Over my 25 year recruitment and HR career, I have always been amazed at how quick an organisation was to promote the highest performer in a field into a leadership role. For example the top sales representative automatically gets promoted to the position of sales manager, even though they have almost zero communication skills and are universally despised within their team.
This is an example of the 'Peter Principle'. This principle states that people tend to rise to their 'level of incompetence' in their organisation. Employees are promoted based on their success in previous positions, until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
Different skillset
Leadership is a key set of skills that people don't just 'automatically gain' when they suddenly have responsibility for a team. You don't automatically become excellent at plumbing because you are a great electrician… Because of this reason, many managers lack basic leadership skills which can very quickly decimate their teams. What are some of the signs of a toxic leader within the workspace?
Always negative