By Tim Huff
President, TLG
A story that we hear far too often… A client, who we’ll call Maria, was the kind of individual contributor every organization wants more of. She was technically sharp, detail-oriented, and reliable… the kind of “A” player we all want on our teams. When something needed to get done, she got it done; and done well!
When her manager left, the promotion felt obvious. She was the team’s strongest and most experienced performer.
A few months later, Maria felt overwhelmed and her team was struggling. Instead of solving problems herself, she now had to rely on her team to solve problems. Instead of being evaluated on output, she was being evaluated on influence.
No one had questioned her performance, but no one really assessed her readiness for this leadership position.
And Maria isn’t alone.
The Promotion Problem
While we tell employees that leadership is a path anyone can walk, only 30% of managers report confidence that their organization has a strong leadership bench. At the same time, 70% say their talent reviews don’t actually drive development. Something isn’t connecting.
Too often, we promote based on past performance in a current role, not demonstrated capability for the next one. We assess, develop, and promote, but those systems rarely talk to each other.
The result is often stagnation, frustration, and weak talent decisions. And sometimes, accidental leaders.
Performance Is Not the Same as Readiness
High performance proves someone can succeed at today’s responsibilities, but readiness signals whether they can succeed at tomorrow’s. That’s a very different question.
When someone moves from individual contributor to manager, the job fundamentally changes:
- From doing the work to leading others who do the work
- From solving problems to building problem-solvers
- From technical expertise to judgment, influence, and coaching
The competencies shift, yet our evaluation systems often don’t. Our systems typically look at pure results. Readiness for leadership depends on three critical dimensions: Skills (performing key behaviors required in the next role), Knowledge (understanding the business, systems, and strategic context), and Abilities (influencing, adapting, and leading under pressure).
Abilities are often the most predictive and the least intentionally assessed. Without clarity on those differentiators, promotion becomes a reward rather than a preparation.
Why External Hiring Isn’t the Fix
When internal promotions falter, many organizations default to external hiring. However, outside hires are typically paid more and leave more often. External hiring isn’t inherently wrong, but it shouldn’t be a primary strategy for all leadership roles, especially for a growing organization.
Hiring externally is often a symptom of underdeveloped internal readiness. If employees can’t see what it takes to move forward, managers don’t know how to develop for the next level, and talent reviews only label performance rather than build capability, then bench strength will always feel thin.
What Readiness Looks Like in Practice
The key shift is to ask, “who is building the capabilities required for the next step?” versus “who is performing well?” Or asking, “who is demonstrating readiness for increased responsibility?” versus “who deserves advancement?” These kinds of shifts prevent the number of accidental leaders and build the number of intentional leaders.
Organizations that build strong leadership benches do a few things differently:
- They Define the Next-Level Competencies Clearly. Not vague statements like “executive presence,” but specific skills, knowledge, and abilities that differentiate successful and unsuccessful performance at each level. When expectations are clear, development becomes intentional.
- They Create Visible Career Roadmaps. When employees can see the skills required at each stage of their career, engagement rises. Clarity reduces anxiety and increases ownership.
- They Develop Before They Promote. Instead of promoting someone into a stretch role and hoping they grow into it, they build readiness in advance. This includes things like stretch assignments, leadership coaching, cross-functional exposure, and feedback tied directly to next-level competencies. Promotion becomes confirmation, not experimentation.
Leadership Is a Capability Shift
Maria eventually succeeded, as great employees often do when given new challenges. Not because she was promoted, but because her organization invested in building the skills and abilities she needed, like coaching conversations, decision-making under ambiguity, and influence without authority.
Leadership at any level is truly a capability shift, not just a title change to recognize and reward good work. If we want stronger benches, better succession, and more confident leaders, we must move beyond rewarding performance and start preparing for what’s next.
So here’s the question worth asking this month: Are we promoting excellence? Or are we building readiness for the future?
The difference determines whether leadership emerges by design or by accident.
Thanks,