The Fewer Leaders You Have, The Better They Have to Be

If you are a leader, you may find yourself with more direct reports.

That’s what the trends seem to show.

Organizations, large and small, are taking out layers of middle managers, not replacing managers who leave.

The biggest reason you hear is “we need to become more agile”. While that may be true, it is also true that in uncertain times, organizations want to reduce headcount – and doing that in the management ranks is a popular option.

It is important to note that this doesn’t seem like a conversation about 2025 – rather this is an ongoing trend. According to Gartner, there was about 1 manager for every five employees in 2017. Now? The median is more like 15 employees for every manager.

There are obvious implications of this shift.

If you are a team member, you might have a harder time getting the attention of your boss.

If you are a leader, your job is harder and more complex than ever.

But there are bigger, broader implications that most organizations aren’t talking about, or addressing. Follow this chain of events with me. . .

The fewer managers, supervisors and leaders (i.e. bosses) you have, the longer it will be until someone is tapped for their first leadership role, and the harder that role will be (because there will be more direct reports). What was already the hardest and possibly most impactful transition of someone’s career comes later and is even more complex.

Because their bosses transitioned with a smaller span of control, and they did it long ago, they may well underestimate the challenge their new leaders are facing. In short – the transition is different and harder then when they made it. When the change is underestimated, it is less likely they will consciously devote time to coach and mentor those new leaders (and remember they have a bigger team too) to higher levels of confidence and success.

If the drive to reduce the headcount of leaders was (at least in part) cost driven, there is also a lower likelihood that dollars will be invested in training leaders successfully.

My point isn’t to suggest you add more leaders – I don’t know the context of your business. But here is what I do know.

• Leadership is more complex than ever, even before we give leaders more direct reports.
• The skills you need your leaders to have can be learned, but only when the organization invests in them consistently and purposefully.
• The skills that led to success before aren’t exactly the same as what is needed now and in the future.
• With fewer leaders, each one carries a broader and heavier load for organizational success, and when they fail or fall short, the organizational implications are bigger.

All of this means that if you have fewer leaders, they must be better prepared, better skilled, more effective and more confident.

Unfortunately, while most organizations will agree with this point, they aren’t acting on that fact.

Your organization will build a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace and the talent market if you act on and invest in this idea.

One of the ways you start in supporting your leaders and their skills is to invite them to join us for Virtual LeaderCon 2025, Sept 22-25. During this free event they can learn from and with the experts and thought leaders who join me. Perhaps more importantly, they will be a part of an engaged group of learners to explore and build their leadership skills. We’ll bring the experts, the platform and process. Have them bring their time and desire, and watch amazing things happen.