Many engineers ‘fall upwards’ into management, either through reorgs or because their work suddenly involves the coordination of other people’s efforts as well as their own. While they may be excellent engineers, they often lack the skills and experience—and the role models—to develop this part of their professional identity.
We have developed a comprehensive coaching and mentoring programme for new and experienced managers. Each participant self-assesses against a set of capabilities, then we tailor the programme to suit each individual as they choose where they want to grow.
The programme, run in cohorts of 8-10 people, is a mix of individual personal development coaching and topic-based small groups. Managing engineering teams is multifaceted, so we divide up the set of skills and capabilities along six dimensions:
- Focus: managing the horizon (strategic vs operational vs execution)
- Communication: managing the stakeholders
- Product: managing the outcomes
- Planning: managing the workload
- Delivery: managing the system of work
- Quality: managing the engineering
We find this makes moving into management less overwhelming for new managers, and gives experienced managers a model to identify gaps.