managing the transition from technical to management page 1 10–12 november 2014 making the...

Managing the Transition from Technical to Management 10–12 November 2014

Making the Transition from Technical to Management

Rahul Dogra

[email protected] www.rahuldogra.com


Making the Transition from Technical to Management

• We will:– Identify how to manage the transition from a technical expert,

towards management– Focus on developing key skills, including:

• Effective delegation• Motivating others• Getting the most from the team• Managing team performance to achieve organizational outcomes


How Difficult Was the Transition for You?

• What were the challenges you faced?– As a new manager

• What are your immediate areas of focus?– If you are a manager or have managed for some time

• What would you do differently?


The First Steps of Our Career

• We enter an organization, primarily based on our technical capabilities, knowledge, competencies and insights– Based on solid quantitative cause and effect models– Rise within the organization, is dependent on enhancing these

abilities

Technical

TechnicalTechnical


The Transition

• At a certain point (normally when a technical plateau has been reached), management responsibilities are offered – Should it be this way?– What happens if you do not want to become a manager of people,

and instead focus on your technical abilities?• A new set of skills are required (often rapidly)

– More qualitative than the technically based quantitative skills– The main area of focus is now on the management of people– What is done to prepare us?

– Attend courses– Read a book– Watch others– Nothing!


The Ideal Manager

• Think about your ideal manager– What capabilities do they have?– What do they do right and why?

• Alternatively think about a bad manager you have come across– What capabilities do they not have?– What do they do wrong and why?

• Why not adopt a reverse engineered approach?


The Transition From Technical to Management

Technical

Management


Managing the Transition

• The transition needs careful management and the development of new– Skills– Capabilities– Insights– Competencies

• We need to let learn to let go and embrace new capabilities– Letting go can be painful, for some

• If this transition is not managed well, it shapes our future management capabilities


Why Do Most People Leave an Organization?

• Financial rewards?• Lack of career progression?• Poor organizational strategy?• No team unity?• Lack of career progression?• ............................

• What is the number one reason?


What is Management?

• Management is all about the team, regardless of size• The goal is to make others succeed• Your success is dependent on the team


Leveraging Your Value Add

• You make others succeed by adding value • As a technical person, it is easy to identify the value provided• You need to clarify what value you provide as a manager

– From an individual, team and organizational perspective• Write down your value add here:


Being Clear About Your Value Add

• Value is created from doing the following effectively and efficiently:

Developing soft skills?

Planning Resource managementProviding technical insights Making decisionsBeing innovative Dealing with conflictCommunicating effectively Managing performanceReporting BudgetingHandling change


What Roles Does a Manager Undertake?

• Figurehead• Leader• Liaison

Interpersonal Roles

• Monitor • Disseminator• Spokesperson

Informational Roles

• Entrepreneur• Disturbance

Handler• Resource

Allocation• Negotiator

Decisional Roles

Henry Mintzberg (1973, The Nature of Work) investigated the roles of a manager• Identified ten management

roles • Formal authority and status

leads to the following roles– Interpersonal – Informational– Decisional


Mintzberg Roles Role Description 1-10

Figurehead Symbolic team head

Leader Responsible for all team leadership activities

Liaison Manages internal and external communications

Monitor Seeking and interpreting information to understand the organization

Disseminator Communicates information to key internal stakeholders

Spokesperson Communicates activities to external stakeholders

Resource allocator Allocates resources effectively and efficiently

Entrepreneur Continually scanning for non linear ideas and processes

Disturbance handler Manages conflicts that arise

Negotiator Representative for all negotiations

Inte

rper

sona

lIn

form

ation

alD

ecis

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Enhancing Your Managerial Skill Set

• You will need to develop your managerial toolkit, with new skills, capabilities, competencies, which will may be qualitative in nature– Some of these skills can be developed by

• Learning on the job• Learning from mistakes• Getting a mentor• Taking courses • Wanting to learn and continually improve

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Current

Future

What efforts are required?How long?

What will be different?


What Tools Do You Need?

• There are many skills to develop, including:

Delegation

Motivating others

Dealing with variance

Making decisions

Getting the best from a

team

Being goal focused

Navigating politics

Problem solving

Influencing others

Coaching

Performance management

Budgeting effectively

Managing change

Providing feedback


Delegation

• Many managers find delegation hard to do, initially– Letting go is never easy – You often convince yourself that

• “I can do a better job”• “Takes longer to do, so I will do it myself”

– A key management trait, is teaching your team, everything you know• Very hard for some to embrace this ethos

• Delegation is hard in the beginning, but is worth it in the longer term


How to Delegate

1.The scope

2. Select the individual /

team

3. Regular progress updates

4. Follow up

• Set clear objectives and timescales

• Identify customer requirements

• Manage expectations

• Play to their strengths

• How will the tasks fit together?

• What is the big picture?

Manage the processProvide the resources

Involve others Stay on track

• Macro not micro management skills

• Regular follow up using formal and informal channels

• Acknowledge success• Identify lessons

learned




Delegation

Motivating others


Making decisions


team

Being goal focused

Navigating politics

Problem solving

Influencing others

Coaching



Managing change

Providing feedback


Motivating Others

• You can not manage or lead, if you do not motivate followers• To motivate others, you need to understand individuals

– What drives them?– What do they want to achieve? – What is their career path?

• You will need to adopt different management approaches, depending on the individual – One size fits all, rarely works– Adapting to the situation is key

• “It is not about what they said, but how they made me feel”


Daniel Pink’s Approach

• Dan Pink (2005: Drive) provides a modern overview of motivation theory and suggests that we have three key motivational drivers:– Autonomy: The desire to direct our own lives – Mastery: The urge to get better at something that

matters to us– Purpose: To do and achieve something that is larger

and more enduring than ourselves

• See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc– (Go to Youtube.com and type Dan Pink, Drive RSA

Animation)


Hackman and Oldham* – Job Enrichment

• Play to their strengths

Skill variety

• What is the big picture?

Task identity • What is the

impact on stakeholders?

Task significance

• Freedom to develop

Autonomy• Opportunity

to improve

Feedback

*Hackman. J.R and Oldham, G.R Work Redesign. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company . 1980




Delegation

Motivating others


Making decisions


team

Being goal focused

Navigating politics

Problem solving

Influencing others

Coaching



Managing change

Providing feedback


Getting the Most From the Team

• For a new manager the pressing need is to adjust from being friends to managing and being responsible for the performance of others

• Your job is to make others succeed, so you need to establish– A clear management vision

• Determine what critical success factors are required to enable the vision to occur


Individuals Within the Team

• The team consists of individuals– Do you understand their key strengths and weaknesses– Each individual contributes to the team and this uniqueness is the

key to diversity – A team is strengthened through the various individual roles, insights

and contributions


Team Performance

• You are responsible for the performance of the team and the individuals within it

• The team will go through Tuckman’s team development cycle to improve their effectiveness– Forming: Individuals getting to know each other and their roles – Storming: Task is discussed and ideas proposed that may result in

conflict– Norming: More harmony is created and the rules are established – Performing: Once the previous stages are complete, the group can

work effectively– Adjourning: The group task may be complete and effective closure is

required


Performance and Tuckman’s Model

Perf

orm

ance

Time

Forming

Storming Norming

Performing

We want to get straight away to performing, but unless we manage the stages, the conflicts that arise, performing will not occur




Delegation

Motivating others


Making decisions


team

Being goal focused

Navigating politics

Problem solving

Influencing others

Coaching



Managing change

Providing feedback


Managing Individual Performance

• Managing the performance is a a core duty of a manger

10% under-performers

10% over-performers

80% performers

How much time does a manager allocate to

the team?


What is Performance Management

• Managing and developing people and teams to achieve organizational goals, through shared understanding, learning and development

• For this to work, emphasis must be placed on feedback, coaching, review of goals, acknowledging and rewarding success

• This can be done formally and informally

Planning Mid year reviews Appraisal

Feedback, coaching, dialogue, motivation, reviews, problem solving


Take Away

• Do not stand still, keep improving strengths and mitigate weaknesses• Identify, protect and enhance, how you add value• Find a mentor • Manage expectations

– Yours and the teams • Develop and enhance your team • Make time to deal with events, as and when they happen• Be visible by Management By Walking About (MBWA)

– Not MBW Away!• Keep learning

managing the transition from technical to management page 1 10–12 november 2014 making the...

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