Accidental managers are people promoted into management because they were good at their previous job, not because they were trained or chosen to lead people. In UK service firms it usually happens to the top biller, and it often costs the business twice: you lose your best performer’s output and gain a manager who is struggling.
It is the norm rather than the exception. The Chartered Management Institute found that 82 per cent of new managers have had no formal management training. And the cost of poor people management is large: Investors in People estimated in 2015 that it costs the UK economy £84bn a year, a figure later repeated by the CMI.
This guide explains why firms keep promoting top billers into management, how the Peter Principle plays out in recruitment and professional services, and how to fix the system so promotion stops being the only way to get a pay rise.
Table of Contents
What is an accidental manager?
An accidental manager is someone who ended up managing people without ever setting out to, and without being prepared for it. They were usually excellent at the job: the best recruiter, the sharpest consultant or the most reliable account manager. Management was the reward, or the only route to more money.
The problem isn’t the people. It’s that managing a team is a different job from doing the work, needing different skills, and most firms hand it over with no training and no support. The person who was confident and successful last month is suddenly out of their depth, often without anyone noticing until the team starts to struggle.
The Peter Principle in professional services
The Peter Principle, from Laurence J. Peter’s 1969 book, says that people in a hierarchy tend to be promoted until they reach a role they can’t do well. Each promotion is earned by success in the current role, so people keep rising until they hit one where they are no longer successful, and there they stay.
Professional services firms are especially exposed because the skills that make a great biller, such as personal drive, competitiveness and individual results, are not the skills that make a great manager. Think of it in sporting terms. Imagine England had made David Beckham manager during the 2002 World Cup. You’d lose your best player on the pitch and gain an inexperienced manager in the dugout, and you’d probably get worse results on both counts. That is exactly what happens when you promote your top biller and hope for the best.
Hunters and farmers: different jobs, different skills
In sales terms, top billers are often hunters: they thrive on the chase, the win and the personal scoreboard. Good managers are more like farmers: patient, focused on growing other people and happy for the credit to go to the team. Some people can do both. Many can’t, and they shouldn’t be made to choose between doing what they’re best at and earning more.
There are well-known stories of how extreme the gap can be in other industries. One story we’ve discussed on the podcast is of a Meta engineer paid around $2m a year, reporting to a manager on about $200k, because the company had separated technical value from management. It’s an anecdote rather than verified data, but the principle is sound: pay should follow value, not position on an org chart.
Why accidental managers cost so much
Promoting the wrong person into management costs you in three ways at once:
- Lost output. Your top biller’s billing drops as their time goes into management tasks.
- Team impact. An unsupported manager struggles to coach, delegate and handle difficult conversations, so the team’s performance and engagement slip.
- Turnover. Good people leave poor managers, and the struggling manager may leave too. Our employee turnover cost calculator shows what each of those exits costs.
Kim Adele Randall has told the story of giving a struggling new manager their old job back. The lesson is that stepping back shouldn’t be treated as failure if the move was wrong in the first place, and that firms need a way for people to do it without losing face.
How to fix the accidental manager problem
The fix is structural. Training helps, but it can’t make up for a system that pushes the wrong people into management.
Separate pay from management
If the only way to earn more is to manage people, your best individual contributors will take management jobs they don’t want. Create a senior specialist path with pay and status that match the management track, so people can progress by getting better at what they do.
Split people leadership from technical leadership
Not every team leader needs to manage people. A senior biller can lead on technical standards, client relationships or training, while someone else with the right skills handles one-to-ones, development and performance.
Promote the person the team would choose
Ask the team who they would go to for help, advice or support. The answer is often not the top biller. It’s usually the person others already trust, which is a far better predictor of good management.
Replace generic training with targeted coaching
A two-day course for every new manager rarely sticks. Targeted coaching on the specific situations each manager finds hard works better. Coaching models such as the CLEAR coaching model give managers a simple structure to use with their own teams, and our guide to leadership and management development covers the wider programme.
Give HR visibility of manager strengths and weaknesses
Most HR teams only find out a manager is struggling when people start to leave. Regular, anonymous feedback from teams about their managers gives you an early warning, and shows which managers need support and in what. Wotter is one example of a tool built for that, but even a short quarterly check-in on each manager will tell you more than an annual survey. Pair it with a few clear accountability measures for each manager, such as team retention, development conversations held and team feedback trends.
Checklist: before you promote your top biller
Ask these questions before the conversation, not after:
- Do they actually want to manage people, or do they want more money and recognition?
- Is there a way to give them both without a management role?
- Would the team choose them as their manager?
- Have they shown they can coach, delegate and have difficult conversations?
- What training and support will they get in their first 90 days?
- What happens if it doesn’t work, and can they step back without losing face?
If you can’t answer the last two, don’t make the promotion yet.
Frequently asked questions
What is an accidental manager?
Someone who has ended up managing people without setting out to, usually after being promoted for excelling in their previous role, and without formal management training.
How many UK managers are accidental managers?
The Chartered Management Institute found that 82 per cent of new managers in the UK have had no formal management training.
What is the Peter Principle?
The idea, from Laurence J. Peter’s 1969 book, that people keep being promoted for success in their current role until they reach a role they can’t do well.
Should you promote your best salesperson to manager?
Only if they want the role, have shown they can coach and support others, and would be the team’s choice. Otherwise, reward them through a senior specialist path.
How do you support new managers?
Give them targeted coaching on real situations, regular feedback from their team, clear accountability measures and a safe way to step back if the role isn’t right.
Stop promoting your top biller into failure
Accidental managers aren’t a training problem so much as a system problem. Separate pay from management, choose managers for their ability to lead people, support them properly and give HR early sight of how they’re doing. Your best biller can stay your best biller, and your teams get managers who actually want the job.
For the full conversation, listen to Episode 16 of Strategic HR Weekly.
