The L&D headache: When “fixing” accidental managers feels like mission impossible

If you’re heading to the World of Learning Summit 2026 at Olympia, you likely have a specific knot in your stomach. It’s that familiar tension between knowing your organisation needs better leadership, and the reality of who you’re actually working with.

We call them “Accidental Managers.” You know them well. They’re the brilliant engineers, the top-billing sales reps, or the logistics wizards who were so good at their jobs that the business promoted them. Now, they’re responsible for people, and they’re drowning.

For L&D teams, these managers are a nightmare to support. They’re “too busy” for training and view learning as a distraction from “real work.” And when they do manage, they default to “command and control”—solving every problem themselves because it’s faster than coaching their team.

The tragedy is that you’re likely being asked to “fix” this with a limited budget and even less of the managers’ time. You’re expected to transform stressed-out fixers into inspiring leaders, often while fighting a culture that rewards fire-fighting over people development.

In 2026, with AI commoditising technical knowledge, human skills are the only game in town. But you can’t build those skills if your managers are stuck in the weeds.

It isn’t your fault that traditional training isn’t sticking. The model of pulling busy managers out of the workflow to learn “soft skills” is fighting a losing battle against their inbox. We need to stop asking L&D to push boulders uphill. We need a methodology that meets these managers where they are—in the chaos of the day-to-day.

Let’s lighten the load:
If you’re tired of the “they won’t engage” battle, come find us at the World of Learning show. I’m hosting a session: “How to Generate a 74 x ROI by Rapidly Transforming Your Accidental Managers into High-Performing Leaders.” It’s about giving you a tool that managers actually want to use because it gives them their time back.