What’s The Role of a Team Leader in the Software Industry?
Transitioning from individual contributor to a manager
Breaking into management can be a tough nut to crack for any professional. However, for technology workers, the path to people management comes with some unique challenges.
What Is a Leader?
There is an important distinction between leadership and management. Managers have a title that carries with it official organizational support, like Manager or Director. Managers also have direct reports, they have staffing responsibilities, and they typically have some kind of budget. Leaders, on the other hand, have people’s support. People follow leaders, not because they have power bestowed upon them from an org chart, but because of who they are and how they act.
It is not necessary for a manager to be a leader — and the inverse is also true.
Leadership Traits
- Are Respected by their peers, their reports, and other leaders
- Seek to understand
- Have empathy and humility
- Create a safe(r) work environment
- Drive positive results
Becoming a Leader
It should come as no surprise that a skilled and effective manager is almost certainly a leader first. As stated above, being a leader is not a requirement for being a manager. But, the best managers do have most, if not all of the leadership traits listed above. Additionally, if you are interested in being a manager, being a leader first can make that path a lot easier for you and for those who will report to you.
However, being a leader is not for everyone and it is not for the timid. It can be mentally draining and downright painful at times. The upshot is that it can also be incredibly rewarding.
Cultivating Respect
The cornerstone of leadership is trust; everything flows up from trust. Without respect, there can be no trust. If people do not respect you, they will not trust you. It is as simple as that.
So, how can you go about cultivating respect in order to establish trust? Respect stems from consistently demonstrating certain desirable traits to others: integrity, competence, stewardship, and support from others who are well-respected. If you are technically competent, that can be a base from which you can build respect. If you are less technically competent, you can gain respect in other ways, such as by recognizing and promoting high-quality work from other people and by removing productivity barriers.
Seeking to Understand
No matter how smart you are, you will not have all the answers. And, when it comes to addressing people’s needs, you definitely will not have all the answers. So, before you criticize, ask “Why?”
- Why did you take this approach?
- Why did you make this decision?
If someone delivered some technical solution and it leaves you scratching your head, find out why they did it the way they did and what references they used. If you have a better alternative, start with communicating that you understand what they did and then provide your alternative with evidence.
Oh, and let them have the credit for the solution. You may not get the immediate “Look at how smart I am!” gratification. But, you will get the gratitude of the person you helped.
Empathy and Humility
Empathy can best be described as putting yourself in someone else’s place and genuinely trying to feel what they are feeling. It is understanding on an emotional level. Not surprisingly, it is also closely tied to emotional intelligence.
Humility is accepting that you are human, and like all humans, you make mistakes. Whether you are a rockstar developer or a high-ranking executive, you have previously and you will in the future make mistakes. Own them, and when necessary apologize for them — humans want to work with and for other humans.
Creating a Safe(r) Work Environment
Global pandemics aside, technology workers generally have a physically safe working environment. There are (hopefully) no heavy machines, chemicals, or wild animals to contend with within the office. So, when leaders in tech create a “safer” working environment, they are creating a more psychologically safe environment.
How do leaders create a more psychologically safe environment?
- They hold themselves and others accountable
- They stand up for themselves and others
- They fight against problems, not people
The 3 items above all promote psychological safety by communicating that nobody is above measured accountability, protection is always given if it is both needed and warranted (i.e. we are in this together), and problems are the enemy; coworkers are the problem solvers.
Driving Positive Results
Leaders know that individuals don’t scale, people do. Regardless of how good you are or how much you work, the productivity of one person is no match for that of a high-performing team. So, yes, leaders both inspire and motivate results. But, leaders also ensure the aim of those results is positive.
Positive results…
- Do not cause harm to the organization or to the individuals within it
- Are not immoral, unethical, or illegal
- Provide some net benefit to the organization and/or to the individuals within it
From Leader to Manager
Stand out by clearly communicating your career goals and by being a leader, first.
Those who matter will recognize your leadership abilities…
The biggest (and probably the most unappreciated) gift that can be given to an aspiring manager is an unofficial leadership role. Leading without the crutch of a title and official organizational support can be incredibly challenging. However, those who are able to thrive do so because they are able to demonstrate leadership traits. This is where leadership chops are forged.
It may be tempting to fall back on the skills and abilities that made you a strong individual contributor. For example, a strong programmer might be tempted to substitute strong programming chops and a killer work ethic for leadership ability. After all, programming is straightforward and emotionless. But the only way to become a leader is to consistently work at it. Hiding behind code is not going to cut it.
Typically the path from individual contributor to manager goes something like developer/analyst -> team lead -> manager, with each step being slightly narrower on the ladder. Stand out by clearly communicating your career goals and by being a leader, first.
Those who matter will recognize your leadership abilities and promotion opportunities should follow. If by some chance you go unrecognized, consider soliciting advice from a trusted mentor. Or it could be that you are not in an organization that values leadership (sadly, those organizations do exist).
Resources
- High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. Here’s How to Create It.
- Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe
- Emotional Intelligence
- Understanding the Trait Theory of Leadership
- Incident Investigation: Learning vs Blaming
Thank you for reading. If you liked this post, please check out the Blu Flame Technologies Blog.
