As an expert technical individual contributor, you used to focus on the minutia of a project or implementation and explore interactions between tiny content details.
As your management responsibilities grow, you are increasingly responsible for the interactions between people, processes, and systems.
In his 2010 article Recognizing and Using “Content” and “Process” Dennis Hooper refers to the “content” work of individual contributors as “heads down” work and the “process” work of leadership and management as “heads up” work.
To avoid promotion remorse as you advance in your career, you’ll need recognize which parts of your work are “content” or “heads down” work and which parts are “process” or “heads up” work, and adjust the balance between them.
But don’t expect those classifications to stay static. Positions at all levels have both content and process work, even if the work itself is different.
If you’d like help establishing a more suitable ratio of “heads down” to “heads up” work for your current role, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.
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