The Accidental Leader

It’s that time of the year again – when financial organisations create a whole new generation of Accidental Leaders and set them free in their organisations i.e. promotion time! In this article Martina Doherty explores the concept of the Accidental Leader, how to spot one and what senior leaders and organisations can do to provide support and development to help mitigate the unintended and often negative consequences of the Accidental Leader in action.

Accidental Leaders – we all know them. People who have been promoted into leadership positions because of their technical expertise, star performance, seniority, or tenure in the organisation rather than any proven leadership abilities. Very common in financial markets since that’s how performance and progression are generally rewarded. The phenomenon is also compounded by an existing structure that is filled with other “Accidentals” who have held their positions for so long that their authority is no longer questioned.

And it’s not just the financial sector. According to the Chartered Management Institute, 82% of bosses in the UK are accidental leaders i.e. they lack any formal leadership or management training and qualifications. So, what’s the issue with the accidental leader or is there even one?

I think an obvious issue and one that most of us can attest to, is that not everyone in a leadership or a management role is actually good at it, and the impact of this is the far-reaching negative consequences on the actual humans that they manage and interact with; toxic team culture, demotivated individuals or a high staff churn rate to name but a few.  Mind you it’s not exactly a bed of roses for the Accidental Leaders either who often find themselves in positions of authority, with little or no preparation for their additional responsibilities and an expectation to just get on with things.

So as promotion season comes into focus, maybe it’s time to think about accidental leadership and how to recognise it so that the right support and development can be provided to minimise the multitude of negative consequences that can naturally emerge.

A good starting point knowing how to spot it. What does the Accidental Leader look like?

Micromanagement. Their expertise means the Accidental Leader is especially inclined to micromanagement. They try to oversee every detail and maintain the same ways of doing things that they used, which can result in a very frustrated team – especially where some of the team may have been peers before their promotion. This inclination to micromanage comes from a lack of confidence in their own inability to lead or to trust in their team, and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy where this lack of trust in others exacerbates their own sense of inadequacy.

Threatened by others successes. Because the Accidental Leader has been a star performer, the need to be great at everything still exists. That means they can feel threatened by other people who excel in areas that they don’t. Not wanting to highlight their own inadequacies can then make them reluctant to give credit where it’s due – or even worse – to take the credit for other peoples’ work.

Lack of Vision and Strategic Thinking. Because of their technical focus, the Accidental Leader has largely been successful to date because of his/her ability to do excellent work or solve problems. As leadership requires long-term direction, however, and a focus on broader goals, the transition from “doing” to “leading” is one that many accidentals struggle with.

In a conversation with an ex-chief dealer recently, they told me that it took them almost two years to feel comfortable with running their trading desk – primarily because of mindset shift needed to redirect his focus from their own P&L activities to getting 10% more P&L from each of their 10 traders (that was what they felt was needed to justify their own position and salary). A big part of this involved fighting their natural instinct to focus on their own trading activities and learn to step back and take the time to look at which parts of the “trading machine” needed oiling at any one point in time. Not only was it a huge personal challenge for them, it also meant developing a certain executive presence in senior leadership circles since they too had to realise that the chief dealer now operated differently and couldn’t always swoop in to save the day when markets were unravelling.

Lack of People Management Skills. Another critical challenge for the Accidental Leader is their lack of people management skills. It’s no secret that leadership involves much more than setting technical direction; motivating, managing, and leading people is needed and that requires strong levels of self-awareness as well interpersonal and relational skills. Because these responsibilities are unlikely to appear as urgent to-do tasks, however, and their ROI is less visible, the Accidental Leader often dismisses them as less important than revenue generating activities, often to the long-term detriment of staff retention and team performance.

A sensible approach is to acknowledge that Accidental Leaders are an intrinsic part of a markets culture and then put the right training, development and support in place to help them transition to being more effective

So can any or all of the above actually be avoided or addressed? I don’t think avoidance is a feasible solution as promoting star performers will always be expected as the next logical step in a career path – especially if an organisation wants to retain that star performer. A more sensible approach is to acknowledge that Accidental Leaders are an intrinsic part of a markets culture and then put the right training, development and support in place to help them transition to being more effective.

Thankfully many organisations realise this and provide support through various leadership training and development programmes in place. Saying that, these often focus on generic training without taking into account the unique challenges of the individual or specific team dynamics, which can often compound any self-doubt or imposter syndrome at play. So while training and development programmes are great, they should ideally be supplemented with personalised coaching and mentoring – something that my ex-chief dealer friend attributes a lot of their leadership effectiveness to as they transitioned into their more senior role.

A less implemented form of support is the creation of leadership networks. These internal or external networks allow leaders to meet and share specific experiences and challenges with peers and more senior leaders and can provide a regular and informal learning environment.

Ultimately leadership is a skill, not an innate talent; and in the same way as technical skills can be learned and practiced, so too can leadership. Accidentals exist, whether we like it or not, and with workplace practices and leadership behaviours under the spotlight more than ever before, providing the help and support to help them transition from star performers to star leaders is critical – and in doing do, we all benefit.

Martina Doherty is an independent business psychologist, coach and trainer, and founder of MD Consulting