Here's how you can navigate the challenges of transitioning from a technical role to a managerial role.

As I transition from a technical manager to a project manager, my focus shifts to broader project oversight and team coordination. I’ll actively listen to my team to build trust, understand their needs, effectively delegate tasks to promote growth and encourage continuous learning. Decision-making agility is crucial; I’ll balance risks, anticipate trends, and adapt strategies to meet project goals. Establishing regular feedback loops and fostering open communication are essential for alignment. I will utilize agile methodologies for efficient project management, ensuring flexibility and promoting a culture of innovation and professional growth.

Transitioning from a technical role to management requires embracing continuous learning. Expand your knowledge base by seeking mentorship, attending workshops, and studying management techniques. Building a solid foundation will help you lead effectively in your new role.

One approach I've found helpful is to be flexible in the approach to management in general. Adapting to each team member's unique needs from a manager can really expedite the relationship building phase. Starting out by asking the right questions of our team members; such as how they like to receive feedback, what level of support they require, what's an ideal meeting cadence or agenda; can help managers adjust their approach and style to meet the unique needs of team members.

The transition can surely be difficult but it can be leveraged with a good network and great advices from them. Hence, focus on building new relations, connect with professionals who have been working in the managerial field for years and engage in meaningful conversations with them. Moreover, when you are connecting with your own team, focus on forming good bonds with them as well. Know your team members, their talents, experience, weaknesses and strengths and be open to them about your work transition as well This helps in forming relations of mutual trust and confidence and such that both the ends can learn from each other's skills :)

The topmost duty of a manager is to communicate clearly. Just like quick communication and decision making is required when technical issues arises, in the same way, a transparent conversation and presence of mind is essential for being a manager. Explain the roles, task details, expectations of the project, etc, effectively to the team members and frequently ask them if they have any doubts or queries to raise. Be an active listener, empathise with their concerns and give everyone the chance to share their opinions. At the end, remind yourself that the best way to ace this transition is to focus on efficient communication and how to handle crisis :)

As a manager, implicit delegation of roles is a necessary job for every project. It can be difficult to not be able to be an active participant in the team's technical work. But now that you are manager you have a greater task in your hand- to understanding which individual is the best for a particular task. Understand and analyse the skills and previous experience of each member. After gathering information from all the resources and compiling them, delegate the roles to your team members and explain the process of how you came to the conclusion. Make sure that you also encourage them to give their feedback and raise any concern about the roles assigned and make necessary changes :)

As technical expert, you used to manage your own time and schedule as per the project's deadlines. But as a manager, now you have manage your time well between all the meetings and sessions and to make sure that your entire team is also handling the deadline well. Put all the tasks priority-wise in your calender, set alarms for the same, take regular meetings with your team to keep a check on their progress and make sure to be there if they need your guidance. In all these busy time-tables, do take necessary breaks to relax, reflect and regain energy to handle all the team members :)

You must have noticed in your technical role, how you were always advised to keep yourself engaged in learning to have a good skill set. Now as a manager, you need to do exactly the same to your team members. Encourage them to take courses, arrange interesting workshops, talk sessions and any other fun way to make them learn new skills. Infact, motivate your team members to come up with suggestions of any new strategy that they need to be equipped with or any new technology they need to understand and work on offering the best resources to them, for the same. At the end, take a moment to appreciate their efforts and keep small rewards for the ones who puts in extra time for accomplishing better results :)

You have been chosen as a result of your technical not your managerial skills so you need to stop “doing” before you can start “becoming” a leader. You need to stop being the best technical person even if you are. Leave that to your team. Stop solving problems - leave that to your team. Stop shining - leave that to your team. Stop taking care of the business and start to take care of the people that take care of the business. They don’t need you to be better than them - they need to know you got their back - always!

The transition from technical role to management is a much bigger shift than most of us think. It requires an inner shift in your identity. The transition requires more than acquisition of the skills listed above. It requires inner work to see yourself differently. I recommend executive coaching by someone skilled in helping people shift their paradigms.

I remember fondly one of my mentors who showed me how to let go. At that time I didn’t understand why he did what he did when he remarked that I was “a fantastic engineer but will be lousy manager if promoted ”. I always had a fear that if I don’t do the job personally it will be screwed up and that I have to do everything so that it’s perfect. Thanks to him I learned to be a manager by letting go and accepting the little flaws…