Do the wrong people end up leading? And what can we do about it? April 8, 2016 News The CEO was furious. Staff were leaving the company. He wouldn’t have minded if they were non-productive employees; no one minds losing them. But these were good people, and for this CEO, enough was enough. ‘I’m going to have to get rid of their line-manager. He’s a great salesman and he’s been with the company a long time – but he can’t handle people. He’s losing me good staff.’ And this is an issue in many organisations. People are promoted because of their technical excellence – not because they understand people. So a teacher might be promoted because she teaches biology well. Or an architect might be promoted because of his innovative designs. Or a recruitment consultant – because she’s a brilliant networker and saleswoman. It’s their expertise in their field that gets them into management positions. The trouble is, their technical excellence is not enough from here on. In their new role, they’re now handling people; they are line managers. And while they may be good at their jobs; they may not be good at management. Indeed, they may well have little understanding of themselves or others. Why do we imagine a brilliant doctor will be able to manage a staff team? Different skills are required. And as we know, the single most common reason for leaving a job is poor management. The desperate CEO said to me, ‘Is there anything I can do?’ ‘There is,’ I said, and began talking about some of The Mind Clinic Development Days we offer, which can be found HERE. Is it possible the managers in your company need some new skills?