Most New Managers Don’t Get Onboarding. They Get Promoted.

  • Leadership

Sink or Swim Isn’t a Strategy

New managers get promoted—and left hanging.

A high performer gets tapped for a management role. They’re flattered. Excited. Maybe a little terrified. And then… nothing.

No expectations. No training. No system.

They go from “great individual contributor” to “make it up as you go.”

So They Improvise

Most new managers:

  • Copy their old boss (for better or worse)
  • Avoid hard conversations
  • Drown in meetings and Slack pings
  • Confuse busyness with leadership

The Fallout Is Predictable

  • Teams get mixed signals
  • Peers get frustrated
  • Confidence tanks

And because no one tells them this is normal, they assume it’s their fault.

It’s Not Them. It’s the System.

We onboard engineers. We train new hires. We even orient interns.

But managers—arguably the most leveraged role in the company? We leave them to figure it out.

That’s a leadership failure.

Build the Systems That Build Managers

What new managers need:

  • Feedback systems that don’t create fear
  • Onboarding checklists that don’t miss the basics
  • 1:1s that aren’t just status updates

Don’t Wait Until They Struggle

Great management doesn’t come from instinct. It comes from support, repetition, and simple systems that scale.

Want better results from your team? Start where the chaos begins: The messy, high-stakes transition to management.

Don’t leave your culture to chance. Equip the people who carry it.