Set Up to Fail? Why Great Employees Struggle as New Managers and What They Really Need

Sally, a high-performing employee smart, driven, detail-oriented, and the person everyone turns to when something needs to get done. Naturally, she's promoted to manager. It feels like the right reward for the hard work.

But within a few months, things start to unravel. Sally feels overwhelmed. The team is frustrated. Everyones confidence begins to slip. The stress ripples through performance, morale, and culture.

It is not because they are bad at their job. It is because Sally was placed in a role that requires a completely different set of skills than the ones that made her successful in the first place.

More than sixty percent of new managers underperform or fail within their first two years, according to research from Gartner and the Corporate Executive Board source. It is one of the most expensive and frustrating mistakes companies make, and also one of the most common.

The Cost of Assuming Great Workers Make Great Leaders

Too often we assume that if someone is great at their work, they will be great at leading others. But the skills that make someone an excellent contributor are not the same skills that make them an effective manager. Promotion does not magically create leadership ability. Moving from team member to team leader is a transition that requires intention and support.

Yet many organizations promote their best employees and then leave them to figure it out on their own. There is little or no training. There is no structured support or coaching. There are no feedback loops to help them course correct. Many of these new managers have never even seen great leadership modeled.

The Hidden Cost of Turnover

When new managers are underprepared, it does not only affect confidence and culture. It directly impacts the bottom line through higher turnover. Gallup research, in partnership with Workstream and Workleap, shows the financial impact clearly. For a business with employees earning an average salary of $50,000, the cost to replace just one person ranges from $50,000 to $100,000 source.

Put another way, if a company loses ten employees in a year with that same salary level, and we use a conservative median replacement cost of seventy-five percent of salary, the total loss would reach $375,000. This number includes recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity, and the cultural drag that happens when teams lose experienced colleagues.

How would losing $375,000 due to inadequate leadership training affect your business?

In Need of Leadership Training

When someone steps into a leadership role, the change is more than a new title or new responsibilities.

It is an identity shift. They need to learn how to lead people, not just manage tasks.

This means developing self-awareness so they can understand their strengths, blind spots, and triggers. It means learning to lead with empathy so they can create trust and psychological safety on their teams. They must become strong communicators, listening well, speaking clearly, and giving feedback with honesty and care.

Emotional intelligence becomes essential. Leaders must be able to read the room, navigate difficult conversations, and respond thoughtfully under pressure. They must learn to delegate effectively, letting go of control and allowing others to grow. And they need tools to handle conflict, to approach disagreements with curiosity instead of fear, and to resolve tension before it affects the health of the team.

Let’s Build Better Leaders

Whether you are an HR leader who wants to improve retention and culture or a new manager who feels in over your head, the truth is this. Leadership is not something you are born with or without. It is something you learn, practice, and grow into.

Let’s stop setting people up to fail and start setting them up to lead.

👉 [Click here to book a free call or learn more]

Know someone who needs this? Share it with them.

Coaching Bridges the Gap

New managers do not need more pressure. They need more support.

At Erin Treacy Coaching, I work with new and emerging leaders to build confidence in their leadership voice. Together we grow their emotional intelligence so they can handle real-world people challenges with skill and courage. We focus on leading with intention, authenticity, and clarity so they create connection and culture instead of control and compliance.