From Technical Expert to People Leader: Building leadership readiness before the role arrives
There’s a moment in almost every organisation where someone looks at a brilliant technical specialist and thinks, “They’d make a great manager.” And sometimes they will. But more often, as Sharon Jarvis, L&D Manager at Sulzer AG, shared with us recently, organisations unintentionally set people up to succeed in one role and struggle in the next.
“We promote people based on past success,” she said, “but we rarely prepare them for what they’ll be accountable for in the future.”
And that single sentence captures one of the most persistent leadership challenges out there. Because the truth is simple: being great at the job isn’t the same as being great at leading individuals, teams and stakeholders. Yet many organisations still promote without support.
When technical excellence becomes a comfort zone
Sharon described something many new leaders experience but rarely articulate: when they step into leadership without preparation, they instinctively fall back on what they know. Technical experts are used to solving problems quickly, owning outcomes and being the person others rely on. When promoted, they often continue doing just that, not out of ego or resistance but because it feels familiar and safe.
The difficulty is that leadership requires a fundamentally different orientation. Instead of providing all the answers, leaders must begin creating the conditions for others to find them. Instead of controlling outcomes, they must enable contribution. When that shift doesn’t happen, new leaders eclipse the very people they are meant to empower, which creates frustration for teams, burnout for the leader and a slower, less resilient organisation.
Building leadership readiness before the title arrives
The alternative is not complex, but it is intentional. Sulzer’s approach reflects what we see across organisations that are serious about building confident leaders: readiness starts long before someone receives a new job title. It begins with the conversations people have, the expectations they understand, the role models they observe and the small but significant opportunities they are given to practise leadership before they are formally accountable for it.
1. Talking about leadership early – and keeping the conversation going
At Sulzer, leadership isn’t a mystery that gets revealed at the point of promotion. It is woven into regular discussions about performance, potential and career aspirations. Sharon emphasised the importance of shifting the focus from completing an appraisal to having meaningful, future-looking conversations about what leadership could look like for each individual. This ensures that when someone eventually steps into a leadership role, it doesn’t feel like a sudden change but a natural evolution.
2. Making expectations unmistakably clear
Clarity is one of the strongest predictors of leadership success. When people understand not only the responsibilities but the behaviours and mindset expected at their level, they can start developing them gradually and intentionally. Sulzer have taken steps to articulate expectations in ways that genuinely support preparation, distinguishing clearly between roles that blend technical delivery with people leadership and those that require a more strategic, hands-off approach. This level of specificity helps people see the path ahead much more clearly.
3. Creating a culture where leaders grow leaders
Leadership capability develops most powerfully in environments where leaders take responsibility for creating more leaders. Coaching, mentoring, stretch projects and shadowing opportunities are part of everyday life at Sulzer, not occasional interventions. When these practices are embedded culturally, people begin to experience leadership before they formally hold leadership roles. The transition becomes smoother, the confidence stronger and the early missteps fewer.
4. Making leadership a choice, not the only career path
One of the most important points Sharon raised was the value of maintaining robust technical career pathways. Leadership should never be the only way to grow. When organisations celebrate and reward technical excellence as its own form of progression, people make career decisions based on motivation rather than necessity. This results in leaders who genuinely want to lead and experts who continue to excel without feeling pressured into roles that don’t suit them.
The bigger shift: treating leadership as a strategic asset
Maggie talked about the importance of leadership being treated as a key strategic pillar. When organisations embrace leadership readiness early and intentionally, the effects ripple outward. Teams experience clearer guidance, healthier communication and higher trust.
Succession planning becomes proactive rather than reactive. Talent stays and grows rather than feeling overwhelmed or unsupported. Perhaps most importantly, the organisation becomes more resilient because leadership capability is distributed rather than narrowly concentrated.
Sharon summed it up thoughtfully when she said that leadership does not arise naturally; it is shaped over time, practised with intent and continually refined as people grow. It is a journey, not an appointment.
A final thought
If technical specialists are the backbone of an organisation, strong leaders are the force that helps it adapt, evolve and move forward with confidence. But the transition from one to the other cannot be left to chance. Organisations that get this right, as Sulzer demonstrates, treat leadership as a mindset that develops gradually, not a switch that flicks on the day someone is promoted.
The Oxford Group has been supporting organisations to build future-ready leaders for over 35 years. If you would like to discuss this topic from your perspective with one of our consultants in a no-obligations call, we can arrange this for you.