Why Managers Fail, and Leaders Succeed

Welcome to Leading Engineers - a weekly newsletter specifically for engineering leaders who want to increase your impact at every level of the organization.? Each week you’ll gain powerful strategies, techniques, and insights for driving your team, company, and career forward!

This week's topic: Why Managers Fail, and Leaders Succeed

Would you describe yourself as a manager - or a leader?

My first boss was an engineering manager - he was a great engineer, but a terrible leader.

Whenever you’d go to him for help, the conversation always felt rushed - almost like when you’re at a doctor’s appointment

He’d quickly force-feed the answer before you even finished asking the question. And if you were still unclear, he wouldn’t take the time to explain the process or the reasoning behind his answer

He’d say something like…

“I’ll just do it myself. It’s faster that way.”

His intentions were noble, but taking on all this extra work on a regular basis created a catch-22 that stunted his professional growth and prevented him from scaling up in his role.

Eventually, the team stopped going to him for help and instead - they started coming to me.

I wasn’t their manager, I only had a fraction of the experience as my boss, and I didn’t have all the answers - but I didn’t need to.

Instead of talking at the other person and racing to the solution, I focused on understanding what they actually wanted help with - by listening and asking follow-up questions.

In most cases, people didn’t want the answer.?

Like any engineer, they wanted to figure out the problem on their own - but they needed help getting un-stuck.

Most times they already knew the answer - they just needed someone to soundboard their ideas off of, help them connect the dots, or show them different ways to approach their problem.

As people continued seeking my help, I developed air-tight relationships with everyone on the team. More importantly, I was building my reputation as a leader - but I didn’t even realize it until this moment…

One of the engineers didn’t agree with the direction he got from our boss, so he came to me:

“Hey Doug, (our boss) told me to design the connections this way - but that doesn’t seem right.

What do you think?”

After talking it through, I agreed that our boss’s direction was wrong - and here’s how the engineer responded:

“Honestly, I knew it was wrong before I came over here. But here’s what I really want your help with…

I want to do this the right way, but how do I tell (boss) that I disagree with his direction without getting him upset?”

In that moment, I realized that I was a leader without being a manager - and I also recognized the subtle differences between the two.

Managers:

• Give orders and expect others to follow
• Tell people the answer, move on
• Are focused on checking things off the list
• Micromanage to stay on top of things
• Rely on authority, order, and cooperation

Leaders:

• Ask, listen, and seek input
• Show people how to solve the problem on their own
• Are focused on growing your people
• Motivate your team to take ownership
• Leverage influence to establish trust and gain buy-in

My boss was a manager, but he wasn’t a leader.

I was a leader, but I wasn’t a manager.

And now that you know the difference between the two, I have a question for you…

When you take a look at your current style, are you more of a manager - or a leader?

And which one do you want to be?

If you’re unsure, or if you’re currently leaning more towards manager, that’s OK!

But if you want to be a leader, you NEED to know how to influence people without using authority - this is the key to increasing your impact.

Quantifying and learning this skill on your own can be difficult - but there’s a very simple framework you can use to influence all types of people…

If you want to learn how to influence people in any direction, check out the replay of my FREE 1 hour mini-masterclass from last week.

Here’s a link to access the masterclass recording - CLICK HERE

You’ll learn how to use this framework to influence upward, downward, and cross-functionally - with specific examples that you can put into action right away!

- Doug Howard PE

PS - Do you want to level-up your leadership skills ASAP?? Check out my Leadership Accelerator for Engineers program! CLICK HERE to learn more