Rethinking Leadership Development: What Frontline Managers Really Need

Leadership development doesn’t work.

That's not just a clickbaity statement or personal opinion. It’s a widely-held belief backed by plenty of research. For example, seventy-five percent of organizations do not believe their leadership development programs deliver high value to the company (Bersin). Companies spend 25% of their annual training budgets - approximately $89B - on leadership development. Nevertheless, 82% of new bosses are “accidental managers” with little-to-no formal training on how to do the job (CMI).

Navigating manager development on the frontline

This challenge is especially daunting on the frontlines of industries like retail, food service, hospitality and grocery, where people often step into their first management roles. Only 10% of executives believe their frontline manager training is effective in preparing people to lead (McKinsey). Worse, 81% of frontline managers are not satisfied with their own performance. 

Frontline managers typically make up half of a company’s management. They support as much as 80% of the total workforce (Harvard Business Review). They’re also expected to handle a pile of administrative duties, respond immediately to corporate requests, deal with challenging customers and put out unexpected fires that emerge as part of everyday operations. It’s a difficult, often overwhelming job - especially when you lack right-fit training and support. With two-thirds of frontline managers feeling like they’re making it up as they go, it’s no surprise 40% are burned out on a daily basis (Axonify).

Frontline managers are the most important people in your organization. They’re the connection between headquarters, where strategy is developed, and the frontline, where strategy comes to life. L&D programs can't be successful without their buy-in. If managers don’t see value in a learning activity, they won’t give employees the time to engage or provide ongoing coaching and reinforcement to make sure learning sticks. 

L&D needs frontline managers, and frontline managers need L&D. But that doesn’t necessarily mean managers need more leadership development courses. They just need help.

Shifting the leadership development mindset

Leadership development is often a structured, event-driven experience. Sure, some programs offer hands-on practice and job shadowing, but participants typically spend lots of time in classrooms and online courses. Only 18% of organizations provide coaching to managers and just 11% embrace mentoring (McKinsey). This formal training approach clashes with everyday frontline realities. 

First, consider how frontline managers get into their roles. In a perfect world, every promotion would be the result of keen succession planning and talent bench development. Instead, most frontline managers got the job because the previous manager quit and they were the best performer available to fill the gap. A 2018 DDI study found 70% of frontline managers did not anticipate their promotions. Nineteen percent accepted the job for the pay raise, not because they wanted it or felt ready for the responsibilities. Unsurprisingly, 18% later regretted taking the job while 41% continued to have doubts about the decision. 

Rather than push everyone through the same leadership development funnel, L&D must meet people where they are and provide continuous, right-fit support that boosts manager confidence and capability. We must acknowledge the fact that most managers will not have the opportunity to complete training before taking the job. We must also assume they’ll struggle to find time for training after being thrust into a busy operation. Even if they can fit classroom sessions and online courses into their schedules, what are the chances they’ll remember everything and apply what they learn?

Applying a modern approach to management enablement

Courses will continue to play a role in the manager development process. However, to help frontline managers do their best work from day one, structured training must become a secondary tactic rather than the default solution. Instead, L&D must emphasize tactics that fit into the hectic manager workflow and provide ongoing guidance as people become increasingly comfortable in their roles. A framework like the Modern Learning Ecosystem helps L&D teams provide learning and support resources without disrupting the operation.

L&D can simplify the manager role by ensuring access to critical shared knowledge, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), essential workplace processes and proven practices for solving common problems. We can take this to the next level by providing managers with AI-powered digital assistants that are available anytime, anywhere help is needed. This gives managers a dependable source of support as they learn the job, reducing the need to figure things out on their own. It also reduces managers’ reliance on their own bosses, who are often unavailable and may perceive capability caps negatively.

Peer networks are another simple-yet-powerful way L&D can alleviate manager performance struggles. Many frontline managers in industries like retail and food service are isolated from their peer groups. It’s impossible for them to know that a manager in a location hundreds of miles away has dealt with the same issue before. L&D can close this gap by fostering peer support networks. Using available communication tools, such as group chats or Microsoft Teams channels, L&D can facilitate collaborative problem solving without the need for training. 

Traditional courses may not fit the busy manager workflow, but microlearning campaigns and reinforcement activities can easily be completed between job tasks. L&D can leverage mobile apps, email or text messaging to push short-form content directly to managers’ devices. These 2-3 minute exercises can challenge managers to solve real-world problems and reinforce information shared during structured training programs. Plus, asking managers to complete 3 minutes of training per shift is less disruptive than requiring attendance at a 60-minute webinar every month. This drip-based approach also aligns with proven learning science principles, such as spaced reputation and retrieval practice.

Making the case for change

Justifying investment in manager enablement is easy. Organizations know how critical managers are to business results. They account for 70% of the variance in team engagement (Gallup), and engaged teams are 21% more profitable and 17% more productive while experiencing 41% less absenteeism. The hard part is fitting enablement into the frontline manager experience without disrupting the business. When we can’t square this circle, managers fail to get the support they need. As a result, 60% of new managers fail within their first two years (CEB Global). 

Managers want more help. Half of surveyed frontline managers are asking for additional training on topics like conflict resolution, emerging technology and stress management (Axonify). But there are only so many hours in the day, and managers already work overtime just to get the job done. By evolving our perspective on leadership development and adopting a modern approach, L&D can provide managers with the tools they need to do a great job without always requiring time for training.

It’s time to rethink leadership development and make sure managers aren’t forced to choose between themselves and the operation.

Thanks for everything you do. Let me know how I can help. Be well. JD

AI Statement

Artificial intelligence was used in the development of this article. The content was written by the human author while Google Gemini and ChatGPT were used to support research, ideation and editing.

Research

Abelii, Heide. Why 2024 Needs To Be The Year Of Investment In Frontline Managers. HR.com. December 29, 2023. https://www.hr.com/en/magazines/all_articles/why-2024-needs-to-be-the-year-of-investment-in-fro_lqqvgb7h.html 

Bersin, Josh. Companies Have Been Neglecting Their Leadership, And It Shows. Josh Bersin. November 2023. https://joshbersin.com/2023/11/companies-have-been-neglecting-their-leadership-and-it-shows/ 

Blanchard, Scott and Ken Blanchard. Why Do We Wait to Train Our New Managers? Training Industry. Retrieved on November 6, 2024. https://trainingindustry.com/magazine/issue/why-do-we-wait-to-train-our-new-managers/ 

Catalyst & Accenture. Team Dynamics on the Front Line: How Managers and Organizations Impact This Overlooked Key to Retention. 2024. https://www.catalyst.org/reports/frontline-employee-team-dynamics/ 

Dagli, Kinjal. Just launched: The Deskless Report 2024. Axonify Blog. October 29, 2024. https://axonify.com/blog/2024-deskless-report/ 

Hassan, Fred. The Frontline Advantage. Harvard Business Review. May 2011. https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-frontline-advantage

Miller, Jeff. More than Half of New Managers Fail. Here’s How to Avoid Their Common Mistakes. Inc. September 19, 2027. https://www.inc.com/jeff-miller/more-than-half-of-new-managers-fail-heres-how-to-a.html 

Mogan, Sarah. The State of Frontline Leadership in 2020. DDI. December 18, 2019. https://www.ddiworld.com/blog/the-state-of-frontline-leadership-in-2020 

McKinsey & Company. How companies manage the front line today: McKinsey Survey results. February 1, 2010. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/how-companies-manage-the-front-line-today-mckinsey-survey-results 

Pitonyak, John and Rob Desimone. How to Engage Frontline Managers. Gallup. January 19, 2024. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/395210/engage-frontline-managers.aspx 

Royle, Orianna Rosa. Nearly all bosses are ‘accidental’ with no formal training - and research shows it’s leading 1 in 3 workers to quit. Yahoo Finance. October 16, 2023. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nearly-bosses-accidental-no-formal-114713495.html 

Wells, Rachel. Why 60% of new managers fail within two years. International Business Times. May 26, 2023. https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/why-60-new-managers-fail-within-two-years-1716097

This article was adapted for publication by Training Industry.