People Leadership | No. 1

Starting as a

People Leader

People leadership has been an integral part of human history, evolving alongside the formation of groups and the need to manage individuals to achieve collective goals. Extensive research and studies have been dedicated to understanding and refining the art of leadership, as it remains a critical factor in achieving success in various realms of life. However, it is essential to acknowledge that leadership is not a static concept; it continuously evolves and adapts to the changing dynamics of the world.

Embarking on the journey of becoming a people leader requires a profound realization—an understanding that your identity is about to undergo a significant transformation. This realization can be particularly challenging for those transitioning from a specialist background, as they navigate the shift from focusing on individual expertise to overseeing a team's performance.

Before diving into developing new skills and capabilities, it is crucial to cultivate a clear picture of yourself—a deep sense of self-awareness. This clarity allows you to recognize and embrace the changes that will naturally occur as you progress in your leadership journey.

The process of transforming your identity is inevitable, and it is vital to observe and learn from this transformation. By doing so, you can become an effective leader who is attuned to personal growth and development. Through this introspection, you will begin to shape your own unique style of leadership—one that aligns with your values, strengths, and aspirations.

The Identity Crisis

For some people leadership maybe is just the natural next step following an education that was pursued or when starting a career, but for others that career choice might not be obvious from the onset. I have met several specialists within engineering that were faced with the dilemma of choosing a career path between specialist or management or when to switch from specialists or project management roles towards people leadership. It is not an easy decision, and what it makes it difficult is this identity crisis that takes place, which can cause frustration and confusion. 

In the engineering field, starting with education, all the different major fields such as electrical, mechanical, civil, architecture engineering, etc. are preparing and shaping our thinking as very good specialists. There is little curriculum within management and in general, the most known option for such management education is only through the continuation after the engineering studies through an MBA. This heavy track of specialization makes it very difficult to create a more generalist profile, a more holistic profile, let alone a people leader profile. At the same time, engineering is a field that requires specialization, and it can not be otherwise.

So when you start a career as a specialist and keep developing in this role for some years, even for many years, then when and if you sense that you would like to try to move towards leadership, there is a fundamental change that has to take place. The way you have to build your experience and approach to work, how you interact, the dynamics with your colleagues, and in general your work life is about to change. You need to rewire your approach in the subjects and learn to think with the big picture in mind. A good analogy is to think that before you might have been the one that had all the right answers, now you are the one that should have the right questions.

Take a moment to let this fundamental change in your role and identity become clear within you, as it is a first step in being self-aware of how people leadership resonates with your inner values.  Try to imagine that you are a people leader, that you have and act in this new role in your professional life. Start to see this identity change and understand if this is something that comes from within you or not.

Leadership & Management

Leadership and Management are two very different things. It is good to understand the difference in these two terms as both are important and they contemplate each other.

As a people leader, Leadership comes first and calls for creativity and authenticity. It is about the ability to see and imagine the end and anchor the overall terrain you envision on sound principles. It is like the "Axioms" in the ancient Greek philosophy of mathematics. Once you have in your minds' eye the image of the solution, the desired result, the overall terrain, then you start creating the map. In short, leadership comes first because it addresses the overall Why of any endeavor you are about to embark on, it is the source of motivation and inspiration for anything else that should follow.

Once you have this overall Vision in place, it is from that point and onwards that management skills can come into the plain, on how to explore the map, how to move effectively and efficiently, de-route or progress that will come into play. In this sense, management comes afterward, because unless you have found the right terrain, even if you are the most effective manager then all the effort and results will be in vain if you are not moving in the right path.

This is also to say that being a good project manager or good at completing engineering projects does not make you automatically a good people leader, even if you have worked in large project teams. There is no doubt that you might have developed strong skills in management but that will not be the same of being a good people leader.

Leadership calls for creativity, Management calls for execution

Starting on a personal level, when you consider leadership you need to have a clear understanding of what are the things you want to accomplish (have you found the right terrain?). Once this is clear then you can enter into the management on how you can most effectively accomplish these certain things. 

In a corporate environment to lead might become a challenging task as typically most of the activities are seen from a  management context. It is important to remind yourself from time to time of this difference so you do not end up neglecting this overall direction and purpose you try to pursue. It is important that you clarify your values before pursuing achieving your goals.

This series of articles have been prepared to support your journey towards leadership.