From techie to talented leader

Not everyone wants to lead others.  Heavily technical industries face a particular challenge here when trying to promote technical experts into management positions.  With 40 per cent of new managers failing in the first 18 months^[1], it is evident that not enough emphasis is being placed on ensuring their leadership success.

In industries characterised by a multitude of technical professions, for example, oil and gas, electronics, engineering, etc, promoting the highest skilled technicians into management positions has become a common business practice. Unfortunately, the majority of these leaders assumes their new roles with little or no formal preparation and many times do not have any operational understanding of what becoming a manager entails. As a result, these ‘accidental’ leaders assume they will be performing basically the same tasks as before and tend to take a ‘follow me’ approach in managing employees and delegating duties to their teams.

So what is preventing technically-skilled employees from becoming great leaders? The reasons often stem from ineffective or non-existent leadership programmes:

·          A fragmented approach to development. Upper management often tries a variety of development strategies to guide their technical leaders, for example, classroom-based training, e-learning, coaching, action learning, etc, but these strategies are typically not integrated, leaving employees with an incomplete picture of how strategies link to one another to support the overall goals of the company. When it is not clear how each strategy is part of the bigger picture, it becomes too easy for leaders to simply go through the motions or dismiss the HR programme altogether.

·          Unprepared to put ideas into action. In an effort to become a great leader, employees may avidly read books about leadership theory and trends, but find it difficult to translate the ideas into action due to a lack of knowledge or proper tools. Knowing what to do and being able to do it often require different competencies.

·          Not prioritising the value of ‘leading’ over ‘doing’. Technically-skilled employees who move into management roles tend to be the best and the brightest - the ones able to complete tasks quicker and better than others. The job of leading rarely provides the same sense of satisfaction as doing the work yourself nor does it provide the instant results new managers are accustomed to generating. To become effective leaders, managers must resist the temptation to ‘do what has to be done’ and instead embrace the long-term value that delegating and leading others to accomplish the work will create for the organisation.

 So what can you do to increase the chances of your techie becoming a talented leader?

1.       Identify organisational goals.  Once you are clear about what the organisation is seeking to achieve, you can then identify the talent you need to realize that ambition.  It’s also important for new leaders to understand how their objectives fit into the wider goals of the organisation – get everyone working together to achieve a common ambition.

2.       Map capability. Understand what capabilities you need in your people to deliver your organisational objectives.  Then carefully assess your people against those capabilities and identify where the gaps are.  Specifically look carefully at the leadership competencies needed to inspire and motivate others, that’s what you need to look for in your ‘techies’ with potential to be leaders

3.       Provide development throughout the leadership lifecycle. Oftentimes, leaders encounter situations where they need extra support in their careers, but they do not ask for help out of fear of being perceived as weak. New managers facing the tremendous pressure to prove themselves in their new roles obviously need assistance, but so do more experienced leaders who are facing organisational and/or cultural shifts as well as significant changes in the operational environment.

4.       Measure the results. Senior management needs to rethink leadership development in ways that drive business results and demonstrate a return on investment (ROI). Consistently reviewing and updating metrics will ensure technical leaders have quantifiable sets of goals they need to achieve in order to be successful.