Why does everybody roll their eyes and complain about techies as leaders? It really doesn’t seem fair.

You know the stereotype: “Techies lack empathy! They’re only interested in the machines. Sure, they love technology, solving problems, and geeking out over what the tech can do, but they aren’t tuned into the needs of other people. Business is more than just the tech!”

But I know a LOT of technically-savvy leaders and business owners who break that stereotype.

And there are a lot more who are great at business and people AND technology.

Maybe you are one of those technical leaders who bring everybody’s skills and talents to the table, defying the stereotype.

But the stereotype persists. Partly because there is, like many stereotypes, a pattern that people think they see that defines the whole.

Here’s my simple advice on how to be a GREAT technical leader: Give people what they need to succeed.

Get good at recognizing what that is for different people in different roles. Then, practice asking questions, listening, and having back-and-forth ideation dialogue after you have made the other person feel heard. Know the business at a bigger picture level so you can pitch your expert recommendations to acknowledge and meet the needs of all key stakeholders.

Support your people and grow their expertise.

Be a good boss.

All of these skills are learnable.

They don’t just come naturally or automatically, though. And that’s where many managers fail to support their rising technical stars.

Because technical experts are smart, dedicated people, their managers often promote them and think, “They’ll pick up the management skills quickly and easily, just like they do in their area of expertise.” But that’s a mistake. Leadership and management is a different domain of knowledge requiring an additional skill set. As a result, most technically-oriented leaders don’t receive enough training, coaching, and support.

There are four key success factors to being a great technically-focused leader:

• Technical Savvy: Technical and problem solving leadership
• Team Leadership: Building and leading high-performing teams
• Innovation & Execution: Getting things done in new and effective ways
• Personal Mastery: Staying positive, focused, and effective in all situations

All of these success factors are covered in my Technical Leadership Scorecard. Use this diagnostic tool to explore how well you are displaying these skills. Please take advantage of this, whether it is for yourself, for the junior leaders in your organization, or for others you know.

Great technical professionals can be great leaders, if they get the right support. But they can’t succeed by doing things the way they used to as individual contributors. They need to let go of some things and add on some new mindsets, skills, and habits.

When leaders make this shift and fully support their employees–creating the conditions for their success–they can make their teams incredibly successful!

This is where the power of leadership comes from: Unleashing and supporting the diverse talents and contributions of a group of people, channeled in the direction of a purpose, mission, or goal.

We can’t take great leadership for granted.

But we can develop it.

Be the leader for others that you want for yourself!

Use (and share) that scorecard. That lays out many of the critical behaviors technical leaders need to display. If you would like more detail or information to grow those skills, let me know. I’m happy to help.

Technically yours,
–Steve

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P.S. - Two events current at time of publishing: Local Twin Cities series of Business Growth Workshops and Positive Intelligence (PQ) classes. Follow the links for more information.

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