Technical Expert, Now a Leader of a Team of Experts

I’ve always been a domain expert and now I’m running a team of people like me.  I’m a bit lost between my old technical role and my new leadership job.  How do I find my place? 

You face a common dilemma.  Often we are promoted to leadership roles because of our excellence as individual contributing experts. 

But the skills of a great expert are not the same as those of an effective leader.

As such, I encourage you to avoid the trap of “doing your last job” and instead focus on the scarier new stuff called “leading.” Growth comes with the scary stuff.  Failure comes when we ignore it.

Leading well requires answering and acting upon fundamental questions, such as:  

“Given our strategy and objectives:  do I have the right people, working on the right things, in the right manner, with the right tools/resources?

Leadership Nugget: if you don’t know the strategy and focus of your company/division, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200 until you do.

Assuming you’re plugged into the “big picture”, let’s drill a little deeper.  Some ideas:

• Strategy:  what new thing or competitor is coming along to eat your lunch, steal your milk money and kick sand in your face? 

• Priorities:  is the team working on the “right stuff”.  Does the daily work align to the overall mission?  What’s your plan to eliminate misalignments & distractions?

• Team:  are there skill set gaps in your team?  How will you close these?

• Team/culture: do they behave as a team?  Are they “in it together”?  If not, how do you improve the team culture?

• People: do you have the right people?  Do you have low performers?  Do you have exceptional performers? What’s the plan for upgrading the poor ones and promoting the great ones?

• Technology:  does the team have the right tech to accomplish the mission?  If not, where’s your business case for investment?

• Process:   Do you hear very often, “we’ve always done it this way”?  If so, you’ve uncovered an opportunity to simplify.

This list is not exhaustive.  Note that none of the questions require “technical”, domain specific know-how to answer.  Rather, they speak to conceptual areas where a successful leader spends energy and looks for opportunity.  This is your new sandbox.

Your daily work now is that of a leader.  Bring a leadership eye to your day, focusing on the big picture topics so that the domain experts on your team have the right resources and proper focus to win.  

If you wonder whether coaching can help you overcome a professional challenge, Let’s Talk.  Please feel free to schedule a Discovery Session with me by clicking on the attached link. 

Until next time.

Be well everybody