From colleague to leader: better equipping your managers of managers
To shed light on this transition, the expertise of Doryna Girard offers a particularly relevant perspective. An organizational career counselor and partner, senior consultant at TalenTest, she has observed for years this pivotal moment when an employee becomes responsible for those who were yesterday their peers.
In this blog, she shares her recent observations, informed as much by her fieldwork as by the realities she sees emerging in today’s organizations.
The reality on the ground: a role that's more destabilizing than we think
The reality is quite different: without a clear framework, new managers hesitate, compensate, improvise—or fall back on what they already know. And above all, they quickly run up against their own barriers to leadership development: difficulty saying no, discomfort exercising authority, tendency to avoid difficult conversations, need to control everything, or expert reflexes that take over. The impacts are quickly felt: overload, delayed decisions, lack of managerial courage, role ambiguities, team tensions, and loss of collective effectiveness. For HR, this is a pivotal period where structured support makes all the difference.
Understanding this transition means recognizing that it doesn’t rest solely on technical skills: it requires a shift in posture, an ability to exercise authority appropriately, to communicate differently, to delegate, and to navigate discomfort. This is precisely where new managers express the most vulnerability—and where HR has an essential role to play in providing stable, consistent, and scalable frameworks.
To illustrate this reality, here’s what managers most often share with us—simple, human statements that say it all:
“I was given a team to manage… but no one really explained what I’m supposed to do and how to do it.”
“I have trouble defining my role with my former colleagues, especially my buddies… it feels like I’m caught between two worlds.”
“I know I should delegate… but I’m afraid it’ll blow up in my face if it goes south.”
“People tell me I’ve crossed over to the dark side… it’s not easy every day.”
“I’d like to have tools to coach my people, not just put out fires.”
These confessions have one thing in common: the problem is never a lack of good intentions. It’s a lack of reference points, structure, and targeted support. They show just how much new leaders are looking for a clear framework to navigate this transition—and how much a well-designed support system can reduce uncertainty and accelerate role adoption.
This is why structured tools and precise guidance change everything!
From expert to leader: a transition that requires real support
A solid support structure gives new leaders the reference points they truly need: a common language, clear expectations, and concrete actions to move forward. For HR, it’s an essential lever to equip managers to engage their “new players,” develop their talent, and quickly create an effective collaborative environment. And let’s be clear: simply presenting the job description isn’t enough.
It explains what to do, but not how to succeed based on their natural strengths, personality, communication reflexes, or development needs. Without this personalized insight, the new manager knows they need to deliver, but not yet which personal levers to rely on to actually achieve it. Moreover, without an HR structure to guide them, they spontaneously fall back on their old expert reflexes.
With intentional, consistent, and measurable support, they can instead learn to fully play their role as leaders—and not just as promoted specialists!
Why you can no longer put this off
Structuring the transition from colleague to leader is no longer a luxury: it’s an organizational imperative. Newly promoted managers need a clear framework, tools adapted to their reality, and support that helps them move beyond the expert reflex to adopt a confident and engaging leadership posture.
HR plays a strategic role here: structuring development, providing a common language, clarifying what’s really expected of a leader… and above all equipping managers of managers to fully assume their role with new leaders. Too often, the responsibility for engagement and development falls into HR’s court, when it primarily belongs to the direct supervisor. They’re the ones who influence daily behaviors, who set the framework, who reinforce learning, and who create the conditions for sustainable leadership. HR provides the reference points, tools, and support needed to make this role clear, consistent, and effective.
If your organization wants to support its new leaders beyond trial and error, if you want managers of managers to be truly equipped to engage, guide, and develop their new players—faster and more effectively—then now is the time to put in place a structure that truly makes a difference. A structure and talent management tools that enable HR to play their strategic support role, and managers of managers to fully assume responsibility for leadership development in their new players.
And that’s exactly what we do best.
Contact us—we can help you transform this critical transition into a true strategic lever for your organization.