Cracking the Code: Overcoming Challenges in Developing Tech Pros into Leaders

Leadership is complex and involves solving many problems.

You know who loves to solve problems? Technical contributors

You know who makes great leaders for technical organizations? Technical contributors

You know who often avoids leadership opportunities like the plague? Technical contributors

You know who needs to change that and reap the benefits for their organization? You

So, let's get started...

First, let's talk about the valuable contributions leaders with technical backgrounds bring to your organization.

Leaders with a technical background bring to bear analytical and problem solving skills in their decision making. They are able to better understand and anticipate challenges their teams may face, and can more effectively guide those teams in addressing those challenges and finding innovative solutions.

These leaders also have a better understanding of technical complexities. There is a lot of value in having the experience of struggling through a technical challenge that seemed simple on the surface. This allows leaders to have more empathy for their team's efforts. In addition to building trust, this provides the leader an opportunity to add value by asking questions to spark creative thinking that results in better solutions overall.

Possibly the hardest step in developing leaders from technical contributors is getting them to want to do it in the first place. Let's look at why that is.

Unlocking Leadership Aspirations: The First Code to Crack

While you will find some technical contributors who aspire to leadership roles, most will be hesitant. I've found several main reasons for this.

First, they probably really enjoy their technical work. Most technical contributors have envisioned doing "hands-on" technical work for their entire careers. Technical work is challenging and exciting. That's what you're competing with.

Most worry their technical skills will atrophy. Let's be honest, though - they probably will. If we pull back the onion on why this is a big concern, we will find thoughts like "if this leadership thing doesn't work out, I won't be valuable as a technical contributor anymore either and where will that leave me?"

They can't identify the tangible impact. This is what I hear most from those who might be interested in moving into leadership. In their technical contributions, they can measure their progress or impact in lines of code, number of releases, etc. Leadership impact is more nebulous and hard to nail down. That elicits an uneasy feeling.

They equate leadership to management. Management mostly has a negative connotation. It gets a bad rap because there are so many terrible managers. There are terrible managers because none of the "right" people wanted the job. Then those terrible managers select other terrible managers...

Proactively addressing each of these concerns as you communicate with potential future leaders will go a long way in "getting to yes." Now you just have to identify who those potential future leaders are. Don't mess this up!

Cracking the Selection Code: Avoiding Missteps in Leadership Picks

Before we talk about how to choose the right people, let's talk about how to avoid common mistakes that lead to choosing the WRONG people.

Automatically promoting the highest technical contributor. You were thinking about doing this, weren't you? It's an honest mistake to make and one of the most common. If we think about leadership being the "next step" in a career journey, then he who makes the best technical contributions should be rewarded. Except this is unlikely to be a reward for them or the team they ultimately destroy...er, uh...lead. Let's not automatically discount their potential but past performance does not indicate future success here.

Leapfrogging the process because of one's ambition. We all know these people. They aspire to leadership roles because they see them as a means to power and wealth. This is dangerous. Be very suspicious.

Choosing whoever is willing to say yes. This is a no-brainer. Don't do this. Take your time and find the right person.

Instead, DO these things:

Get specific on the type of leader you need. Think about what success would look like for their role and work backwards to determine the skills they will need to bring about that success.

Classify skills in two categories:

1. Skills that should be demonstrated. Remember how I said previous performance does not indicate future success? Well, that's true to a degree. Determine which skills you should be able to see demonstrated in the context of their current role. For example, a people leader likely needs to get along with people naturally. Seems obvious but you have probably also had an asshole boss who was probably an asshole before he became a boss...
2. Skills that you can develop.

Find technical contributors who have skills in the first category and develop their skills in the second.

Cracking the Training Code: Overcoming Ineffectiveness in Leadership Development

Some of you are going to be reading this and thinking "this is obvious." I agree but "common sense is not always common practice."

So, you've found the RIGHT people, so we should just let them get to work as leaders right? WRONG! That is a very common mistake though. There is a school of thought that says the only way to learn to lead is to lead. I agree that there is no substitute for experiencing the complexities of leadership. However, it is unfair to the new leader and their teams not to equip them with some fundamental knowledge of leadership principles.

This leads me to the next very common mistake: sending them through general leadership training. There is no shortage of leadership training available and it is offered in every possible format one could desire. Because most of this training is so widely available, it is also very high level and general. What we take for granted when sending a new leader to such training is that they will draw the connections we expect them to make. How can they do so without any experience? What if they draw the wrong conclusions? Although better than no training at all, this is an ineffective way to develop new leaders.

Instead, I recommend the following.

1. Help them understand their strengths. This will provide them confidence that they can do a good job! That confidence will be necessary in times when they are unable to see the impact they are making and may start to question their decision.
2. Mentor them. If your organization doesn't have good mentors, seek outside help. This shouldn't be their direct manager because they need to be free to "ask stupid questions" or get advice without feeling like their superiors will start to question THEIR decision.
3. Provide good feedback. This SHOULD come from their direct manager. An easy way to lower everyone's anxiety when negative feedback needs to be delivered is to set the expectations upon putting the technical contributor into the leadership role. Letting them know that there will be a period of time where the manager will provide them feedback on all of their responsibilities helps tremendously towards developing them.
4. Provide tangible, actionable resources that allow them to put what they are learning into practice.

Cracked Codes, Future Leaders: A Summation of Success

I started this article with a quote from John Maxwell and I will end it with one. Providing a means for the right technical contributors in your organization to become strong leaders will pay dividends for your short and long term goals. Their impact will be felt in empowering their teams and fostering innovation. Most companies recognize the value in doing this but fail to execute a thorough process. This article laid out some reasons why and a framework to follow. Best of luck to you!