I’ve identified 8 essential leadership skills for engineers and technical professionals, and in this post I’ll describe the 2 that can be grouped under Leadership Empowerment, including lots of synonyms and components that fall under the 2. The broader framework is discussed in a prior post, wherein I define the 3 major groups to be Leadership Identity, Leadership Empowerment, and Strategic Leadership.
What is Leadership Empowerment?
First, what is Leadership Empowerment? It is how you communicate to your team that you will allow and enable them to perform well. You’re not going to step in and take over when they struggle. You’re not going to be overly critical. You are, instead, going to encourage them as they work through assignments. Be complimentary as they learn. Provide ‘top cover’ from customers and stakeholders when necessary. Give credit where it is due, and accept blame even if it could be assigned to an individual.
The Dilemma
For a technical expert who has moved into a leadership role, empowering others can be a huge challenge. It may be more comfortable for you to do a task yourself than it is to coach someone else to do it. Doing it yourself may be the better path in the short run, but it is not the better path in the long run.
Task performance must be delegated, so that the leader can focus on the broader needs of the organization. The transition from prime doer to organization leader is difficult for many high-performing engineers and technical professionals, and that’s where I can help.
Trust
The first step here is to delegate. Wholeheartedly. Believe that the job will get done and be done well. Yes, provide constraints and expectations. Sure, check in on progress. Provide feedback, gracefully. Provide mentoring and training as needed. But expect the person or team to do the job well.
In collaborations, be fully open to ideas from others. Give them adequate air time and consideration – not based on the clock, but based on how they communicate the idea. If they need help getting an idea across, it’s ok to help, but repeatedly cast the idea and the conversation back to them. Allow others to communicate their thoughts. Be more of a listener and guide, and less the dominant force.
Be clear on shared responsibility. The gathering of requirements, constraints, and resources is done at the organization level and at the performer level. Communications with customers and stakeholders is done at both levels too. Be clear in expectations and execution that all share in the credit and blame. Ensure credit goes to the team or team members, not yourself. Blame is held at the organization level, where it usually belongs.
Respect
Respect goes farther down the path of ‘soft skills’ or ‘human skills.’ In Big Bang Theory parlance, move from Sheldon toward Penny, who represent stereotypical extremes of effective human interaction skills. Maybe aim for Bernadette or Leonard, who are in between.
What we’re touching on here are things like empathy, compassion, and gratitude. Empathy meaning to understand, accept, and embrace others’ feelings. Compassion meaning to take action to accommodate and support those feelings. Gratitude, to express appreciation for the contributions of all. Privately and publicly, as appropriate, and even though it can be uncomfortable.
It’s OK to Struggle
These are not easy things to do for many engineers and technical professionals. The Big Bang Theory and other pop culture calls us out and reveals our struggles. If you want to be an effective leader, you must lean in to these struggles. Recognize tough human situations, gather your strength, and do the best you can to be empathetic, compassionate, and appreciative.
Like all skills, these improve with use. I believe they also improve with play acting, which is part of some training activities. I also believe they improve by visualization. I’m no expert on this, but in my words, pretend in your mind that you’re in a situation, think through how you should behave, and speak your lines while hearing others’. Maybe its a situation that you were in and didn’t do great. Maybe its a situation that you observed others live, or its a situation that you’re aware of. Practice may not make perfect, but it can lead to improvement.
Trust versus Trustworthy
We should touch on the difference between Trusting and Being Trustworthy. Trust is something you grant to others. Trusting is something you do. In contrast, Trustworthy is a measure of how others perceive you. We are not directly talking about trustworthiness in this post, although often if you trust you will be seen as trustworthy.
Trustworthiness is necessary for effective leadership, but I think it is derivative of other characteristics including Integrity and Respect. So, yeah, be trustworthy, and also be trusting and respectful. These concepts – all the leadership elements – are intertwined. As you work to improve in some areas, your skills in others will rise too.
Relationship Foundation
Trust and Respect, to me, form the basis of all healthy relationships. Leadership is all about relationships. To lead effectively, healthy relationships need to exist first. The time to build relationships is before you need to rely on them. How do you do that? Well, that’s something I can help with. It starts with trusting and respecting colleagues, leaders, customers, and stakeholders now. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is today.
Where are You?
If you’re at all like me, just reading through this write-up caused evaluation and reflection. That’s good. Do more of that. That’ll help you become a better leader. The soft skills matter.