Emerging Leaders: The Complete Guide to Developing Your Next Generation of Leaders
The transition from individual contributor to people leader is one of the most critical — and most neglected — moments in a career. This guide covers what emerging leaders are, why most fail, what they actually need, and how organisations can develop them effectively.
The transition from individual contributor to people leader is one of the most critical — and most neglected — moments in a career. This guide covers what emerging leaders are, why most fail, what they actually need, and how organisations can develop them effectively.
What is an Emerging Leader?
An emerging leader is someone transitioning from individual contributor to people leader — typically a first-time manager, newly promoted team lead, high-potential employee, or frontline supervisor taking on leadership responsibilities for the first time.
The term "emerging" captures something important: these leaders are in the process of becoming. They're not yet established. They're learning to lead while doing the job, often without adequate support or development.
Source: CCL citing Gartner research
This isn't a talent problem. It's a development problem. Most organisations promote people for technical excellence, then expect them to figure out people leadership on their own.
The Emerging Leader Transition
The shift from individual contributor to people leader isn't a promotion. It's an identity change.
As an individual contributor, your value comes from what you produce. Your skills got you here. Your expertise is your currency. You know what good looks like because you can do it yourself.
As a leader, none of that applies.
The 6 Identity Shifts
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership identifies six fundamental shifts emerging leaders must make:
| From | To |
|---|---|
| Specialist | Generalist |
| Doer | Manager of doers |
| Tactician | Strategist |
| Problem solver | Agenda setter |
| Solo performer | Network builder |
| Warrior | Diplomat |
Each shift requires letting go of what made you successful before. That's why the transition is so difficult — and why technical training alone doesn't work.
What leaders experience
I didn't stick to the script. I let myself drop the important point I wanted to make because I knew they didn't want to hear it. I chickened out to please the other person.
— Emerging leader reflecting on a difficult conversation
This pattern appears constantly in our data. Emerging leaders know what they should do. They've read the frameworks. They understand the theory. But in the moment — when the conversation gets uncomfortable, when the former peer pushes back, when the pressure mounts — they default to old patterns.
The gap isn't knowledge. It's capability under pressure.
Why Most Emerging Leaders Struggle
The challenges emerging leaders face aren't random. They're predictable — and most organisations fail to address them.
The 12 Most Common Challenges
Based on CCL research and our platform data, these are the challenges that appear most consistently:
Identity and mindset
- Shifting from "doer" to "enabler"
- Imposter syndrome and self-doubt
- Proving value when output is invisible
Relationships
- Leading former peers
- Building trust without doing the work yourself
- Managing up effectively
Skills
- Delegating (when you know you'd do it better)
- Having difficult conversations
- Giving feedback that lands
Sustainability
- Time management as a leader
- Emotional regulation under pressure
- Isolation and loneliness
Source: DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2025
The stress crisis is real. DDI's latest research shows that 40% of leaders are considering leaving leadership entirely. Trust between leaders and their organisations has collapsed — from 46% to 29% in just two years.
What leaders experience
Work is manageable and staff improving.
— Leader reflecting on what's going well
Fed up with the job.
— Leader reflecting on a colleague's behaviour change
The contrast in our data is stark. Some emerging leaders find their footing. Many don't. The difference isn't talent or motivation — it's whether they receive adequate support during the transition.
Read: The 12 Challenges Every Emerging Leader Faces →
What Organisations Get Wrong
If emerging leaders struggle, organisations share the blame. The failure rate isn't a mystery — it's a predictable outcome of how most companies approach leadership development.
Source: Gallup, State of the American Manager
This statistic alone explains why emerging leader development matters. The quality of the manager determines whether employees engage, perform, and stay — or disengage, underperform, and leave.
The training gap
Source: Center for Creative Leadership
Most organisations promote people into leadership, then assume they'll figure it out. When training does exist, it's typically a one-day workshop — forgotten within a week.
The forgetting curve is brutal: learners lose 50-70% of new material within 24 hours. After a week, retention drops to 10-20%. A single workshop cannot build lasting capability.
The identification problem
Source: SHL research
Organisations consistently confuse high performance with high potential. Someone who excels as an individual contributor may have none of the capabilities required to lead others. Promoting your best salesperson, engineer, or analyst doesn't give you a good sales manager, engineering lead, or team lead — it often gives you a struggling new manager and a gap in your technical talent.
The support vacuum
Even when organisations invest in development, they often fail to provide ongoing support. Emerging leaders get a workshop, maybe a mentor, then they're on their own.
What's missing:
- Sustained development over months, not days
- Practice and feedback loops
- Peer support from others facing the same challenges
- Manager involvement in the development process
- Accountability for applying what's learned
What leaders experience
Having the opportunity again to coach others.
— Leader on what they'd like to improve
Emerging leaders want development. They know they need it. When organisations fail to provide it, engagement drops, turnover increases, and the leaders who stay learn to cope rather than lead.
Read: How to Develop Emerging Leaders →
What Emerging Leaders Actually Need
Research consistently points to a set of capabilities that predict success in the emerging leader transition. These aren't personality traits — they're learnable skills.
The Fundamental Four
The Center for Creative Leadership identifies four capabilities that matter most for first-time leaders:
- Self-awareness — Understanding your impact, triggers, and blind spots
- Communication — Listening, influencing, and having difficult conversations
- Influence — Building relationships and leading without authority
- Learning agility — Adapting to new challenges and learning from failure
What actually works
DDI's research found that leaders who experience five or more development approaches show 4.9X greater improvement than those who receive only one or two.
Source: DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2025
Effective development combines—which is exactly what our Emerging Leaders Program delivers:
- Cohort learning — Peer support and shared experience
- Spaced practice — Daily application, not one-off events
- Coaching and mentoring — Guidance from experienced leaders
- Feedback loops — Regular reflection and adjustment
- Manager involvement — Reinforcement in the day-to-day work
The evidence is clear: intensive workshops don't create lasting change. Sustained development does.
What leaders experience
Leda's methodology was built around what emerging leaders actually struggle with. Our 13 Journeys — from Team Building Basics to Managing Conflict to Emotional Self-Control — address the real challenges that surface in the first years of leadership.
I would like them to take initiative more in the tasks they are doing rather than wait to be told to start doing them.
— Leader on what they want from a team member
Build a culture where feedback is normal. Build skills so difficult conversations don't feel impossible. Build self-awareness so stress doesn't derail performance.
Read: Emotional Intelligence Training →
Read: Difficult Conversations Training →
This is the work.
Read: Emerging Leader Skills →
How to Identify Emerging Leaders
If high performance doesn't predict high potential, what does?
Characteristics that matter
Based on research from DDI, CCL, and our own data, these indicators predict leadership potential:
| Characteristic | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Learning agility | Seeks feedback, adapts quickly, treats failure as data |
| Self-awareness | Knows strengths and blind spots, manages reactions |
| Relationship building | Connects across levels and functions |
| Initiative | Steps up without being asked |
| Resilience | Recovers from setbacks, maintains perspective |
| Strategic thinking | Sees beyond immediate tasks |
| Communication | Influences and inspires, listens actively |
| Accountability | Owns outcomes, not just tasks |
What to watch out for
Not every high performer should become a leader. Warning signs include:
- Technical excellence masking people gaps
- Ambition without self-awareness
- Results at any cost (toxic behaviour)
- Inability to delegate or develop others
- Poor emotional regulation under stress
The best predictor of leadership success isn't past performance — it's how someone responds to stretch assignments, how they handle failure, and whether they can build relationships across difference.
Read: How to Identify Emerging Leaders →
How Leda Develops Emerging Leaders
Leda's Emerging Leaders Program was designed for the Australian context — where tall poppy syndrome, egalitarian culture, and a preference for authenticity over authority shape how leadership is practiced.
Our approach
Cohort-based learning — Small groups move through the program together, building peer relationships and shared accountability.
Daily practice — Around 10 minutes per day, not a one-off workshop. Spaced learning dramatically improves retention and application.
Live mentoring — Monthly 90-minute sessions with experienced facilitators, in groups of 8-12.
13 Journeys — From Team Building Basics to Managing Conflict to Emotional Self-Control. Each Journey addresses a real challenge emerging leaders face.
Real reflection — 8,000+ leader reflections have shaped our curriculum. We know what emerging leaders struggle with because they tell us.
Results
| Organisation | Participants | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| MYOB | 264 leaders over 5 years | 50% of 2020 cohort promoted |
| Supagas | 150+ participants over 4 years | 70% increase in program applications |
| Camp Quality | 21 team leaders | 30% promoted, engagement up 84% → 89% |
Completion rates of 88-98% — compared to 3-15% for typical digital learning.
Explore the Series
This hub page is part of a series on emerging leaders. Explore the topics that matter most to you:
What Is an Emerging Leader?
Definition, meaning, and who qualifies as an emerging leader.
Emerging Leader Challenges
The 12 challenges every emerging leader faces — and how to overcome them.
Developing Emerging Leaders
A guide for HR and L&D on building effective leadership pipelines.
Emerging Leader Characteristics
How to identify high-potential employees for leadership development.
Emerging Leader Skills
The capabilities that matter most for first-time managers.
Explore the Emerging Leaders Program
About the author
Ashley Leach is Founder of Leda. Leda's leadership development methodology was co-developed with Professor Anne Lytle (Monash Business School, Kellogg PhD) and has been recognised by AACSB's Innovations That Inspire. The platform has supported thousands of emerging leaders across Australia and New Zealand, with completion rates of 88-98% — compared to 3-15% for typical digital learning.
Frequently Asked Questions
An emerging leader is someone transitioning from individual contributor to people leader. This typically includes first-time managers, newly promoted team leads, high-potential employees being prepared for leadership, and frontline supervisors taking on people management responsibilities.
High potentials are employees identified as having leadership potential — they may or may not be in leadership roles yet. Emerging leaders are actively in the transition to leadership. There's overlap, but they're not the same: some high potentials never become leaders, and some emerging leaders weren't previously identified as high potential.
Look for learning agility, self-awareness, relationship building, initiative, and resilience — not just technical performance. The best predictor isn't past output; it's how someone responds to stretch assignments and failure.
Research points to self-awareness, communication, influence, and learning agility as the most critical capabilities. But the deeper challenge is identity: shifting from "I do the work" to "I enable others to do the work."
Meaningful development takes 6-12 months of sustained effort. One-day workshops don't create lasting change. The first 24 months in a leadership role are critical — this is when habits form and confidence builds or erodes.
60% of new managers fail within 24 months. The main reasons: they never receive training (60%), they're promoted for technical skill rather than leadership potential, and organisations provide inadequate support during the transition.