Can a best performing team member be elevated to Leadership/Management position automatically

Hi Wade,

Usually Senior Engineers promoted to management, and by management I mean functional management, worked as Technical Leads on various projects or work activities so they have gained some management skills during their career.

There are also senior engineers that during their career have focused entirely on performing the engineering work and they have rarely been involved in technical leadership activities. These Senior Engineers usually are not promoted to management and many of them don't even want this. Some companies elevate their salaries to management level but they remain individual contributors.

A first-line manager requires both management skills but also good technical knowledge.

In conclusion a very good performer should not automatically be promoted to management unless he also posses leadership and management skills, and these skills should be demonstrated in a technical leader role.

On the other hand poor performers should never be promoted to functional management either. It is an illusion to think that you can be the people manager for a group of technical experts in a certain line of work if you are not yourself a good technical expert in that line of work.

I agree with Wade statements

In the example the promoted engineer may have been better promoted to a more senior engineering role. You need to see the fit skills and individual aptitudes.

Adrian, your last paragraph reminds me of the Dilbert Principle:

Companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to positions which limit the amount of damage they can do (i.e. management).

Hi Stephane.

When you were promoted to a managerial position (I assume it was functional management) did you have a prior working experience as a technical expert in the same line of works as your team members?

I have worked as a contractor in many companies but I have never seen a first-line manager not to come from the same line of work as his/her direct reports. Also I have never seen someone promoted to management not working at least 5 years as an individual contributor. I know an engineering manager that had worked for 25 years as an engineer before he was promoted to management.

I am not sure about other domains, but an engineering manager usually is not considered to be a specialist in management or engineering management but an engineer who was promoted to management.

I had some related skills, Adrian. I managed a team of database administrators and data analysts. I had database development expertise.

That experience was less useful to me as a front-line manager than did my project management experience.

Thanks Stephane.

The idea is that while the best performing expert is not necessarily the best person for a managerial position, first-line managers must always come from the same line of work as their direct reports. This does not happen always but most of the times it does.

I heard a discussion in which a project manager that has managed android software development projects had applied for an android software development team manager position. When asked how she evaluated her C++ and Java software development skills she said that she had no software development experience. The interviewer was shocked and terminated the interview immediately.

The job also involved people management and some technical involvement from the part of the manager. These two things wouldn't have been possible without a software development background.

You can't hire a coach for a sports team if he/she hasn't played the game of the team or does not a have a deep technical understanding of the game.