Why the UK Can’t Afford Untrained Managers – And What We Can Do About It

You’d never step onto a plane with a pilot who’s received no formal training, or agree to go under the scalpel of a surgeon who’s never studied medicine – the very idea is crazy. But in workplaces up and down the UK, this is essentially what’s happening every day with managers.

Currently, around 8.4 million people in the UK hold managerial positions, but a staggering 82% of them are “accidental managers”: promoted into leadership roles with no formal management training (figure from Chartered Management Institute). That’s more than six and a half million people learning to lead through trial and often painful error. It’s costing us dearly.

It’s not Life and Death – But it Matters 

OK, so poor management in the office isn’t a matter of life and death like an untrained pilot or surgeon could be – but it still has a massive impact. As well as creating a frustrating daily work day, it has a real, measurable impact on the economy. Ineffective leadership contributes to toxic workplace cultures, low morale, poor productivity and high staff turnover. 

According to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), one in three employees has left a job because of a toxic work culture This is often fuelled by weak leadership that allows it to flourish, and does nothing to challenge it. It’s not just bad for individuals and teams; it undermines entire organisations and drags down the UK’s overall productivity. 

It’s a deep-rooted problem that starts with recruitment: the majority of job adverts for managers in the UK do not ask for any kind of formal management skills. In the US, many managerial roles require recognised skills in leadership and management, including proven ability to develop others, strong communication, and the ability to show empathy.

Management roles are too often given to those who show technical and specialist ability, and none of the management skills that are needed to lead well. The result is mismanagement, burnout, and billions lost in potential productivity – plus the cost of turnover and recruitment when people leave. 

Managers Make or Break Workplaces

When they talk about why they’ve left a job, people rarely say, “I didn’t like the company.” More often than not, it’s “I didn’t get on with my manager.”

CMI research backs this up. Over 50% of employees who rate their managers as ineffective are planning to leave within the next year.

Skilled managers are more likely to foster healthy, inclusive teams, and to take swift action when something isn’t right - but the stark reality is that only 27% of UK workers describe their manager as highly effective.

It’s clear that we’ve got a management problem - but we also have a huge opportunity. 

The Case for Management Training 

The value of professionalising management with proper training is clearly demonstrated in this CMI estimate: that if the UK were to match Germany in terms of manager training over the next decade, the productivity boost could be worth up to £76 billion.

Management training plays a major role in levelling the playing field too. Currently, managers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are far less likely to have formal qualifications than those from higher-income backgrounds. Investing in training helps create fairer, more inclusive pathways to leadership. 

What Can New Managers Do?

If you're stepping into your first management role - or you’ve been in one a while, and never had proper training - it’s never too late to invest in yourself. Here are a few that I share with my own coaching clients:

• Invest in your development. Leadership is a skill like any other. You wouldn’t expect to become a great pianist without lessons, and management is no different.
• Build a diverse team. Hire people who think differently from you. It makes your team more creative, resilient and effective.
• Become great at delegating. Your job is to guide, support and develop your team, and you can do that best by perfecting the art of delegation. Read more on that in my blog post here: How to Get Better at Delegating
• Don’t sweep toxic behaviour under the carpet. Lead by example - call it out, and set the tone. Your team will follow your lead.
• Ask for feedback. Great managers aren’t just good at giving feedback; they demonstrate its value by actively seeking it and acting upon it themselves. 

We need to stop leaving leadership to chance. If we want to build stronger teams, better workplaces and a more productive economy, we need to stop treating management as an afterthought. It's not a “nice to have” - it's absolutely essential.