Great insight Mary. Leadership has two sides to it. There is the pragmatic side that takes care of the tasks at hand, the more administrative/operational element of leading something. Then there is the soft side of interacting with those on your team.

Unfortunately, most of the time people are promoted because they fulfill tasks well, efficiently, and with an attitude of excellence. All great qualities but an extreme leap in logic that their soft skills as a leader are magically intact.

I think we've all seen people be promoted to an even higher level of positional leadership within an organization and their soft skills are nothing more than tragic. They "get the job done" and the consequences on a people level become of no consequence at all...or at least an acceptable result of achieving a task.

Existing managers definitely need to be trained to lead and potential managers need to be trained to lead as well. There is a very real problem and helping organizations and individuals learn how lead well and effectively is not only of benefit to that organization, but to their community. Leadership isn't a tick box laundry list of things to do. It is a philosophy of human interaction that acts as a social lubricant.