The fear of getting into management for a technical professional surfaces when they reach a certain level of professional expertise in their own field and do not want to become a manager because of their belief that they will suffer on both fronts: lose their technical edge and that they will become dysfunctional as managers as they contemplate their next career move—thus weakening their résumé. This concern about losing their technical edge is particularly acute for those who ply in the technology space. The accelerating change in technology concerns them in that they think that if they were away from it, it would quickly make them obsolete.

They also see a plethora of evidence of dysfunctional managers; all they have to do is merely look around their own management circle. Studies after studies reveal that nearly 80% of the managers are dysfunctional in some ways; some downright incompetent—even tyrannical to hide that incompetence. Many wanna-be managers fear, too, that they may end up the same way!

The Fear source!

In my career coaching practice I encounter this often, when individual contributors reach a point of saturation in their professional evolution. Taking on a managerial role is the only option available for professional and career growth. The same fear manifests when a first or second-level manager feels stuck in their role because of their own mindset and is reluctant to advance to higher management positions because their feeling of inadequacy to carry that mantle beyond their current station. The other fear many also carry involves some mystery around higher management roles and how they would fare in those roles.

Why is this fear so common, even among professionals, who are already in management positions? I would like to address some of these notions many harbor, and use this blog to give them a perspective to help navigate through this. I plan to do this by both disabusing some misguided notions and then clarifying how the management process works as one moves up the hierarchy.

So, here is my take: One reason for their apprehension is their belief that managerial role is not scalable. Second factor may be that they have to continue to be as good at their technical skill as when they were an individual contributor as they grow into their management roles with greater responsibilities. The purpose of this blog is also to disabuse this mindset and to provide some guidance on how to think through this process of evolution, as a manager, to make it work for you.

One way to understand how to make a managerial role scalable—as you move up the chain—is to acknowledge the interplay between technical and management skills. As you grow in your managerial responsibilities you must progressively spend less time doing technical work and more doing management work in its place. This is something that is much harder to most, because they grew up doing hands-on technical work, when given a choice this becomes their default option.

For example, the first level manager typically should consider doing this 50:50. This means that 50% of their time should go into doing technical work (guiding, mentoring, and doing hands-on work only as needed), with the remaining in doing management work (see the four functions of managing below). Of course at lower levels some of the Leading work can involve technical leadership as well. In the section headings below the figures in ( ) show how the typical division of time between management and technical work can be done for managing your responsibilities for a successful outcome. As you move up in management one must learn how to translate their previous hands-on technical skills to conceptualize them without getting involved in their nitty-gritty details. This skill is also part of the development that is required to be able to scale your management abilities.

The first transition (50:50)

When an individual contributor is promoted to the first level manager what stifles their success is their failure to realize that the new role requires a different mindset. Since they were promoted for being excellent at their technical skill that they had mastered as an individual contributor, they assume that doing more of that would make them successful in the new role. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The role of a manager is to carry out the four functions of managing: Leading, Planning, Organizing, and setting up Controls. What most fail to realize is that, although their technical skills are critical in their new leadership role, their function now is to get that done through others who work for them without getting themselves involved in doing that the same way when they were an individual contributor. Unless they can elevate how they apply that skill to get their team to produce collectively and individually (through the application of the four functions mentioned above) they are NOT functioning as a manager.

Not understanding this basic concept can vitiate a manager’s success, which often results in a manager micromanaging their team and frustrating their team members by imposing their own will on how things must get done. They are not able to move their focus from the How to the What. This is where the seed of dysfunction is sowed early in a manager’s evolution. Not having a good role model (remember, 80% of the managers suck!) further exacerbates this malady! Those who cannot make the How-What transition get consigned to become micromanagers as its most manifest dysfunction.

Transition to Middle Management (75:25)

Successful first-level and promising managers get a shot at middle management promotions. Typically these roles include Director-and-up levels just short of a VP-level title. In securing such a promotion if you have made a name for yourself as an effective manager, where both your superiors and direct reports see you as that then you have made a good use of the transition from an Individual Contributor to a manager or a senior manager.

Heading a department as a Director (or above) requires additional skills that go beyond what it takes to become an effective first- or second-level manager. These skills include the ability to conceptually understand where technical progress is impeding, and having the ability to guide the team to an effective solution without micromanaging; strong team-building (hiring, mentoring, retaining, performance management, and firing) skills; good alliance-building skills to team-up with cohorts for synergies to develop competitive market advantage; and, finally, increasingly better political, cultural, emotional, and contextual intelligence (PQ, CQ, EQ, and XQ) repertoire. Without this repertoire of “Q” skills your further growth will be quite limited regardless of however high your IQ may be.

The Second Transition: Jump to the Executive Suite (80:20)

Once you are ready for a VP-level role you can be considered executive material. To make the cut to get into the executive suite the key transition entails moving your focus from your functional area to the broader context of how the business operates and how it creates value in the marketplace. Here you must show sound knowledge of the business ecosystem, your company’s place in it, emerging threats from technologies and geographies, how your customers view you as a player in the overall supply-chain that feeds them their needs, ability to see around the corners, and, finally, that illusive executive presence. So, to get into the Executive Suite you must grow your perspective into all these areas to be seen as a candidate ready for this role. Contrary to common misapprehension, executive presence is a learned and developed skill.

The reason I call this the second transition is because this is where you shift your mindset from your functional focus to what really matters in your business.

GM/CEO (90:10)

To be considered a candidate worthy of running a business or a company you must first go through all the previous hoops and demonstrate that you do well in overcoming challenges that faced you, with executive capacity to spare for even bigger challenges. To get on a CEO track one must show their proficiency in not just on career track but also on others. For example, if someone started out as a design engineer (software, hardware, mechanical, systems) then they need to show their success in their future roles as Product Manager, Customer Support/Service Manager, or even in Product Marketing to round out their skill set. Additional stints in overseas assignments, turn-around situations, M&A roles can only help their candidacy in being considered for a GM/CEO role. Yet another sine qua non for a role at this level is the demonstrated ability to run a business and its P&L, with impressive results. Rarely will a candidate be considered for these roles without a well-rounded career and successes in each of their undertakings.

So, now you know how going on a management path can lead you to success by understanding what is required and how to deliver it for you to be considered as the candidate for the right management position.

Good luck!