Not Every Great Professional Is a Great Leader
The problem arises when we assume that someone will know how to lead simply because they were excellent in their previous role.
It’s one of the situations we’ve seen repeated most often over the past 18 years.
Someone stands out because of their technical expertise.
Their experience.
Their results.
The organisation recognises their contribution and offers them greater responsibility: leading a team.
On paper, it seems like a logical decision.
And very often, it is.
The problem arises when we assume that someone will know how to lead simply because they were excellent in their previous role.
Because being a great professional and being a great leader are not exactly the same thing.
Leadership requires a different set of skills.
Listening.
Coordinating.
Giving feedback.
Managing conflict.
Making difficult decisions.
Helping other people grow.
Yet we often expect people to develop all of these skills almost overnight.
For a long time, leadership has been seen as the natural next step in a professional career. As if technical expertise automatically prepared someone to lead people.
After working alongside many teams and leaders, we’ve found that this is rarely the case.
Experience helps.
Technical knowledge helps.
But leadership requires a different kind of learning.
And when organisations actively support that development, things begin to change.
People gain confidence in their new role.
Teams have a clearer understanding of what is expected of them.
Difficult conversations start to happen.
Leadership stops being just another responsibility and becomes a capability that can be developed.
Some time ago, we began working with Egile on a programme built around precisely this challenge: helping production managers develop the skills they need to lead teams in an increasingly demanding environment.
Because leadership is not just about knowing how to do the job.
It’s also about helping others do it better.
👉 You can read the full case study here.
And if you’d rather hear it first-hand, you can also watch several participants share their experience of the programme.
👉 Watch the video.