Technical competence is often way too taken for granted in individual contributors who are gifted at what they do. For leadership roles however technical competence is one part of the story and the development of different, equally important skills can be real barrier for many. Here's my thoughts on astarteny's recent blog
Mel’s recent blog, drawing on her wealth of lived experience could be a super useful asset to someone who maybe is finding it a challenge to get into that first leadership role. In my experience that first step is often helped by a line manager coaching and developing an aspiring leader, introducing them to the new skills, tips, and tricks they’ll need to hone leading a team of people. Before going any further, let me be really clear – a leadership promotion track is not the only one, nor one I favour over another; its not better than a technical pathway, harder, or in any way superior – its just different and its the one I know more about to write here!
Mel hits the nail on the head – the soft skills associated with leadership aren’t necessarily easy, nor may I add do they need to be too hard either; it depends how we look at and then tackle them. In essence when faced with the situation Mel elegantly describes, feedback and insights are vital to know what to fix. In an inherently subjective landscape, there is unlikely to be prescription or a set of rules, a procedure, or structured documented process to follow – each person is unique and how you as an aspiring or new leader behaves and how they respond is not always simple to predict – agile takes on a whole new meaning!
Good luck on your journey and if you’d like to feel free to reach out, I always enjoy helping with a friendly chat about this stuff
