Article published and written by Nick Roud, March 2026, Auckland, New Zealand
Emerging leaders are one of the most at risk, least supported population in modern companies, and the cost of under-developing them is now both measurable and material. Poorly prepared new managers are driving disengagement, turnover, and underperformance at a time when CEs and Executive leadership teams are already stretched thin.
Most companies that I have researched and observed first hand still treat the first leadership appointment as a reward for past performance. Remembering what got you here won’t get you there. My invitation to companies is to treat the appointment as a new profession: Leading Others. The insights and impact is a chronic readiness gap and we must put the elephant in the room and discuss.
- A global survey cited by us found that around 76-79% of newly appointed managers reported little to zero formal development when they stepped into leadership.
- Nearly half of managers say their company fails to develop future leaders, creating fragile succession pipelines and inconsistent leadership quality. Results show hiring from outside the company
- Large companies are losing up to hundreds of billions of dollars annually to leadership fatigue and personal burnout, disengagement, and poor performance, much of which is driven by the huge gaps across core people leadership skills. Remember you are typically stepping away from your ‘subject matter’ expertise and moving quickly into a ‘people’ centric role. This mean totally new skills and awareness is needed. My evidence shows that not all great performers make great leaders. We must help and set out emerging leaders up for success.
The impact can be seen quickly in any pulse or culture performance review. Employees in environments with weak or inconsistent leadership are significantly less engaged and more likely to leave the company within a year, eroding institutional knowledge and driving up replacement costs. Research also shows that only about 29% of employees experience leaders who demonstrate traits such as authenticity and adaptability, suggesting that leaders are failing to convert leadership theory into everyday behaviour (Forbes).
For emerging leaders, this context is particularly unforgiving. They are asked to let go of their subject matter identity, assume formal authority over peers, and deliver results through others all without structured support on how to do so. Many respond by reverting quickly to what made them successful as individual contributors; doing the work themselves, avoiding conflict (aka conversations) and over controlling every decision needed. Over time and this can be a short period of time, this erodes trust, slows execution and creates pockets of quiet toxicity, team that comply but do not fully commit. Confidence in the emerging leader also gets sucked out leaving him/her spinning with worry and concern.
How Poor Development Shows Up Day To Day!
The consequences of under-developed emerging leaders are not abstract; they sit in the lived experience of teams. How many times have you seen potential fall off?
Typically patterns include:
- Role confusion and reactivity. Newly appointed leaders oscillate between being “one of the team” and “the boss” this sends mixed messages about expectations, performance standards, and decision rights
- Avoidance of critical conversations: I don’t to upset people Nick is a common theme with emerging leaders. Without practical training and coaching on feedback and performance differentiation, many emerging leaders who I coach shy away from confronting underperformance stating ‘It’s so hard to move people on around here Nick’. Research continues to show that while employees agree effective leaders must differentiate performance, only about one in five (1:5) feel their leader actually does this, leading again to disengagement among high performers (who will end up leaving) your company.
- Stress & Burnout. Few leaders around 15% in some studies that I have read feel equipped to manage or prevent burnout in themselves or their teams, which feed into fragile resilience and poor to no decision making when pressure rises.
These common patterns quietly degrade the companies leadership brand. High potential employees will take their cues from what they see above and elect not to take on bigger roles for themselves and encourage others not to do so as well. When they observe stressed, unsupported managers struggling in silence, they hesitate to step into help. This again widens the succession gap further.
Why traditional leadership development is not enough
None of this can be transformed at a week long’s residential. Whilst most organisations quickly sign up to these programs leaders must determine if they want long lasting behavioural change or not. Most organisations are not ignoring leadership development quite the opposite we get calls daily from companies looking to work one to one with myself and support their executive leaders and emerging leaders. Why? Because they appreciate it’s not a quick 1 day or 1 week fix. What I have noticed over the past 10 years is companies are investing in the wrong mix.
The prevailing models emphasises:
- event based workshops, often crowded with content yet light on application. Large group workshops are not the go, smaller intermit workshops bring greater lasting results, and to that point not done once a year!
- generic competency frameworks disconnected from individual context and real life work
- evaluation based on participant satisfaction rather than observable behaviour change
Large scale studies of leadership development show a stark disconnect between program activity and leadership outcomes. Let me share a few instances:
- Only a small proportion of employees believe their leader’s vision aligns with the companies goals, despite many leaders attending strategy and so called vision workshops (Forbes research)
- High performer in many companies report being less engaged than their lower-performing peers, citing poor recognition and weak leadership as key reasons. (Forbes research)
The central flaw I believe is that traditional programs assume that exposure equals transformation. Emerging leaders do not fail because they lack access to leadership models or frameworks; they fail because they lack safe, structured space to experiment, reflect and translate those concepts into their own leadership behaviours in real time.
A Possible Solution & Approach: Treat Leadership As A Craft
Treating leadership as a craft means accepting that
- It is learned in context, over time, with evidence based feedback
- It must start before the job title not after
- It is inherently bespoke and personal shaped by a leader’s history, behaviours and enviroment
One on one coaching is emerging as a core lever in this craft-based approach. And the results are lasting. Unlike broad programs that optimise for scale, individual coaching optimises for depth, accountability, and behavioural change. Research and practice show that when coaching is combined with more traditional training, productivity gains can be several times higher than training alone, because leaders are supported to embed letting go of behaviours that are holding them back and to embrace new behaviours into their every day work.
This is especially critical for emerging leaders, who are simultaneously shaping their leadership identity, building confidence and navigating their first high stakes people decisions.
Why one to one emerging leader coaching works
One to one coaching offers several distinct advantages for emerging leaders and their companies.
Context specific development. Each coaching engagement centres on the leader’s real context, their team, their stakeholders, and their current challenges. Each session is designed around their immediate priorities rather than a universal curriculum, allowing rapid translation from insights to action.
Deep self awareness and identity work. Effective leadership begins with understanding how you are seen by yourself and others. One to one coaching especially when we utilise our leadership 360 degree feedback, creates an accurate mirror that helps emerging leaders see both their strengths and blind spots. Leaders learn to recognise their default patterns when under pressure, whether that is over controlling, withdrawing or rescuing and work with us on replacing them with more intentional behaviours. This kind evidence based leadership development is very difficult to achieve in a classroom where armour is erected, but it is natural in a confidential one to one coaching session.
Honest reflection. Emerging leaders often hold back hesitate to be vulnerable in front of of peers or internal stakeholders, particularly when they are trying to ‘prove’ themselves in a new role. One to one coaching provides a fully private environment, nothing is ever shared back to the company (unless harm or fraud is suspected) for the emerging leader to test his/her thinking, admit uncertainty, and explore fears without reputational risk. Evidence from coaching in healthcare and others sectors shows that this safe space correlates with improved leader confidence, clarity and relational effectiveness with big benefits extending to teams, peers and the broader company.
As we are not into a chalk-n-talk classroom environment our coaching conversations become more of a rhythm. Regular focused sessions and check-ins build natural accountability, ensuring that emerging leaders follow through on commitments, test new behaviours and reflect on outcomes. A structured one to one coaching cadence helps transform leadership from a thought to a discipline, something practised, measured and refined over a set period of time (typically six months for emerging leaders). Leaders we notice move from understanding what they should do to actually doing it consistently under real world pressures.
ROI, real ROI. For companies one to tone coaching creates stronger leadership capabilities that matter most in that specific business. Higher engagement and retention (of the right people), as employees see their leaders grow in genuine authenticity, communication and support people start to talk positively about their place of work. This is priceless when it comes to attracting talent to a company. Add to this better succession pipelines, as emerging leaders are better prepared for expanded responsibilities and complex roles.
Studies indicate that companies that integrate external leadership coaching into their development architecture see improvements not only in individual performance but also in team culture and cross-functional collaboration moving many companies from silos to effective performing teams.
Inside 1:1 Emerging Leader Coaching with Nick Roud.
Nick’s work with emerging leaders is built on a simple premise: leadership starts long before the title, and the early years cast a very long shadow over the leader’s impact and career.
Who is it for?
Companies and individuals who engage with Emerging Leaders Coaching (six month engagement) typically include:
- Newly appointed or soon to be appointed managers who want to step into leadership with intention.
- High potential leaders identified in succession plans for senior roles
- Functional experts such as General Managers, heads of departments and operational leaders, who must shift from “doer” to “leader of leaders”
- Companies seeking to strengthen their leadership bench and reduce dependence on a few star performers.
Just to be clear these leaders who are ambitious, capable and ready to shoulder greater responsibility, but who recognises that doing more of what made them successful in the past is not enough. People that want to do not tick boxed and are coachable.
How the coaching works
Emerging Leader Coaching with Nick is typically delivered as a six month one to one engagement that blends reflection, challenge and application. Key features include:
- A leadership assessment and always a 360 degree process to understand how the leader is currently experienced by manager, peers, direct and indirect reports
- A core purpose statement that helps the leader anchor their values, decisions and behaviour in a leader sense of ‘why’
- An individual leadership development plan that ties personal growth to company goals and role requirements
- A confidential, safe space to explore sensitive decisions, from restructuring a team to managing upwards in a complex political environment
My own background, shaped by dyslexia, an introverted nature and a long tract record coaching CEOs and senior executives across New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East means I bring both empathy and edge to our confidential work. I see complex company dynamics from fresh angles and I help leaders cut through the noise to what actually matters for performance and integrity.
The Positive Shift Leaders Experience:
Over six months, emerging leaders are expected to and do make tangible shifts in how he/she thinks and lead. Typically outcomes include
- A clear, grounded leadership identity
- Stronger confidence
- Better alignment
- Greater capacity to manage pressure
The fundamental results for the company is not just a more capable individual, but a more stable team environment, better engagement scores, and fewer surprises in succession conversations.
What companies must do differently
My final invitation and thanks for reading this far is rethink emerging leader development. It requires more than adding another program. It means reframing how companies view leadership, responsibility, and investment.
- Stop treating first time leaders as ‘cheaper’ talent
- Integrate coaching into the leadership system (and measure the impact)
- Identify emerging leaders earlier and pair them with external coaches ahead of key promotions
- support managers to reinforce coaching insights in day-to-day work
Model support from the top (please)
When CEOs and senior executives openly engage in their own coaching and share how it improves their leadership, it normalises development as an expectation rather than a deficit. Nick’s own portfolio includes coaching CEOs, senior executives and emerging leaders across multiple countries, creating a consistent language and discipline of leadership across levels.
The CEO Case for Acting Now
The financial and human case for investing in emerging leaders is very clear. Poor leadership is already costing companies heavily through disengagement, burnout and turnover. Traditional development routes are failing to create leaders who are effective. One to one coaching integrated with broader development, delivers significant higher gains in both productivity and performance that residential and or training alone does not. Perhaps most importantly emerging leaders are shaping the future culture of your company today. Every unsupported promotion, every avoidable leadership stumble, send a powerful signal to the next generation about what leadership means in your company.
My Final Invitation To You: Make emerging leader a strategic priority
for boards, CEOs and HR leaders reading this, the question is no longer whether you can afford to invest in emerging leaders it is whether you can afford not to. Three practical steps you can take today:
- Audit your first time leaders experience
- Pair your emerging leaders with an external coach
- Start with a conversation
Nick Roud Coaching works with CEOs, senior executives and emerging leaders combining global best practice with deeply personal, one to one work. Emerging Leader Coaching with Nick is six months, confidential and measured purely designed to equip leaders to lead themselves and others well long before they reach the C Suite.
To explore how one to one Emerging Leader Coaching could support your companies next generation of leaders, connect with Nick Roud via Nick Roud Coaching’s Emerging Leaders Coaching page here and book a confidential conversation.
