“My team seems to be on edge.”
Why do you feel that way?
“When I ask them to work on a task, they appear to be tense or uneasy or anxious.”
How long have you been an engineering manager?
“Not very long. I got promoted about six months ago.”
Congratulations! Is this your first time being a manager?
“Yes.”
Before you got promoted, I’m guessing you were a hands-on engineer?
“Yes. I’m a technical person. I make data-driven decisions.”
Data-driven decisions are an essential part of being an engineering manager. What about the people part?
“I spend the majority of my time on technical matters.”
You’re a people manager now. You need to spend more time on people matters.
“The data conveys the information I need to run my team.”
What about the people?
“I told you. I make data-driven decisions.”
What about the people?
“I follow the data. Like I already told you. I’m not repeating myself again.”
Epic fail.
You need people skills to be an exceptional engineering manager.
Sounds obvious.
Right?
Promotion paradox
Talented engineers with top-notch coding, design and analytical skills get promoted to manager. Those hard skills led to the accomplishments that resulted in those promotions.
Illogical. Isn’t it?
We promote engineers to people manager positions based on their technical merits. In many cases, the talented engineer who gets promoted to people manager lacks people skills. The newly promoted engineering manager continues to rely on their technical mindset to manage people.
People.
Complex. Emotional. Contradictory. Curious. Independent. Needy. Competitive. Lazy. Happy. Sad. Silly. Serious.
People.
Wanna know a secret? An engineer without people skills can function in a manager role, pushing out code and product releases. Talk to any group of engineers. You’ll hear horror stories about engineering managers with terrible people skills. Out of that group of engineers, most would balk at working for a terrible people manager again.
“Are you calling me terrible?”
Maybe. Your lack of people skills may be the reason your team feels on edge when you ask them to do something for you.
“The data is what matters. Data drives my decisions.”
Data is only part of the equation. People matter, too.
Be exceptional!
I love cryptozoology. Yeah. It’s pseudoscience. And fun! Bigfoot is my favorite cryptid. Bigfoot is mysterious and elusive. That’s part of the hairy cryptid’s appeal. Bigfoot truly is the hide and seek world champion.
Being functional and exceptional as an engineering manager are two different things. Functional engineering managers hide behind constructs such as data, shielding themselves from the people engagement required to be exceptional in their roles. Exceptional engineering managers seek people skills to enhance their effectiveness as leaders, combining their people skills and technical skills with data-driven decisions to be extraordinary.
“You raised an interesting point. I’m interested in learning more about people skills.”
All is not lost. You’re open to learn. That’s a good thing!
Here are five reasons that engineering managers need people skills to be exceptional in their roles:
1. Team wellbeing
Apathy, uncertainty and burnout represent the trifecta of doom for teams, leading to low productivity and employee turnover. Data on dashboards only tells part of the story. Don’t hide behind the data. Seek!
Engineering managers need to be engaged with their team members to ensure their wellbeing. Regular check-ins with your people will help you to gauge how things are going for the team, giving you a chance to prevent apathy, uncertainty or burnout from hurting your team.
People skills, such as conflict management, coaching, communication, listening and emotional intelligence, will be crucial for your engagement. You need to develop and use those people skills to maintain the wellbeing of your team.
2. Retention
Hiring is an expensive and painful process. When good people leave, they take tribal knowledge with them. Attrition also increases the workload for the remaining team members.
Good news! Engineering managers can boost their chances of retaining their team members by developing and using their people skills. This is where engagement comes in. Show your appreciation for a job well done, thanking people personally instead of relying on impersonal emails or instant messages.
No need for a team member to resign for a growth and development opportunity elsewhere. Not when you enrich your team by providing them with growth opportunities by having career growth conversations with them. Lastly, make sure you have consistent 1:1s with your direct reports. Listening and addressing their concerns will go a long way towards successful retention.
3. Relationship building
You cannot operate in a silo. Wait. I take that back. You can, but you won’t be successful. As a manager, you need to build relationships across teams to get things done. Not only do individual contributors on your team need to collaborate with their peers across teams, you need to build meaningful relationships with your manager peers.
One of the key differentiating factors between a functional and exceptional engineering manager is influence. You’ll need influence to persuade other leaders to buy into your strategic objectives, initiatives or proposals. You gain influence by building relationships, using people skills such as listening to understand the other person’s position on discussion points.
4. Personal growth
Engineers are hands-on, solving technical problems from behind the comfort of a keyboard. When they get promoted to manager, they have an opportunity to step out of their comfort zone. The functional engineering manager will continue to rely on their technical mindset and hide behind the data, whereas the exceptional engineering manager will use their growth mindset to leave their comfort zone, developing the people skills needed to be exceptional as a manager. You got promoted to people manager. That’s your cue to step outside of your comfort zone and grow your people skills.
5. Moral responsibility
I saved the most important reason for last. I understand the value of using data to make sound decisions. Also, I get that many engineers have a deeply analytical mindset. Regardless of our role at a company, we’re all people. We all have our own hopes and dreams and fears and problems and bills to pay. Ann is going through a divorce. Joe’s dad has cancer. Bob’s daughter is getting married. Sue is trying to buy a house. All people trying their best to get through life.
Hiding behind data and statistics does a disservice to the people on our teams. We have a moral responsibility to treat our people with decency and respect. That’s where people skills come in. Treating people like data points is wrong. Just wrong. So is putting up a wall between yourself and the people who report up to you. An exceptional people manager, a person with integrity and empathy, engages their team members and cares about them as people.
Sure. Dealing with people is challenging and uncomfortable at times. Don’t hide behind excuses. You’re a people manager. Do the right thing by your people. Show up and give people management your best try.
Conclusion
Engineers who get promoted to people manager often lack people skills. Newly promoted engineering managers continue to rely on their technical mindset in the manager role, ignoring the need to develop their people skills. Engineering managers can be exceptional in their roles by developing their people skills, ensuring team wellbeing, retention, relationship building and personal growth. Most important of all, development of people skills gives us the agency to uphold our moral responsibility to treat people with dignity and respect.