems and organisations that placed them in leadership roles without adequate preparation.
What it actually costs
31% of managers and 28% of workers have left a job because of a negative relationship with their manager. Replacing an employee typically costs between 50% and 200% of their annual salary. The business case for investing in management development is not complicated.
Beyond retention, the research found that employees with ineffective managers are less likely to report wrongdoing or raise concerns. Managers with formal training are significantly more likely to call out bad behaviour compared to those without formal training. Untrained managers do not just underperform. They increase organisational risk.
There are also equity issues baked into the data. A third of managers believe those with caring responsibilities are less likely to be promoted. One in three believe people who spend more time in the office are more likely to advance, despite managers and workers both rating flexibility as more important than pay. These biases go unchallenged in organisations where managers lack the training or self-awareness to spot them.
When management is done well
The research is worth reading in full because it is not only a catalogue of problems.
Staff with good managers were more satisfied with their job (74%), felt motivated (77%) and agreed their organisation had a good culture (67%).
Trained managers are more comfortable handling change (87% compared to 77% of untrained managers) and more confident using new technology to improve efficiency (66% versus 50%). They are more likely to ask their team for feedback: 79% compared to 69% of those without formal training.
Previous research found that organisations investing in management and leadership development see, on average, a 23% increase in organisational performance and a 32% increase in employee engagement and productivity.
Why this matters in Ireland
This study focused on the UK. The conditions it describes are not unique to it.
Rapid promotion pathways, technical expertise rewarded over people skills, limited investment in management development at SME level, a culture in many industries, hospitality especially, where leading by instinct is expected and leading with intention is rarely discussed. These are not UK problems.
The 82% figure is the one we return to most at Stone by Stone Leadership. The vast majority of the people currently leading teams were never taught how to do it. They are working from instinct, from observation, from whatever they picked up watching their own managers over the years, good or bad.
That is a hard way to lead. For the people doing it, and for the teams on the receiving end of it.
A final thought
The CMI's Ann Francke described the report as a wake-up call. It is that. It is also, for anyone paying attention, a clear argument for where to put your energy.
The organisations doing well over the next decade will not necessarily be the ones with the most talented people. They will be the ones that took the time to actually develop the people responsible for leading them.
The original report, Taking Responsibility: Why UK plc Needs Better Managers, was published in October 2023. It is available in full at managers.org.uk. The full PDF is at managers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/CMI_BMB_GoodManagment_Report.pdf
Therese Phipps is the founder of Stone by Stone Leadership. To find out how leadership lands in your organisation, take our free anonymous Leadership Satisfaction Survey at stonebystoneleadership.com/leadership-survey