The number one mistake everyone makes about leadership is this: Leadership is for managers, not engineers.

False! Leadership is not just for management. Nothing could be further from the truth It drives me nuts when I hear that. Let me explain why.

Leadership is not the same as Management

A manager’s job is to make sure that his or her team delivers a product or service on time, on budget, and with the right quality. This involves a number of skills, and I would argue that one of the most important ones is leadership. That being said, leading and managing are not the same thing.

I’m sure you would agree that not all managers are good leaders. You’ve probably had managers that were brilliant in terms of their technical skill, but had the charisma of a bag of hammers. They were poor leaders. You can’t argue the fact that they’re managers, because that’s a title bestowed upon them by someone else. But true leadership isn’t a job title, it’s a set of skills that dictate how you work and act. You can’t just assign somebody leadership skills. You can assign roles, but not skills.

If you look back on who your best managers were, I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that they were great leaders. There’s definitely a link between the two. Leaders make good managers. But not all managers are leaders.

This brings me to my next point.

Lots of Leaders aren’t Managers

Given that we all have experience with managers who were not great leaders, I think it’s safe to say that it’s possible to have leaders that aren’t managers. I would surmise that most readers have experience with these kinds of people too. Maybe you’re one of these people.

If you think about the people you work with, the people you play sports with and people in your community, you’d probably run out of fingers and toes before you were done listing the names of leaders without “management” titles, so to speak. These people are the movers and shakers in their organizations. They get things done, and they motivate others to get things done as well.

The point I’m trying to make is this: management and leadership are related, but they’re not synonymous.

What Does This Have To Do With Engineering?

In short: everything. Like I said above, leaders get things done. They make things happen. To me, the link between great leadership skills and success as a front-line engineer are clear. Leaders are more productive, they help teams of people work better together, they exceed expectations.

I think this is especially important in the field of engineering. Think about it: engineers are technical gurus. That’s what they’re trained to do. They aren’t; however, trained to communicate or collaborate effectively. In some ways, engineers are too smart for their own good. All too often, an engineer will slave away at something for ages so that they can get the satisfaction of coming up with a solution, even though connecting with the guy or gal in the neighbouring cubicle would have resolved the issue a week ago. Engineering teams need leaders to help them connect the dots and fill in the gaps. They need people who can see the forest for the trees and effectively communicate technical issues and solutions to other teams and management. I would argue that those engineers who have leadership skills have  a lot to gain by putting them into practice, and their teams will be better for it.

What’s Next?

Think about the skills you have to offer. What are they? Have you been making use of them at the office, or have you shied away because you’re not a manager. This week, put one of those skills to work. Take action. When you do, share your experience in the comment section below and let us know how things went.