Why Managers Should Stop Delivering and Start Leading
Last week in the office I made an interesting observation about the new model of leadership. One of the directors I haven’t seen for over a year was sitting at his desk. Working from home since the beginning of the pandemic hasn’t made it easy for either of us to catch up so I went to him and asked if he fancied a cup of coffee. “No, thank you” he replied and went back to his work.
It struck me as unusual that a work colleague–who also happens to be a manager– didn’t see the significance in sharing coffee and friendly conversation with a colleague he hasn’t seen for over a year. Isn’t this an opportunity for a manager to learn more about the team? We keep hearing about the importance of soft skills, but are they relevant post-pandemic? I thought to myself this could be just another indication of the manager's crisis we are experiencing in IT.
What Really Happened?
Human management skills have been widely researched by the largest universities. Plenty of books have been written on the subject, while classes and theories have been dedicated to help professionals improve and learn those essential skills. Still in IT we get promoted to a manager position because we have done a good job with day to day work.
Commonly in IT we value technical expertise over soft skills in managers and would ask candidates to have coding tests, and provide certificates and diplomas to demonstrate various abilities that almost never include human management skills.
As a result, our leaders are experts in their fields but rarely good managers. Isn’t this strange in times when IT talents are much needed? Why are IT companies overlooking human management skills when hiring or promoting employees? Also, what skills should a candidate demonstrate to lead a team?
The Problem In a Nutshell
Let’s start with the basics. IT stands for Information Technology to which we rightly associate technical knowledge utilised to the highest degree to reach logical outcomes. For this reason, we tend to ignore any human aspect that can affect this outcome and we assume IT people are solely driven by logical motivations.
Or worse, we sometimes assume IT people are just weirdos not driven by emotions: As long as the instructions are clearly stated, we expect the job to be completed. We rarely question the way instructions are communicated, underplaying the importance of human interaction.
I believe that most IT managers don’t understand the importance of their role. A manager’s role is not to deliver X results but to lead the team who will deliver sustainable X results to the company. As such, this role is a job in itself, different from the tasks the team is responsible for. From the outside, a manager is the voice of the team, agreeing on strategic goals and clearing the way for them to succeed. From within, a manager is a facilitator, setting directions and helping the team to deliver at the highest standard. I’m astonished every time I see managers getting involved in the details of the day-to-day tasks, interfering in IT architectural decisions or deliveries instead of defining strategies and big goals.
5 Management Skills Missing in IT Companies
A manager’s role is not to execute but to lead. Having read many books on human management, leadership, and using power at the workplace, also based on my own experience, I believe these are the five skills missing from managers in most IT companies.
Assertiveness
Assertiveness means being able to think what you say and say what you think, clearly and without convolution, confusion or fear. As a manager, your assertiveness is particularly needed at three levels: Role definition, direction setting and decision making.
A role title alone doesn’t define all the responsibilities of IT roles such as: Product Manager, Senior Product Owner or UX Designer. Their underlying responsibilities and boundaries need to be defined by the team’s manager and shared explicitly and transparently within and outside the team. Otherwise, its members will step on each other’s feet when they feel motivated or will fear to take responsibilities when not sure about outcomes. Transparent responsibilities will discourage manager’s interference and confusion as to who does what in the team. The end result will be clarity and focus for the team.
A manager also needs to be assertive when it comes to communicating clear directions for the team to follow. I define a direction as a combination of Goals (3 at most), Delivery dates and Means. This gives everyone clarity on what to aim for and better equip themselves to hit the target.
And last, a manager needs to be assertive when making a decision, communicating it to a team and remaining consistent.Very often, managers play on this confusion (i.e confusion of roles, directions, and decisions) to allow for flexibility, but this ultimately confuses the team and their stakeholders and leads to failure and arguments. As a manager your role is to be assertive and adjust your message every time change occurs.
Empowering others
Employees need to feel empowered and trusted to make decisions at their level. When empowered, the team feels they can affect change, carry something bigger than themselves and grow in the company. In return, they perform better in the long run and are loyal to the manager and to the company.
In comparison, many employees do not feel valued in an environment where managers are trying to micromanage them.
A leader is here to lead not to execute; meaning: to give direction and guidance, accompany and review but never interfere or redo. I know some fear the result will not be up to the manager’s standards, but reviews should help to correct and adjust.
David Grain, Software Delivery Manager
Instead of redoing work that a manager finds unacceptable, a manager should ask themselves the following questions
- How can I improve the requirements and parameters for the work so I get the result I desired, first time?
- What expertise can I share with my direct report so that they are better prepared for the next piece of work?
- Where possible, what actions can we take now to collaborate on improving the work submitted so that I can enable growth and get the outcome I desire next time?
Delegating ability
Your team members are very skilled. When empowered by a capable leader, these skills are utilised to the highest degree. But there are also skills they want to develop to grow in their role. These need to be fostered and the manager is there to allow for it to happen by delegating.
Leaders can dedicate their time to more strategic tasks while the team enjoys the challenges of newly delegated responsibilities and feels valued.
During my years in the IT industry, I only met a few managers who delegated successfully. Often they work long hours and protect their perimeter, fearful the team will win all the laurels. By delegating, the leader shows confidence in their role and supports the team to grow.
Fearless in protecting the team
A team will occasionally fail: The last commit broke the production environment, the customer was disappointed with the feature delivered and reconsidered the contract etc. In such situations, the team usually decides to wisely address the issue and then review with stakeholders the impact this event had.
The last thing you want to do as a manager is to hide behind the team and let them bear the brunt for failure. On the contrary, that’s when you need to step up and take responsibility for the team’s failure. One of the great managers I had would defend the team as if he had personally failed in the task. He would even go further and praise the qualities of his teammates. The matter was then discussed separately with the team behind closed doors. That reflected very well on him and the team was very loyal.
As a good leader, you also need to promote your team's successes. Thinking of this same manager, when introducing me to new customers, he would always start by praising my qualities and tell how talented I was. In short, a good manager needs to be perceived as strong, bold and protective of the circle of safety that surrounds the team and not be the first to bend to outside difficulties and criticism.
Be genuinely close to the team
A leader is expected to genuinely know the team: their personality, temperament, what they fear the most, what they like the most, how they want to grow in the company etc. This is crucial in order to be able to communicate with the right tone, at the right moment with the right words that can motivate and energise.
To that end, managers must nurture a very close relationship with their team. This aspect is often overlooked or rationalised (I remember having a manager who would add a bullet point in his meeting agenda to enquire about my holidays).
This goes back to the nature of our work in IT. We tend to forget about these soft skills. As a result, managers don’t know their teams well enough and therefore fail to show empathy or support, to communicate enthusiasm or motivation, or to perceive disappointment etc.
In essence, a leader is a soft skills navigator, constantly listening to the team and adapting his/her communication in line with the team’s needs.
David Grain, Software Delivery Manager
It’s important to note that it is not always the manager's fault that they cannot get to know each member of the team.
In my experience 5 direct reports is the maximum number a single manager should be allocated before the standard of coaching and support starts to reduce. Some Senior Managers often make the mistake of thinking an additional direct report comes for free. When you add up 1-2-1’s, admin, coaching and preparation, the amount of input and time required to successfully manage is exponential for each new report.
How can you get to know your reports in more depth? One tactic I have used is an approximation of the Lean Coffee approach, which is in essence an agenda-less meeting. At the top of the meeting, you and your report note down the agenda items you would like to cover, you collectively prioritise the items that are important to cover in this session and then timebox 5-8 minutes (depends on 1-2-1 length) per agenda item.
A democratic process for meetings allows all participants to feel they ‘own’ the process. If you want to take this to the next level, have your next lean coffee sessions in an unfamiliar environment (on a walk, in a coffee shop) to take you both out of your comfort zone.
What Can We Do About It Now?
In order to thrive, companies need managers who understand the importance of their role. It’s essential that these leaders dedicate their time and energy to managing and not delivering, otherwise the team will lack unity and coherence and, as a result, perform poorly or simply leave.
Once companies learn how to hire and promote good leaders (and not only subject matter experts), they need to empower them and give them the means to be assertive, able to delegate, as well as protective of their team. For this to happen, IT companies need to have long-term strategic goals and not quarter to quarter revenue goals that put pressure on managers and their teams which leads to more turnovers.