How to Grow From Individual Contributor to Leader

Research & Sources / Personal & Career Development

Imagine the best violinist in an orchestra is suddenly asked to conduct. They know the music perfectly. But now they have no violin in their hands. Their job is no longer to play beautifully, but to help sixty other people play beautifully together. Many great individual contributors struggle with exactly this change.

Why the best expert is not always the best leader

Alan Benson, Danielle Li and Kelly Shue studied promotions in sales organisations. Companies tended to promote their best salespeople into management. But the teams of these top sellers often performed worse after the promotion.¹ Being excellent at the job and being excellent at leading the people who do the job are different skills.

That is not a reason not to promote experts. It is a reason to prepare them for a very different job.

What really changes

Linda Hill of Harvard Business School followed new managers through their first year. She found that most of them underestimated how much their identity had to change: from being the person who does the work to the person who gets work done through others.²

• Success is measured differently. Not by your own output, but by your team’s.
• Your day looks different. More conversations, fewer finished tasks.
• Your relationships change. Former peers now report to you.
• Feedback slows down. You rarely know if you are doing well.

The temptation to keep playing

When things get stressful, new leaders often reach for their old instrument. They do the work themselves because it is faster and they are good at it. In the short term it helps. In the long term, the team learns to wait for them, and the leader becomes overloaded.

What good leaders do differently

Google’s research on great managers found that effective managers coach, empower without micromanaging, communicate clearly and support career development. Technical skill mattered, but it was only one of many behaviours.³

• Spend time with each person regularly, not only when there is a problem.
• Ask questions before giving answers.
• Set clear expectations and then let people work.
• Celebrate the team’s results, not your own contributions.

Making the shift

Accept that it feels worse at first. Most new leaders feel less competent for a while. That is normal.

Find support. A mentor who has made the same transition helps a lot. Research shows mentoring improves career satisfaction and commitment.⁴

Learn the new craft deliberately. Leading is a skill like any other. It improves with practice and feedback.

What this means for you this week

• Count how many hours you spent doing work your team could do.
• Hold one-to-ones with each team member, even short ones.
• Hand over one task you love doing yourself.
• Ask your team: “What could I do to make your work easier?”

Put the violin down for a moment. The orchestra is waiting for your baton.

Sources

1. Benson, A., Li, D. & Shue, K. (2019). Promotions and the Peter Principle. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(4), 2085-2134. doi.orgTop salespeople were more likely to be promoted to manager, and their teams then performed worse: being good at the job is not the same as being good at leading it.
2. Hill, L. A. (2007). Becoming the Boss. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgNew managers underestimate how much their identity has to change: from doing the work to getting work done through others.
3. Google re:Work. Following the data: The research behind great managers (Project Oxygen). rework.withgoogle.comBehaviours of Google’s most effective managers: coaching, empowering, communicating, a clear vision; technical skill is only one of them.
4. Allen, T. D., Eby, L. T., Poteet, M. L., Lentz, E. & Lima, L. (2004). Career benefits associated with mentoring for protégés: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), 127-136. doi.orgMentored people report more career satisfaction and commitment; effects on pay and promotion are positive but small.