How to build effective frontline leaders

One of the most common leadership transitions in workplaces is also one of the least supported: the shift from high-performing employee to first-time manager.

Promotions often happen quickly, rewarding technical expertise and strong individual performance. But what is often overlooked is whether employees have been prepared to lead people, not just deliver work.

As a result, a growing capability gap is emerging at the frontline of leadership, where new managers are expected to manage performance, navigate conflict and lead teams – often without formal training or structured support.

AIM WA says the issue is not a failure of individuals, but a predictable consequence of promoting people into leadership roles without equipping them for the realities of management.

“The gap most organisations don't talk about openly is the space between being a strong individual contributor and being a capable people leader,” AIM WA learning and development specialist James Stanton-French said.

“It's a wide gap, and the bridge isn't built automatically. Too often, an organisation will promote its best technical performer, hand them a team, and quietly hope they'll work it out. Some do, eventually; but at considerable cost to themselves and to the people around them.”

To address this, AIM WA has developed a dedicated Emerging Leaders Pathway – a collection of foundational courses designed to support professionals stepping into leadership for the first time and build capability over time.

The pathway includes programs such as Leadership Readiness, New Supervisor, The New Manager and The Frontline Leader, with each targeting different stages of leadership development.

“Our programs are scaffolded so that someone can enter at the level that's right for them and progress as their role grows,” Mr Stanton-French said.

“Early in the pathway, the focus is on the fundamentals of leading people – communication, accountability, delegation, having productive conversations.

“As leaders take on broader scope, the focus shifts to strategy, performance, systems thinking, leading change, and developing other leaders.”

Alongside the core programs, the pathway includes specialist courses such as Effective People Management, Having Difficult Conversations, Crucial Influence® and Think on Your Feet®.

The focus throughout is practical rather than theoretical, with AIM WA arguing leadership capability is developed through practice, feedback and reflection rather than information alone.

“Leadership isn't an information problem. It's a behaviour problem,” Mr Stanton-French said. “You can read every leadership book ever written and still freeze the first time you have to give someone difficult feedback.

“Capability is built by doing, by being coached through the doing, and by reflecting honestly on what worked and what didn't.”

Programs are structured around that cycle of practice and refinement, allowing participants to trial leadership behaviours before applying them in the workplace.

AIM WA says organisations often underestimate the operational and cultural cost of promoting employees into leadership roles without sufficient preparation.

“The consequences are real and they compound over time,” Mr Stanton-French said. “You see capable, well-intentioned people becoming overwhelmed because they're trying to lead with a skill set that was never designed for leadership.

“Teams notice, engagement drops, difficult conversations get avoided. Small performance issues grow into entrenched problems, and the best people on the team start looking elsewhere because they can sense the team isn't being led well.”

The impact is also personal, with many new managers experiencing declining confidence, long hours and a sense of being overwhelmed.

“None of that is a failure of the individual. It's a failure to equip them,” Mr Stanton-French said. 

A defining feature of the pathway is its focus on the workplace challenges that new leaders commonly face.

“New leaders don’t struggle because they’re unintelligent or unmotivated, they struggle because nobody has helped them make sense of a fundamentally different job,” Mr Stanton-French said.

“The pathway tackles the things that genuinely trip people up: the awkwardness of leading former peers, the discomfort of holding people accountable, the temptation to do the work yourself rather than develop the team and the conversations they’d rather not have.

“We build those scenarios into the learning experience so that when people meet them in the workplace, they’ve already practised.”

Participants consistently report the value of the applied learning approach.

Leadership Readiness participant Michael Deller, senior cultural tourism specialist at WA arts and cultural organisation FORM, said the program reshaped his understanding of leadership. 

“This program made me realise that leadership looks different in every circumstance,” he said.

Operations support coordinator at community services organisation Wanslea Megan Kernaghan said the immersive format was a standout feature.

“The immersive residential aspect really sets this program apart, giving you the ability to switch off from the outside world and fully engage in everything on offer,” she said.

AIM WA says the pathway reflects a broader shift in how organisations approach leadership development – moving away from ad hoc training and towards structured capability building.

In an environment where leadership expectations continue to rise, structured leadership development is increasingly being viewed not as optional training, but as a core business capability.