The Rise of the Accidental Manager: Why It Matters and How to Get It Right
Posted: 24 November 2025 at 1:53 pm | Author: CAW Business School
What is an “Accidental Manager”?
An accidental manager is someone who is promoted into a leadership role not because they sought it or were trained for it, but usually because of their strong technical performance and an opportunity arising in their team. These individuals are often great at their jobs, but not necessarily prepared to manage people.
Research from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) shows just how prevalent this phenomenon is in the UK. Around 82% of new managers say they’ve never had any formal management or leadership training — in other words, they’re “accidental managers.”*
Moreover, 52% of all UK managers report that they do not hold any formal management or leadership qualification.*
Even more striking, about a quarter (26%) of senior managers say they have never received formal training.*
Put simply, most UK managers are being trained in the role — not before stepping into it. That often means learning on the job, making mistakes, and sometimes unintentionally damaging team morale or productivity.
The challenges they face
It’s common for accidental managers to feel overwhelmed or underprepared, unsure of how to handle conflict or develop their team effectively. They can struggle in a number of key areas:
- Delegating effectively and balancing workloads
- Handling conflict or poor performance
- Communicating confidently with both team members and senior leadership
- Balancing their own technical work with their new leadership role
Why does this matter?
The rise of accidental managers can have serious implications for businesses and people. Poor management can cause team morale to drop and staff become disengaged. In fact, research suggests that around one in three UK workers have quit a job because of a negative relationship with their manager.
There’s also a wider economic dimension: weak management practices are believed to account for up to 50% of the UK’s productivity gap compared to more productive economies.*
In organisations, this tends to lead to:
- High turnover, because people don’t quit bad jobs — they quit bad managers.
- Low engagement
- Poor staff retention, and the risk that talented people are pushed out.
On a personal level, for the managers themselves, this can mean:
- Feeling out of their depth, especially when trying to shift from being a technical expert to being a leader.
- Role strain — juggling their own work with leadership responsibilities.
- A heightened risk of burnout.
- Lower job satisfaction, particularly if they feel forced into a leadership role rather than choosing it.
How to succeed as an accidental manager
If this resonates, there are concrete steps you can take to grow into the role you’ve found yourself in:
- Get Trained
- Consider enrolling in a structured leadership qualification – for example, ILM (Institute of Leadership & Management) programmes.
- Look at Continuing Professional development courses/ webinars to upskill on any areas of weakness
- Find Mentorship
- Ask more experienced, trained managers for mentoring or coaching.
- Build peer networks where you can exchange insights and challenges.
- Develop Core Leadership Skills
- Learn to delegate: empower others to take responsibility so you’re not doing everything yourself.
- Improve your communication: clarity, consistency, and openness are key.
- Practice conflict management: deal with performance issues early, and do so constructively.
- Use Effective Tools & Frameworks
- Use coaching models to guide conversations.
- Set clear goals using frameworks like SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).
- Take advantage of professional membership resources (e.g., CMI) to access toolkits, templates, and structured guidance.
Final Thought
Being an accidental manager doesn’t have to be a permanent label. With deliberate effort, the right training, and good support — both from mentors and peers — it’s entirely possible to grow into a confident, effective leader. What starts off as learning on-the-job can become a deliberate and purposeful journey toward leadership excellence.