Technical experts who find themselves in management often fall into a trap that creates almost insurmountable relationship barriers. One of the valuable skills of an engineer is the ability to recognize potential technical problems with an idea or strategy. For an engineer who is responsible to build something safe and stable, that skill is invaluable. But it can often get in the way of collaboration with other leaders.
I’m reminded of a scene from Apollo 13, where the ground team debates how to return the astronauts. The engineering team highlights genuine risks to commandeering hardware in real-time to take on responsibilities it was never designed for.
Was the risk real? Sure it was! But one thing that engineers must learn as they move into leadership is that the existence of a flaw does not by itself disqualify something from being the best available idea. You may be right about a risk or a flaw, but being right is not the same as being effective.
Does that mean you just keep your mouth shut? Not at all! As a leader, you are obligated to share what you know about risks – especially early in the discussion. The skill to learn as you enter management is to recognize the value of the perspectives of those who can see how ideas impact other important arenas such as revenue impact, business relationships, market perceptions, legal or regulatory risks, etc. and then acknowledge the tradeoffs that the team chooses to make, even when the technical risk remains.
Repeatedly rehearsing the warning of a flaw that has already been considered and evaluated against a wealth of other factors will undermine a new leader’s influence in a team of other leaders.
If you feel like your technical warnings are going unheeded and you’d like to expand your thinking to see other perspectives, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.
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