317 | Why You Need to Stop Promoting Top Performers Before You Do This

On this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron uncovers a critical mistake many organizations make: promoting top performers into management roles without preparing them for leadership. What seems like a reward can actually set both the employee and their team up for unnecessary struggle—and costly consequences.

Jenni walks through:

• The mindset shift from doer to leader: Why effective managers lead through others rather than just completing tasks themselves.
• Why not everyone should be promoted into people management: Sometimes the greatest impact comes from leveraging an employee’s strengths in their current role.
• The real cost of poor managers: Turnover, disengagement, and lost productivity can quickly add up to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Practical strategies for executives: How to assess, equip, and support your managers to thrive and protect your culture.

Key Takeaways:

• Prepare managers before promotion with structured training and coaching.
• Evaluate strengths to ensure employees are suited for people management roles.
• Monitor manager effectiveness through surveys, skip-level meetings, and ongoing support.
• Quantify the financial impact of disengagement and turnover to make leadership development a priority.
• Align promotions with organizational impact to maximize both employee contribution and business results.

For executives, people managers are the linchpin of culture and performance. This episode gives a clear, actionable framework to strengthen leadership, retain top talent, and protect your mission—all while avoiding preventable mistakes that cost time, money, and morale.

Build Your 2026 Leadership Development Plan with Jenni Catron

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