Emerging Leaders: Why Developing Them Matters Now More Than Ever

Organizations today face an urgent and growing challenge: expanding expectations, accelerating complexity, and a shrinking pipeline of leaders willing and prepared to step into bigger roles. While leadership development has been a priority for decades, the nature of leadership and the path to becoming a leader have changed dramatically.

Two early transitions are especially critical:

1. from individual contributor to first-line manager, and
2. from first-line manager to middle manager.

These early steps shape the trajectory of an emerging leader’s effectiveness. Our research, combined with global leadership trends, makes clear that these transitions require more than technical excellence or tenure, they demand deliberate development, thoughtful behavioral shifts, and the use of accurate assessments to guide leaders through increasingly complex expectations.

Why We Need to Focus on Developing Emerging Leaders

The need for intentional emerging-leader development is more pressing than ever.

Generational expectations are shifting at record speed

Generational research shows that each new cohort entering the workforce holds very different expectations about growth, advancement, and leadership opportunities. For example, 70% of Gen Z employees expect to be promoted within 12 months, a dramatic acceleration from Millennials and Gen X before them. Yet expectations for speed do not always align with readiness. Many rising leaders stumble not because of a lack of talent, but because they have not been adequately prepared for the behavioral, relational, and managerial demands of their next role.

Younger talent is increasingly reluctant to lead

At the same time, fewer young professionals want to pursue leadership in the first place. Research highlighted by Stanton Chase shows that Millennials and Gen Z are opting out of leadership paths, citing burnout, lack of organizational support, and skepticism about whether senior leadership roles are worth the sacrifice. They want purpose, balance, and meaningful impact, but often see leadership roles as misaligned with these values.

This creates a dangerous gap: organizations desperately need new leaders, but emerging talent is apprehensive or unprepared to step in.

Foundational management training has declined

While expectations rise, investment in basic management training has sharply decreased. Traditional programs that once equipped new managers with essential skills including delegation, communication, team dynamics, feedback, have eroded in many organizations. Leadership development has surged, but management development has thinned, leaving many leaders to “leapfrog” over fundamental capabilities.
As a result, leaders often arrive in senior roles lacking the managerial grounding they needed much earlier.

Transitions get significantly harder at each level

MRG’s large-scale global research comparing behavioral patterns across levels found that leadership transitions are not equal. The jump from individual contributor to first-line manager requires several behavioral shifts, but the jump to middle management requires nearly half of the 22 measured leadership behaviors to shift. These shifts grow more complex at each level and demand both mindset and behavioral reinvention.

Given these challenges, early leadership development is not a luxury, it is an organizational mandate.

Developing Emerging Leaders from Individual Contributors to First-Line Managers

This first step into leadership is often the most underestimated by organizations and by emerging leaders themselves. Most people are promoted because they excel at individual performance, but the behaviors that make them successful as contributors are rarely the behaviors that make them successful managers.

The Behavioral Shift: From “Renegade High Performer” to “Manager of Others”

MRG’s research shows that highly effective individual contributors tend to behave like “positive renegades”, innovative, self-driven, personally ambitious, and often inclined to challenge authority. When they transition into a first-line managerial role, however, the behavioral pattern of success changes dramatically.

Four of the 22 behaviors measured in the LEA 360 must shift for them to be effective managers. The core themes include:

1. Shifting focus from personal success to team success

Individual contributors succeed by delivering results themselves; managers succeed by helping others deliver results. This requires new behaviors:

• Coaching rather than doing
• Clarifying expectations
• Setting goals and tracking progress
• Recognizing performance in others

2. Operating within the managerial system

The same boldness and independence that help contributors shine can become counterproductive if managers appear disconnected from organizational priorities. First-line managers must learn to:

• Align closely with their leader’s direction
• Communicate expectations clearly
• Deliver feedback consistently
• Participate constructively in the chain of command

3. Learning the fundamentals of management

Many first-line managers have never been formally trained in the basics, including delegation, structuring work, and navigating interpersonal challenges. Without these skills, they may:

• Micromanage
• Avoid difficult conversations
• Takeover work that members of the team should be doing
• Rely too heavily on past expertise instead of building managerial capability

The Role of Research and Assessment

Behavioral assessments, particularly 360-degree tools, give first-line leaders something they rarely receive: a clear map of how their behaviors are experienced by others. Our LEA360 is an important part of our work with emerging leaders, and we have found that our behavioral data enables individuals to increase self-awareness more quickly, reducing defensiveness because it focuses on frequency of behaviors rather than “good” or “bad” labels.

When leaders understand the behaviors that matter at their new level and they understand where they are relative to those behaviors, they become more intentional and more capable of accelerating their growth.

Developing Emerging Leaders from First-Line Managers to Middle Managers

If the first transition is challenging, the second is transformative. Moving from task-focused management to middle management represents a major leap in scope, complexity, and strategic responsibility.

The Behavioral Shift: From Tactical Execution to Strategic Leadership

MRG’s research shows that nearly half of the 22 leadership behaviors must shift during this transition. The themes are far more sweeping than the shift to first-line management.

1. Delegation becomes non-negotiable

One of the most consistent derailers for new middle managers is staying “in the weeds.” In our experience, leaders who have long relied on hands-on involvement struggle to release tasks that others should own.
This shows up as:

• Rewriting others’ work
• Troubleshooting too deeply
• Being the bottleneck
• Over-identifying with team problems

Middle managers must:

• Delegate work clearly
• Set boundaries
• Create systems for accountability
• Allow others to struggle and grow

2. Taking bigger risks and making tougher decisions

While first-line managers focus on ensuring tasks get done, middle managers must balance competing priorities, drive departmental initiatives, and make decisions that carry greater business implications.

They must develop:

• Comfort with ambiguity
• Stronger decision-making
• Strategic thinking
• Willingness to challenge norms
• Confidence leading beyond their expertise

3. Releasing the identity of “expert”

Many first-line managers were promoted because they were the most technically capable people on the team. In middle management, that identity becomes limiting. Leaders must shift from:

• “I know the answer,” to
• “I know how to help us find the answer.”

4. Influencing across a broader network

Middle managers move into leadership in part by working across functions, not just within their own team. This requires:

• More collaboration
• More diplomacy
• More framing and persuasion
• More upward communication

Mindset Evolution

Perhaps the biggest transition is internal: middle managers must redefine what success looks like. Success becomes measured not only by outcomes, but by influence, alignment, and strategic contribution.

The Role of Research and Assessment

MRG’s LEA360 and motivational assessments provide middle managers with:

• Behavioral clarity: which behaviors must increase and which must decrease to “rebalance” the behavior patterns needed to be effective at the next level.
• Insight into gaps between self-perception and others’ perceptions
• A roadmap for aligning individual preferences with organizational expectations
• Evidence-based development priorities tied to the behaviors of highly effective middle managers

These data points help leaders understand that stepping into middle management is not just a bigger version of their last job, it is a fundamentally different job.

Closing Recommendations

The development of emerging leaders is one of the most strategically important investments an organization can make. Based on MRG’s research and broader leadership trends, several recommendations stand out:

1. Treat early leadership transitions as major milestones, not incremental steps

They require substantial behavioral and mindset shifts. Organizations must educate emerging leaders on why these shifts matter and support them throughout the process.

2. Rebuild and rebalance manager development

Reinvest in foundational management skills including feedback, delegation, communication, structuring work, and people development. These are not outdated skills; they are the bedrock of leadership readiness.

3. Use research- and assessment-backed development—early and often

Accurate behavioral data helps leaders:

• Understand themselves
• Understand expectations
• Identify blind spots
• Build targeted, effective development plans

This combination of research, assessment, and coaching is the “magic three” that accelerates leader effectiveness.

4. Address generational realities head-on

Younger employees want meaningful work, supportive cultures, and sustainable careers. Organizations must show that leadership roles can meet these needs—and equip emerging leaders with resources that help them thrive.

5. Build coaching and support into transitions, not just crises

Coaching at key inflection points helps leaders:

• Reduce overwhelm
• Gain clarity
• Build confidence
• Navigate complexity
• Sustain behavioral change

6. Acknowledge that leadership development is lifelong

The best leaders continuously learn, revisit feedback, and evolve. Regular reassessment and check-ins support ongoing growth.

Final Thought

Emerging leaders aren’t simply the next in line; they are the future stewards of culture, performance, and strategic direction. By investing in research-based, assessment-informed development at the earliest leadership transitions, organizations cultivate leaders who are more self-aware, more adaptable, and more capable of meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing world.