The leaders closest to the work are often furthest from support.

Scale

The largest group of leaders

They lead most of the workforce and shape how work gets done, every day.

In many organisations, frontline managers form the largest leadership population. They sit closest to day-to-day execution, translating priorities into work, leading teams, solving problems and shaping how employees experience the organisation.

Access

Overlooked in development and budget

Little budget, no personal coaching, and generic training that doesn't fit their day.

Frontline leadership creates a scale problem for traditional development. Personalised coaching is difficult to offer across large populations, while programmes built for scale can become generic, episodic or disconnected from the challenges managers face during the working day.

The result is a gap between the importance of the role and the support many frontline managers actually receive.

• 20–30%

  of leadership-development budgets targeted frontline leaders in BCG’s public-sector research

  BCG, 2017, public-sector research

• 49%

  of first-level managers surveyed by DDI said they were not getting the development support they needed

  DDI, Frontline Leader Project

• 57%

  wanted more external coaching than they were receiving

  DDI, Frontline Leader Project

• 98%

  of senior leaders surveyed said leadership training was a worthwhile investment

  DDI, Frontline Leader Project

The gap isn’t belief. It’s access.

Transition

Promoted for skill, not prepared to lead

Great at the job, then left to learn leadership on their own.

Many frontline managers reach leadership by first becoming excellent individual contributors. But leading people is a different job, one that suddenly demands judgement, communication, delegation, feedback and difficult conversations.

For many, the role changes faster than the support around them.

• 90%

  of first-level leaders surveyed by DDI felt unprepared for the role to some extent

  DDI, Frontline Leader Project

• 84%

  said the transition into their first leadership role was stressful

  DDI, Frontline Leader Project

• 60%

  reported never having had a mentor

  DDI, Frontline Leader Project

Impact

Critical to business success

Senior leaders agree: investing in frontline managers drives results.

Frontline managers influence how priorities become action and how employees experience work. Their effect shows up in engagement, retention, performance and the ability of teams to execute.

• 57%

  of frontline leaders surveyed by DDI said they had left a job specifically because of their manager, a further 32% had seriously considered it

  DDI, Frontline Leader Project