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LECA Philosophy on Leadership
Leadership vs. Management
We at Leader's Edge CA
are often asked why we speak in terms of "leadership"
rather than in terms of "management".
There's an important reason for this: Technical people don't
respond well to a conventional, authoritative, and hierarchical management
approach, otherwise known as "command and control."
So, what is the alternative?
Consideration #1
The majority of middle managers and team leaders in
most technical organizations are, themselves, technical people.
Since it is a common practice to promote technical people into such
positions, this is hardly surprising. In some lucky cases, the "techies"
who assume these leadership roles are "natural leaders",
but most are not.
Learn more»
Consideration #2
It is also important to note that techies tend to push their leaders
beyond the confines of conventional, accepted management wisdom and practice.
By the very nature of their work, techies require special handling.
Thus, those who lead technical people must have a clear understanding
of what makes techies "tick."
Consideration #3
Leading techies is not the sole purview of management.
Leadership is required in two distinct areas:
administrative
(i.e., resources, process, program and project management,
customer service, etc.),
and technical (research and development,
verification, quality assurance, documentation, maintenance, etc.).
Many technical managers are asked to tackle both of these areas
simultaneously with little or no preparation or support.
In such cases, whether or not they are successful
leaders in both areas often becomes a matter of seredipity rather than design.
Learn more»
Consideration #4
When given the choice, technical people move
into administrative leadership (management) roles for a variety
of reasons: a unique
expertise, seniority, career opportunity (next step on the promotion
ladder), and/or a desire to control the design and direction of
company products or services — just to name a few.
However, regardless of the type of leadership required, or the reasons techies
choose to move into leadership roles, the
question remains:
How prepared are techies to assume the roles and
responsibilities of technical managers or team leaders?
Learn more»
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