If your supervisors are struggling with high turnover, spotty attendance, and productivity issues, you might think you made the wrong choice in promoting them. But before you blame their leadership abilities, ask yourself: Did you ever teach them how to lead? The problem with most supervisor promotions isn't the person you chose – it's what happens (or doesn't happen) after you choose them.
The Leadership Crisis You Created
Let's have an uncomfortable conversation about your "bad" supervisors.
You know the ones I'm talking about. They're technically brilliant at their jobs, but somehow they're struggling with their employees. Their teams have attendance issues. Safety numbers are concerning. And productivity? Well, let's just say it's not what it could be.
Here's the thing: Your supervisors aren't failing you. You're failing them.
The Fatal Flaw in Your Promotion Strategy
Think about how your last few supervisors were chosen. Chances are, you followed the time-honored tradition of promoting your best technical performers. They were great at their jobs, knew the processes inside and out, and earned the respect of their peers through their expertise.
Then something unexpected happened. Your star performer started struggling. Teams became disengaged. Good people started leaving. And you're left wondering, "Maybe they weren't ready for leadership after all."
But here's the real question you should be asking: What did you do to prepare them for leadership?
There's a dangerous myth in business: that being great at a job automatically qualifies someone to lead others in that job. It's like assuming that being a fantastic basketball player automatically makes you a great coach. You know that's not true—just look at the NBA's history of superstar players who failed as coaches.
Yet companies make this assumption every day. They take their best workers, hand them a team, and say, "You're great at your job, so you'll figure out the leadership part."
The Deep End Without Swimming Lessons
Picture this: On Monday, someone's a great individual contributor. By Tuesday, they're suddenly responsible for a team's performance. Wednesday brings interpersonal conflicts they've never had to handle before. Thursday throws attendance issues their way. By Friday, they're wondering why no one told them leadership would be this hard.
You've essentially thrown them into the deep end without teaching them how to swim. And when they start drowning, you blame their swimming ability rather than your lack of swimming lessons.
The truth is, that technical expertise and leadership skills are completely different capabilities. Your new supervisors might know everything about your processes, but leadership involves an entirely different skill set.
Building trust, communicating effectively, creating psychological safety, developing team members, and creating team camaraderie – these aren't natural talents. They're learned skills. And somewhere along the way, you forgot that leadership capabilities need to be taught just as deliberately as technical ones.
When you don't properly equip your supervisors, you're not just setting them up to fail – you're setting your entire organization up for problems. High turnover rates, increased absenteeism, safety issues, productivity losses – these aren't supervisor problems. They're symptoms of a failure to develop effective leaders.
Time to Own Your Role in Their Success
The good news? It's not too late to fix this. Your supervisors aren't bad leaders – they just haven't been taught how to be good ones. Start by acknowledging that leadership skills must be taught. Invest in development before or immediately after promotion. Create mentorship programs. Provide ongoing support and feedback.
Most importantly, stop blaming supervisors for not knowing what they were never taught. Technical skills might get someone promoted, but it's leadership skills that determine their success – and by extension, your company's success.
Your supervisors want to succeed. They want to be good leaders. They want their teams to thrive. But wanting isn't enough – they need the tools and training to make it happen. It's time to stop focusing on who they are and start investing in who they need to become.
Supervisor success isn't about natural talent – it's about how you prepare them for the challenges of leadership. And that preparation? That's on you.
Ready to transform your technically-skilled supervisors into exceptional leaders? The PeopleWork Supervisor Academy was built specifically for companies that recognize this critical gap in supervisor development. Our proven program equips your frontline leaders with the exact people-leading skills they need – communication, trust-building, team development, and coaching skills. We don't just teach theory; we provide practical, immediately applicable tools that supervisors can use the very same day they learn them.
Visit PeopleWorkAcademy.com to discover how we're helping companies just like yours turn good supervisors into great leaders. Because your supervisors deserve more than just being thrown into the deep end – they deserve the tools and training to excel.
