Why Do Technical Experts Struggle When They Become People Leaders?
Technical expertise often earns someone a promotion. But without leadership training, they’re often not adequately prepared for a management role.
They can find this disconcerting at best and frustrating at worst.
The goal has changed.
When a high-performing specialist steps into management, success no longer depends primarily on their own technical performance. It depends on the performance of their team.
To help the team succeed, they suddenly need to communicate clearly, delegate to others, make decisions, manage performance and team culture, and carry out far more admin and documenting duties.
It’s like a different world, yet within their familiar one. Why this struggle?
There’s a good reason – and one we come across so often when talking with participants at our management courses.
You may be promoting an experienced technical expert because they know the work inside out. It makes sense at first. Whichever sector they work in – manufacturing, healthcare, construction, finance, engineering or technology etc – that experience brings enormous value.
However, leading people requires a different set of skills – and many new managers receive little preparation before taking on those responsibilities.
The good news is that leadership skills can be developed. With the right support, technical experts can become confident, capable people leaders without losing the strengths that made them successful in the first place.
How To Support Managers Who Have Never Had Proper Training
The best way to support new managers is to provide structured leadership and management development before poor habits affect your revenue.
This is the crucial transition to be made:
Technical specialists usually build their careers by solving complex problems, producing accurate work, or becoming trusted experts in their field.
Management shifts the focus completely. Instead of delivering results personally, managers achieve results through other people.
That change can feel uncomfortable.
A laboratory scientist who has spent years perfecting analytical methods suddenly needs to motivate a team.
An experienced quantity surveyor must now handle both performance concerns and commercial decisions.
A cybersecurity specialist who once focused on technical solutions now has to spend much of the day setting priorities and managing competing demands.
How to support new managers
New managers need leadership training to help them adjust their usual behaviours and:
- Start allowing others to solve problems themselves
- Undertake difficult conversations and handle them constructively
- Focus on people issues and team culture for success
- Learn how to address the new requirements under changes to UK employment legislation
Good leadership training helps your new managers develop all necessary practical skills in communication, emotional intelligence, coaching, performance management and decision-making.
It also helps them understand that leading people requires a different mindset as well as new skills.
You can introduce management courses after your new manager has already taken on responsibility for leading people. But earlier preparation often produces better results.
Later we’ll discuss ways you can avoid always having to promote your technical experts to be line managers.
But first we’ll look at how to help new managers delegate.
How to Help New Managers Delegate Properly
Delegation is often a key mindset. New managers learn to delegate successfully when they understand that delegation helps the team to succeed rather than simply reducing their own workload.
Many technical experts take pride in producing high-quality work. They know the standards expected, understand the detail, and often complete tasks more quickly than anyone else.
As a result, delegation can feel risky.
Some of your new managers will worry that work won’t meet the required standard. It’s a very real concern when personal standards are high.
Others believe it will take longer to explain a task than to complete it themselves. In the short term they’re right. But they must learn to see it as an investment rather than a cost. As their team gains confidence and experience, they need less support and contribute more independently.
Learning how to delegate prevents your new manager accidentally becoming a bottleneck.
So how do you help them delegate more effectively?
Start by encouraging managers to choose appropriate tasks rather than trying to hand over everything at once.
Agree the outcome, explain the standard expected, and make it clear where people can ask for support without taking the work back at the first sign of difficulty.
Offer regular feedback and coaching. New managers need opportunities to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and how they can build confidence in their team’s abilities.
With practice, they’ll see that delegation becomes less about distributing work and more about developing capable team members.
They’ll also soon appreciate having the capacity to focus on planning, improving performance and keeping on top of their documentation!
How Can Businesses Support Technical Experts Moving Into Leadership
Businesses achieve better results when they prepare people for leadership instead of waiting until challenges appear. Support should begin before or soon after promotion.
Good leadership and management development gives your new managers the opportunity to practise conversations, receive feedback, and build confidence in situations they may not have encountered before.
They’ll also learn from experienced colleagues, reflect on real workplace situations and develop practical strategies they can apply immediately.
This kind of development opportunity is important because technical experts are already committed to your goals.
They want to succeed in their new role and continue contributing to the organisation.
But, as we’ve mentioned, what they often lack is experience in leading people rather than delivering technical work themselves.
Structured leadership training bridges that gap.
This might be bespoke training for your unique business, referring to the management problems you identify in your own situation.
It should involve training based in behavioural science to ensure learning is embedded and behaviours change.
It may also involve drama-based learning by actor-facilitators in a safe environment away from the workplace, who engage delegates by asking for suggestions and acting them out so results can be seen and discussed.
This kind of leadership training builds real-world managerial confidence and the ability to handle difficult conversations more effectively.
It also creates teams that perform well over the long term.
How to Keep a Technical Specialist Progressing Without Forcing Management
Not every outstanding technical expert wants to manage people, and you should not expect them to. Some specialists create the greatest value by continuing to deepen their expertise in various other pathways.
They can become subject matter experts (SMEs), technical advisers, project leads or trusted mentors who influence colleagues across the organisation without taking on line management responsibilities.
This is worth considering for a number of good reasons.
Providing respected technical career pathways allows you to retain valuable expertise. It recognises achievement in ways that don’t depend on managing a team.
Experienced specialists can mentor less experienced colleagues, contribute to strategic projects and share knowledge across departments. All without moving into a role that doesn’t match their strengths or career ambitions.
That said, you should identify those who do have both the interest and potential to lead people.
When management becomes a genuine career choice rather than the only route to progression, future leaders often approach the role with greater commitment and confidence.
And the bonus here?
Your investment in corporate training programmes delivers greater value because it develops people who have the interest and potential to lead, rather than those who simply followed the only available route to career progression.
Technical Expertise is Only The Starting Point
Promoting talented technical experts into management can strengthen your organisation – but promotion alone doesn’t prepare someone to lead people.
If you can recognise the difference between technical excellence and leadership capability up front, you can support both career paths successfully.
Some specialists will continue to grow as technical experts. Others will develop into confident managers who help your teams contribute effectively to overall business performance.
Keystone Helps You Develop Effective Managers From Technical Experts
Keystone Training provides practical leadership and management development that equips new and aspiring managers with the skills, confidence and behaviours they need to lead effectively.
Whether you’re looking for management courses for leaders or a bespoke leadership development programme, we work with you to build confident, capable managers.
If this feels the right approach for your organisation, please get in touch and let’s talk.
Esther Patrick is a Client Accounts Director at Keystone and a member of the Senior Leadership Team. An experienced consultant and management author, she has nearly 20 years’ experience leading client partnerships across sectors from construction to healthcare and designing leadership, culture, and team development programmes aligned with their strategic goals and values. Esther is passionate about creative, human-centred learning.
