There is a crisis… unfolding inside EVERY organisations right now!
It is not making headlines. It does not show up clearly on quarterly reports. But it is costing businesses far more than any market slowdown or talent shortage.
The crisis is this…
We are promoting the wrong people into leadership, and then wondering why everything feels broken.
How we got here???
For decades, the path to leadership followed a familiar logic. You were excellent at your job… You delivered results… You stayed long enough… And eventually… you were rewarded with a team to manage.
The assumption behind this model is so deeply embedded that most organisations never question it.
The assumption is WRONG!
Being exceptional at a technical role does not prepare you to lead people. A brilliant salesperson does not automatically become an inspiring sales manager. A high-performing analyst does not naturally transform into a thoughtful team leader. These are entirely different skill sets. And confusing them is where the leadership crisis begins.
In my experience working with organisations across the Middle East, this is one of the most consistent and costly mistakes I encounter. Talented individuals are placed into leadership positions without the preparation, the coaching, or even the honest conversation about what leadership actually demands.And then everyone is surprised when things go wrong.
What the data tells us?
Gallup’s research consistently shows that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores. Seventy percent!!! This means…
The single biggest driver of whether your people show up energised or disengaged… is their direct manager.
Yet leadership development has been the number one priority for HR and L&D professionals for several years in a row and… organisations are still not solving it. The gap between intention and execution remains enormous.
Wondering why???
Because most organisations treat leadership development as an event. A workshop here… a programme there… a coaching session when something has already gone wrong. What they rarely build is a sustained, structured approach to developing leaders before the pressure arrives.
You cannot develop a leader in a two-day workshop. You develop them over years, through experience, reflection, and consistent feedback.The Leadership Behaviours that are quietly failing teams…
In conversations with employees across industries, the same frustrations surface repeatedly.
- Leaders who manage tasks but never develop people
- Who measure effort rather than outcomes
- Who create cultures where the safest option is to stay quiet and comply
- Who mistake authority for respect… and busyness for impact
These are not bad people.
Most of them are doing exactly what was modelled to them. They were never shown what good leadership looks like… They were never coached on how to have difficult conversations, how to give meaningful feedback, how to build genuine trust within a team.
They were simply handed a team and expected to figure it out.
The Uncomfortable Truth!!!
Here is what I want leaders and organisations to sit with…
The quality of leadership in your organisation is a direct reflection of the investment you have made in developing it.
Disengaged teams do not appear by accident… High attrition does not appear by accident… A culture where people do the minimum and keep their heads down does not appear by accident.
These are the symptoms of a leadership environment that was never properly built.
And they cannot be fixed with another bonus scheme, another town hall, or another values poster on the wall.
Okay… So What Needs to Change??
Organisations that are serious about leadership (not just the word, but the reality) do a few things differently.
- They identify leadership potential early and invest in it before people are promoted, not after
- They build coaching cultures where feedback flows consistently, not just during annual reviews
- They hold leaders accountable not just for results, but for how those results are achieved
- They measure what actually matters… team engagement, psychological safety, development conversations, retention.
And perhaps most importantly… they stop treating leadership as a destination and start treating it as a continuous practice.
Final reflection…
If your organisation has a motivation problem, a retention problem, or a performance problem… it very likely has a leadership problem underneath it.
The good news is that leadership can be developed. It is not a personality trait. It is not something you either have or you do not. It is a set of skills, behaviours, and mindsets that can be built… with the right commitment… the right support… and the right environment.
The question is not whether your organisation needs better leaders.
The question is whether you are willing to build them.
Because the cost of not doing so… is already showing up. Most organisations just have not connected the dots yet.
Over to you!
Leave a Reply