From Individual Contributor (IC) to Team Lead or Manager
Many of the challenges people face are related to change: change in the environment, expectations, uncovered uncertainty, new goals, and so on. Change is natural and we all need to get used to it by building our resilience, but there are some changes that are more difficult to handle than others. One of the most difficult is when one moves from an Individual Contributor (IC) role to a first-level lead or manager role.
At a high level, the reason is that the IC role can be vastly different from the lead/manager one, and often there is very little understanding of those differences before one moves to the new role. In this post, I am going to talk about this challenge and give some tips to those who are struggling with this transition.
The Wrong Reasons
I want to begin with one issue that I have seen in multiple places: the fact that many people end up in a team manager position for the wrong reasons.
First, there is still a strong belief that to become a manager you have to be the best at what you do as an IC. This may or may not be the correct answer to a problem. Second, many ICs see the managerial route as the only option to climb up the ladder.
In both cases, the issue is that an excellent IC may not be a good fit for a manager, or may not really want to become a manager. There are other ways to get promoted and recognized. This topic needs to be well understood both by the ICs making the move and by the people enabling that move.
The Challenges
Let's move to the concrete items of this post—the biggest challenges one faces during this transition:
From "I" to "We"
As an IC, one may or may not be part of a team, but in most cases, the person is mostly interested in optimizing their performance and output by honing their skills, problem understanding, and communication. In general, the person is highly focused on themselves. This is in violent contradiction with the role of a team lead/manager, because in this case, you are almost solely focused on how to optimize the team's performance by aligning everyone towards a common goal. Even though you still want to improve your skills, the skills are now much different and, in many cases, not very technical.
Results Through Others
As a team lead/manager you care for the collective performance and what you can achieve as a team. This is very different from being an IC where you care about doing the best on your own. You have to figure out how the team can now do collectively what you would previously do on your own. The path to success, therefore, looks very different from this perspective.
Instant Gratification
One of the nicest things about doing IC work is the fact that you can get almost instantaneous gratification (depending on your area of specialization). As an IC, you may be working on a problem for hours, days, or maybe weeks, but at some point, you will crack it and see the results almost immediately. When working on very tough problems, this gratification can become addictive, especially under a time crunch, because your adrenaline levels spike. On the other hand, as a manager, you do not get this type of satisfaction from work anymore, because the problems you face are vastly different in terms of evaluation and timing.
Time Scale and Results
Similar to the above is the time scale of the work. As an IC, you expect to see your results in a matter of weeks (in most cases, this is close to the maximum time horizon for a task). As a manager, your minimum time horizon is probably in the order of months—for example, when coaching a team member and waiting to see the results over time. The results are also different; an IC gets concrete and measurable results, whereas a manager targets goals that may be much harder to quantify.
See the Big Picture
As an IC you are interested in the big picture, but in many cases, you rely on your manager to help you understand it. As a manager, you now have to deeply understand the big picture yourself. This can range from adjacent technical areas to corporate-level changes, organizational structures, and business models. This requires new knowledge, a new network, and a new way of thinking, because you now have to not only see the end picture of the connected "dots," but you have to find the dots and connect them in the right way.
Speak Two "Languages" Fluently
One of the most interesting aspects of being a first-level manager is that you need to be able to speak fluently the language of your team members (e.g., sales, engineering, software) and that of your supervisor (e.g., hiring, promotions, org changes, project schedules). Unfortunately, people fail to acknowledge that this need is very challenging. The type of discussions and the time horizon of the tasks can have a wide range, which adds severe strain to the manager's way of thinking and operating.
Recommendations
The reasons above show why many first-level managers struggle in their role. Below I am sharing some recommendations on how to deal with these challenges:
Acceptance
The first step to change is to accept that it is here and make sure you understand what it really means for you. The situation is not the same for everyone, so it is important to spend time welcoming the new role so that you can focus on what truly matters.
Change Your Time Horizon
Make sure to change your time horizon by taking into account the new goals that you have for your team and yourself. That way you will not expect the instant gratification of the IC, but you will be awaiting the maturity of the situation given the new setting.
Create Quantifiable Goals
Being a first-level manager introduces new goals, many of which are people-focused and difficult to measure. This does not have to be the case. You should still try to create goals that you can put a number next to. That way you will be able to reduce the level of ambiguity in your work, and it will become much more tangible and easy to understand.
Carve Time for Deep Work
Even as a manager, you still have work to do that requires alone downtime and focus without distractions. This work can be around a managerial task or a pure IC task; either way, it is important to make space for that in the work week and make sure it is respected. That way you have the opportunity to recharge and be ready for what is yet to come.
New Goal: Care for Others
Last but not least, make sure to care for your team. Get to know your team members as people first and then as employees. Caring for others can and will make you feel accomplished on the best and worst days at work. Also, caring for others will uncover areas that you thought you knew about yourself but actually do not, which can then help you improve as a person and professional too.
