Promoted to Driver Without a Lesson: Why So Many Managers Are Crashing

If your colleague jumped into a car, with no driving experience at all, and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out,” we are guessing you would not wish to be their passenger or you might even call the police? If that is the case, why do we see so many people promoted into management with no training and no preparation?

If your colleague decides to take the car onto the motorway at rush hour, it’s inevitable what is going to happen: collisions, near misses, panicked people, and expensive repairs.

If that is the case, we ask again, why are people handed the keys to a team, being expected to navigate performance conversations, conflict, well-being, change, and people dynamics entirely unguided? The motorway at rush hour scenario for organisations involves disengagement, burnout, conflict, increased staff turnover, stalled projects, and preventable damage to people.

We would never accept an unlicensed driver on the road.

Yet for some reason we routinely accept untrained managers trying to lead other people.

Numbers to Make HR / L&D Professionals Wince

You will have seen these figures before, perhaps digested the studies and reports they come from. We are including them to reinforce the stark impact of the UK’s lack of investment in managers.

• 82% of UK managers are accidental managers¹
• Poor management is estimated to cost the UK £110 billion in lost productivity each year²
• 50% of staff with ineffective managers are planning to leave their jobs in the next 12 months³

If any of those figures were related to road traffic accidents, there would be mass media coverage, public uproar, investigations and many solutions suggested. Each of us would want the situation to improve – and quickly.

License to Manage

Being promoted into a managerial position is often seen as a reward, a recognition for work well done and something to pick up and run with. If a colleague had passed their drivers theory test with flying colours would you pass them the keys to your car?

Leading a team is not mere ‘common sense’ or ‘what capable people naturally do’. It is a professional discipline which requires investment. Organisations who fail to recognise the need for management training, risk having to deal with negative impacts on the untrained manager, their team, the organisational culture, the business performance and their employer brand.

So, what can we, responsible organisations, do to prevent the inevitable accidents that can occur when a team is handed to an untrained manager?

1. Training before (not after) promotion

Training before promotion builds readiness and capability, ensuring a new leader can lead others from day one. Pre-promotion training provides space to build mindsets, principles and behaviours, which means when the pressure hits, they’re already embedded. Perhaps we can equate this to the emergency stop exercise included within every driving test.  

2. Mentorship and shadowing

When we learn to drive, we put L plates on our car and we find a qualified driver to help us. It might be a parent, a partner, a driving instructor or, if we are lucky, we accept help from all three. We receive lessons and encouragement from people who want us to succeed, just as those new to management benefit from mentoring and/or shadowing at the start of their leadership journey.

3. Evidence-based diagnostics

Contemporary psychometrics, like Emergenetics, help provide self-awareness, clarity and understanding. The more a new manager knows about themselves the better equipped they will be to communicate with their team. This is the theory test required before receiving a provisional license – an awareness of the hazards that we could face in the future.

4. Remove single points of failure

A driving licence isn’t earned by coasting along an empty road. It’s earned by effectively handling complexity: navigating traffic, reading signs, responding to hazards and controlling the vehicle in challenging situations. New managers benefit when organisations don’t leave them “driving” alone. Shared leadership, cross-skilling and collaborative decision-making build resilience, reducing the risk of any one manager becoming the point where everything grinds to a halt.

5. Continuous Investment

Passing a driving test does not guarantee ‘good driver’ status for life. Cars can change, roads and conditions can change, drivers get older, all impacting on the ability to drive well. Ideally, all drivers would have access to refresher or advanced driving courses. For most drivers, however, keeping the car in good working order helps us to stay safe and confident. Leadership is no different: regular leadership training helps managers continue to be effective as their organisations change.

Sending an unlicensed driver off on to the motorway is irresponsible and dangerous. If we would never let an unlicensed driver use our car, let’s not allow an untrained manager to drive their team, our company culture, or our organisational performance.

First Ascent Group provide an exceptional standard of practical, energetic and impactful leadership development programmes tailormade to the needs of your organisation.
Get in touch to discover the unique ways we can help your managers (new and established) develop the very best leadership skills and behaviours.

¹ Managers (2024) “Rigid, reluctant, demoralising” – accidental managers at work”. https://www.managers.org.uk

² European Financial Review (2025) “Poor Quality Management Across the UK is Coating an Est £110 Billion” https://www.europeanfinancialreview.com/poor-quality-management-across-the-uk-is-costing-an-est-110-billion/

³ CMI /YouGov (2023) “Taking Responsibility – Why UK Plc Needs Better Managers” https://www.managers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Management-and-UK-2030-Report-2024.pdf