Middle management is one of the most important transition points in the leadership pipeline, where organizations turn capable employees into future senior leaders. These internal pipelines deliver significant value, because leaders developed inside the business can apply existing organizational knowledge and relationships immediately, without the cost and time often required to bring external hires up to speed. Yet when senior leadership roles open, many organizations find they have too few internal candidates ready to step into them.

APQC research points to onboarding and performance management as two of the most important—and most underutilized—levers for addressing that problem. Many middle managers enter the pipeline without clear expectations and receive inconsistent development support that slows their progression. The result is often a small pool of leadership-ready candidates to help solidify succession planning. Plenty of managers may enter the pipeline, but ineffective onboarding and performance management can create cracks that slow progression and reduce readiness over time.

Below, we examine where those development systems break down and what HR leaders can do to strengthen them to fix the leaks in their leadership pipeline.

Where the leadership pipeline begins to leak

Roughly one-third of middle managers report gaps in onboarding, and only about one-third say their performance goals support development in either their current or future roles.

These findings suggest that many organizations are not consistently preparing middle managers to succeed in their current role or progress to the next level of leadership responsibility. The result isn’t necessarily managers who leave the organization, but managers who stop gaining the capabilities, visibility and experience they need to stay in serious consideration for future leadership roles.

Onboarding often fails to prepare managers for leadership

Onboarding is the point of entry, where middle managers should gain the clarity, context and connections needed to continue progressing through the pipeline. Unfortunately, a significant share of middle managers in our research begin without a clear understanding of their role.

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