Leader is not a Label

We hear two statements from technical experts that go together, over and over, on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter if it’s with technical experts that attend our training, our 1:1 coaching clients, or our clients’ technical experts when we help out with Business Critical projects. It’s all the same.

“I don’t want to become a manager, I like being technical”

And

“I’m frustrated because nobody listens to me when it comes to solving the problems around here”

Sometimes the words we hear are a little different, but they mean the same thing:

“Are you here to help us explain what’s going on and what needs to happen to fix it?”

“They’ll listen to you because you’re consultants”

“Don’t bother trying to explain it, we already know they’re not listening…”

If you’ve followed some of our earlier blog posts, you should have an initial idea on whether or not you want to make the transition to management. You should realize that managers have a completely different role and a completely different set of activities they need to perform in order to make the team and the organization successful.

This post is aimed at those of you who do not yet want to become managers. It also applies to those of you who are thinking about the transition to management, because it’s all about leadership.

If you haven’t checked in on our earlier blogs, it’s ok, we’ll say it again here. Leadership and Management are two completely different things. Management is a position, a job description, while leadership is a set of behaviors. Good managers must be leaders, but good leaders don’t necessarily have to be managers. (https://www.thresholdlearning.net/blog/001 is the start of a 3-part series. There’s also a link to a worksheet to help you determine whether the transition to management is right for you, at this time.)

You don’t have to be a manager to lead.  Our clients hear us repeat the phrase “You can lead from anywhere” and some of them are probably sick of hearing it. The others have had the ah-ha! moment and really understand what it means.

Here’s what you need to know:

• You can be a leader in any job description, in any role, in any organization
• Your progress and progression towards leadership has nothing to do with becoming more technical or more in-depth in your technical skill-set
• Leadership is about change: initiating change and supporting change
• Leader isn’t a title; you’re a leader because others have chosen to follow you
• If you’ve got the technical solution to a problem and people aren’t listening to you, it’s because they’re looking for a leader and you’re not it (yet!)
• The steps you need to take to transform yourself from a technical expert to a leader are not obscure and progress is not accidental. There are 6 transformations you need to make in yourself and you will become a stronger leader
• There’s no such thing as a born leader – leadership behaviors can be learned. While some people naturally exhibit some of the traits of a leader, they can all be learned.

Leadership is not the same as management. Management is a separate career path, with different objectives and measures of success. It’s possible to lead without being a manager. It’s not possible to be a good manager without being a leader. You can be a leader in any role you have.

You need to progress to be a leader, and in some cases, you’ll need to learn more. Be careful, though, because your progress towards leadership has nothing to do with becoming more technical. Becoming a leader is all about change, and that change revolves around solving problems within your organization. So, you don’t need to become more technical, what you need to do is get the technical knowledge you already have used to solve problems.

Here’s the first boiling point for frustration. How do you solve organizational problems if nobody’s listening to you? It’s a good and fair question. Here’s the answer:

You don’t solve organizational problems to become a leader. You become a leader to solve organizational problems.

If that sounded too philosophical, that’s ok. What we’re trying to say is that you have to progress in your leadership before people in your organization will think of turning to you for answers. You’ll need five of the six transformations to become an effective leader, although you’ll find people will start listening to you even in your early stages of development. It’s that powerful!

In order to be seen as a leader, you need to:

• Establish your understanding of the business and the business problems of your organization and your key stakeholders. Business value is the key.
• Build your credibility and reputation with your key stakeholders by being focused on what matters to them and their business
• Adapt your communications to make it easier for your stakeholders to hear the messages you want to send
• Focus on the things that motivate your stakeholders, especially the ones who aren’t currently supportive of you or your project
• Be seen to successfully deliver results that translate to increased business value

If you’re interested in digging into each of the transformations further, you’ll find them in our book From Technical to Exceptional: Transform to Outperform and Make Your Mark. You can find it on Amazon as well as at many brick-and-mortar booksellers. You can also get more in-depth online training right here on https://www.thresholdlearning.net

 Weigh in on the conversation at https://www.facebook.com/tech2exceptional