Your Path

Put forth a new model that is a better and faster way to move from technologist to leader.
Be well,
Dwika


New Way of Thinking About "Your Path to Manager and Leader"
by: Steven Cerri

I want to put forth a new model that I believe is a better and faster way to move from technologist to leader.

Much of the difficulty with the typical process of transitioning from technologist to manager and leader rests in the idea that in order to become a manager, the technologist must move from the technical individual contributor role to the manager role by passing through an intermediate phase as a part-time individual contributor and part-time manager. This 3-step, schizophrenic process is difficult for anyone and it typically looks like this:

Step #1: Individual Technical Contributor
Step #2: Part-Time Individual Technical Contributor and Part-Time Manager
Step #3: Full-Time Technical Manager

The result of this process is often a technical professional who falls back to performing individual contributor work when under stress and a technical manager who has difficulty with the people issues necessary to be a successful manager.

While the "dual-hat" mode of Step #2 is definitely required of each of us in order to move from technologist to manager, there is a way to minimize the difficulty of this phase and increase your success rate in becoming a manager. A much better approach is to introduce an intermediate step between technologist and manager, a step I call "Organizational Contributor".

My approach looks like this:

Step #1: Individual Technical Contributor
Step #2: Organizational Contributor
Step #3: Part-Time Technical Individual/Organizational Contributor and Part-Time Manager
Step #4: Full-Time Technical Manager

The result is a smoother and more successful transition to technical management and leadership and here is why:

Step #1: Individual technical contributor.
This is the position at which you probably started your career. Right out of college or training you began as a technical professional. Or more accurately, you began as an individual contributor. Maybe you are still an individual contributor. You do your own work and you get rewarded for your own work.

Step #2: Organizational technical contributor.
This is a position in which you expand your perception of your role in the organization. You no longer contribute merely your own work. You contribute to the team as part of the team, sometimes leading, sometimes following, sometimes invisible, and yet always contributing beyond yourself as an individual. In this position you don't just solve the problems that are presented to you. You attempt to integrate your solution into the solutions of the whole team in a way that makes your solution so much a part of the whole solution that your contribution looses it's individuality. This requires a new way of thinking. Not the thinking of an individual contributor, but the thinking of a team member, a team contributor, an organizational contributor. From this position, the transition to manager/leader is an easy and much more comfortable step.

Step #3: Part-Time Technical Organizational/Individual Contributor and Part-Time Manager.
This is the position all of us have to pass through. It can be a difficult and confusing passage with mixed responsibilities. However, when you, the technologist, have spent some time as an "Organizational Contributor" this passage can be experienced as a much smoother process. The time spent as an Organizational Contributor can also increase the probability that you will successfully transition to management and that you'll actually enjoy it.

Step #4: Manager & Leader.
This is obviously the position in which you manage tasks and lead teams to the achievement of a desired outcome. As I indicated in Step #2, the transition from my proposed Step #3 to Step #4 is a much easier step than from the "old" Step #2 to the "old" Step #3 which is typically the way it's done. It's time to change!

By inserting this new Step #2, Organizational Contributor, the new thought processes and mental maps necessary for management and leadership can be practiced without risking your career or a major embarrassment.

Summarizing:
1. The tips presented in "Being an Exceptional Technical Professional" relate to Steps #1 and #2 above.
2. The tips presented in "Becoming a Technical Manager/Leader" relate to Steps #2 and #3 above.
3. The tips presented for "Technical Managers" relate to Steps #3 and #4 above.

(Notice the overlap. This overlap is what makes this approach smoother and more successful.)