By Martha Nakiranda
Can one grow in a new role or even in their current role and become greater than they ever imagined?
The answer is, yes!
A 2015 Gallup’s study titled, State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders revealed that only one in ten people possess high natural talent to manage. That statistic, striking as it is, carries a profound implication.
Majority of the leaders we rely upon every day were not born ready. They grew into the role. Another two in ten people exhibit some characteristics of basic managerial talent and can function at a high level if their organizations invest in coaching and developmental plans for them. Leadership, in other words, is largely a constructed capability not a birthright.
Yet in Uganda, and across Africa, we consistently write people off before giving them the chance to grow.
Consider Uganda’s Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, appointed in 2021. A prominent parliamentarian who by many publicly was declared “not fit to lead even a garbage company.”
Harsh words that history is quietly correcting. Over her first term, Nabbanja visibly evolved: more composed in international engagements, more deliberate in policy delivery, and more confident in high-stakes leadership settings. Her journey is not unique; it is instructional and intentional.
Growth does not announce itself. It accumulates quietly.
This is precisely what Uganda’s most respected leadership builders have long understood. The late Prof. Emmanuel Mutebile, the former Governor of the Bank of Uganda and one of Africa’s most accomplished technocrats, spent decades mentoring a generation of economists who today hold senior positions across the continent. These figures prove that intentional investment in people produces extraordinary returns.
Gallup’s study shows that managers account for at least 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units. This is a stunning finding: the single biggest predictor of whether your workforce is motivated and productive is not your strategy, your salary structure, or your brand it is the quality of your managers.
And yet, almost 60 percent of first-time managers say they received no training when they transitioned into their leadership roles. We are setting leaders up to fail before they begin.
As Human Resource departments, we sit at the exact intersection of this challenge and its solution. Our role is not merely administrative it is architecturally strategic.
We design the environments, systems, and pathways through which people discover capabilities they never knew they possessed. A manager who seems uncertain today may, with structured mentoring, stretch assignments, and honest feedback, become the most effective leader in the room within a few years.
The question leaders and organizations must ask themselves is not “Is this person ready?” but rather “Are we creating the conditions for readiness?”
Growth requires humility, courage, resilience, and discipline. Competence is built not borrowed. And greatness, as the evidence consistently shows, is always developed long after the opportunity has first been given.
The Writer is the People and Culture Manager at PEAS Uganda