Originally published on medium.
In many companies leadership and management positions are the next step forward for engineers in their career path and often the only way to achieve a salary progression. Here a glimpse of the various aspects to be considered while thinking of transitioning into a management role.
You start as junior again
After taking up the new role you will be a beginner again. You will need to learn a lot and acquire new skills. If you have watched your past managers closely, you will notice that observing is different from doing. In case you have acquired some leadership skills beforehand you will have a head start.
You’re part of the management team
Your peers are not the people you manage, but other managers in the company. Depending on the size of the organisation, there might actually be very few of them (or even spread across different locations). This also means that you will have limited opportunity to learn from other managers on the same level as yours and thus your networking skills will be put to a test.
In case you’re asked to manage your former peers — no matter how well you know them, how well you get along with them — as soon as you become their manager, they will see and treat you as their boss.
Management is hierarchical — you will be asked to execute or communicate things, you not necessarily have worked on, in a way as if you actually had, oftentimes without having all the needed details. Examples include changes in company strategy, restructuring, budget cuts, etc. Some decisions might not be the best for your own teams, but necessary for the long-term success of your company.
You’re responsible for the people you manage
In order to gain trust, you need to genuinely care for people. It’s your job to create an environment that allows people to take joy in their work, use their abilities and fulfil their potential. Be a role model — your behaviour will influence culture and help to set expectations towards your directs. Remember to be the first to act and take the responsibility to address the matter as soon as it arises.
You will need to manage people’s performance by leveraging feedback, one-on-ones, and conducting periodic progress reviews. While addressing low performance, you cannot forget your top performers that your teams rely upon to succeed. Not managing the growth of your best people (for example by being clingy and blocking their rotation to a new team) along with not living up to their expectation, eventually will make them leave the team or even the company.
It will become personal. You will encounter situations where people on your team will not get along with each other due to personality, attitude, cultural differences, etc. You will be expected to manage and resolve such conflicts within and across teams.
Prepare to be judged by what your teams deliver
No matter how great atmosphere you create in the teams, it’s delivery that counts. Delivery against goals or products the teams ship to your customers. Make sure to celebrate successes with the team and praise your directs for the work and efforts they put in.
Your daily rhythm will change
Forget about being able to plan your day. Prepare to be disturbed, over and over again. Being a master meeting scheduler won’t help you. You will find it hard to focus on a single task for a longer time frame and might leave work without the feeling of actually achieving something meaningful. A common error to overcome this feeling is over-involving oneself and not giving enough space to others. Your main job has changed (i.e. it’s not coding anymore), make sure to delegate work and empower others to do it.
Is it worth it?
Management is a new role. It requires high responsibility, discipline, patience, as well as the desire and ability to effectively work with people. You get to build effective teams, create an environment where individuals work towards a common goal, and watch people grow. The decision to transition into a management role requires a certain level of commitment. You don’t get to “try” nor experience management otherwise.
Consequences for failure in management are large, both on business and personal level. Taking risks and learning from situations in the daily work is how you grow and become better in management.
As manager — in case you hire or promote managers, remember your early days in the new role back in the past and make sure to provide enough support and coaching for your directs. As a beginner — ask for it!