The Secret of Turning Technical Experts into Successful People Leaders
Because people are not technology: the secrets for transforming technical experts into effective leaders.
There’s always been a skills gap in the industrial sector when it comes to promoting managers who are technically proficient in their roles, yet who fall short in the ‘soft skills’ a good leader possesses.
I’ve seen the best and brightest minds become frustrated in training sessions as they struggle to inspire, coach, co-create and build commitment to a shared company vision.
Businesses run with a sharp focus on the bottom line and improving efficiencies and increasing profits. Team leads and management reward outcomes in these areas, but what’s missing from the picture is adding effective leadership in their reward systems and culture.
The Harvard Business Review’s studies on employee development have noted: “Without clearly communicating what effective leadership looks like in practice, valuing it, and providing structured opportunities to get better at it, they contribute to the gap between leaders’ actual and potential effectiveness.”
The best companies I’ve coached understand how to identify and manage talent, and have followed these fundamental steps (in one form or another).
Attitude: when reviewing possible leadership candidates, the company prioritized those who were keen and committed to ongoing leadership development.
Analysis: successful companies use consistent programs and reporting to identify strengths and gaps in leadership skills.
Training: using a combination of internal role models, mentors and peers along with outside support, companies provided all the coaching tools necessary to support leaders in their day-to-day roles.
Measurement: honest feedback can come in many forms, but what you can’t measure you can’t improve, so a transparent and consistent employee feedback system is critical throughout the organization.
Rewards: including effective leadership in the rewards system and culture.
Technical leaders often believe that they can ‘fix’ somebody or a situation, forgetting that they themselves are accountable for the gaps in communication, leadership, empathy, and accountability.
By engaging in a program that supports continual learning, technical leaders not only improve their skills; they also serve as role models for learning, openness, and taking accountability for interpersonal impact.
Communicating what they’re trying to do differently and seeking feedback or feedforward helps generate support for their efforts, which can enhance their impact. With this approach, new leaders are much more likely to succeed than if they attempt to solve leadership problems by imposing a solution on someone else.
One last secret I’ll share on getting a new, technical leader’s ‘buy-in’ for their training. It helps to frame the discussion, explaining how they are ‘part of a system’ of relationships and by experimenting with ways to grow and shift their skillset, the dynamics of the entire system (team/organization) will improve.
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