Promoted people into management with no support — where to start

Your best performers got promoted. They know the technical side of their jobs inside out, but they're drowning in people problems now—missed deadlines, unhappy team members, requests they don't know how to handle. You realise they need proper support, but "leadership training" is a huge category. Where do you even start?

The gap between being good at a job and being good at leading people is real, and it catches most organisations by surprise. Without guidance, new managers often fall back on copying whoever they reported to—sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. What you need right now is to understand what kind of help exists, who provides it, and what a realistic first step looks like.

What the provider landscape actually looks like

When you start looking for management support, you'll run into several different types of organisations, and they work very differently.

Large corporate training firms run standardised programmes—half-day workshops on communication, conflict resolution, delegation. They're designed to tick a box quickly and move on. Useful for broad awareness, but they rarely stick because there's no follow-up.

Executive coaches work one-on-one with individual managers. They're expensive and best suited to senior leaders or people in crisis. Not the starting point for a team of new managers.

Specialised leadership development providers sit in the middle. They run cohort-based programmes—bringing your new managers together over weeks or months—with a mix of workshops, peer learning, and real-world application. They diagnose what your managers actually struggle with, not what a template says they should. This is where most organisations get real traction because people learn together and hold each other accountable.

Internal HR or training teams sometimes run in-house programmes if you have the expertise. If you do, great. If not, don't try—it usually wastes time and money.

The critical difference: programmes where managers apply what they learn to real situations tend to stick. Ones where they sit and listen and leave unchanged don't.

How to narrow down what you actually need

Before you pick a provider type, be honest about your situation:

• How many new managers are we talking about? If it's two or three, one-on-one coaching might make sense. If it's six or more, a cohort programme saves money and works better because they learn from each other.
• What's the biggest pain point right now? Are they struggling to give feedback? Struggling to set boundaries? Struggling to keep their teams motivated? The answer tells you whether you need a general programme or something targeted.
• How much time can they take away from their day? Some programmes run two hours a week for ten weeks; others are full-day workshops spread across a month. Realistic commitment matters.
• Do you have budget for this now, or do you need to build the case first? Knowing this helps you talk to providers in the right language.

Once you know your answers, you're ready to talk to people. A good provider will ask you these questions too—if they jump straight to their standard offering, that's a red flag.

What to ask a provider before going further

When you make contact, listen for how they respond:

• Do they ask about your specific context, or do they immediately email you a brochure?
• Can they explain how their approach works for embedded learning—not just the sessions, but what happens between them?
• Will they share a reference from another organisation like yours?
• Can they tell you upfront what success looks like and how you'll measure it?

You're looking for someone who treats your situation as unique, not a slot to fill in their schedule.

Starting to look for the right leadership development partner doesn't have to mean committing to a big programme tomorrow. On Strove, you can browse verified providers in your area, read what others have experienced, and request a conversation—no obligation. That's a good first move when you're trying to understand the landscape and figure out what fits.