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You will need to work on your verbal communication (most everyone need to) as it is one of the most critical aspects of being a good leader. But that doesn't m
by davismwfl 7y ago
You will need to work on your verbal communication (most everyone need to) as it is one of the most critical aspects of being a good leader. But that doesn't mean you have to be super wordy or buddies with everyone.
You do need to be able to read people's body language and understand their motivations, goals and comments even when maybe poorly communicated (this is a learned skill). Good part is generally
leading engineers is helped by having solid technical skills yourself as they will respect you more than just a people manager to start and give you more latitude.
I'd also start off with them one and one, and tell them humbly but direct that you sometimes can struggle with verbal communication and that if they see an issue or have a concern to just raise it with you so you can work on it together. Treat everyone as equals with respect and care, don't feel as the manager/leader you are above them, think of being a leader as it is your job to serve your team. If they need a bridge to accomplish their task, you build the bridge for/with them to facilitate.
You can be super successful as a leader, just takes practice and time. Be humble, honest and human and you won't have issues getting people to follow your lead. That said, do not allow people to take advantage of you, being kind and humble is important but that does not mean you are anyones doormat. :)
- BOOSTERHIDROGEN 7y agoHow do you tell difference between being used and being kind/humble ? Any references ti improve this
- artsyca 7y ago'humbly' would come from nonverbal cues, and boy oh boy you're not ready to hear the truth but sometimes it's appropriate to dress up at work
- pts_ 7y agoWhat does dressing up achieve? I mean I probably already know it but your opinion is welcome.
- artsyca 7y agoThere's no rational explanation but it's the right thing to do Computing professionals trace their roots to primarily home computing enthusiasts, academics and video game nerds all of whom seem to prefer casual dress in their professional pursuits -- Look at the people working on UNIVAC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_software#/media/File:Grace_Hopper_and_UNIVAC.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_software#/media/Fil... Do we all have so little in common with them we have to absolutely shun professional dress every day of the danged week? Nowadays a bunch of half baked adolescents in hoodies would be moving fast and breaking tubes all over the linoleum, is it a wonder there's no diversity left when all one is allowed to wear is Jeans and printed T's in order to 'fit in'? T-shirts have no place in the professional world, they're the opposite of professional The way I see it, there's a confirmation bias in place here which states 'software developers are a casual lot, to be become one I gotta be casual' Of all people software developers should be aware of the central limit theorem as applies to these sorts of heuristics and end the games already, before we're walking around in togas and flip-flops looking look ancient romans at the agora
- artsyca 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage Here's Charles Babbage -- I've worn a bowtie to the office on many occasions, are you telling me you don't harken back to this old fucker even once in your career? Go ahead and downvote me
- davismwfl 7y agoBeing humble in this reference means you put the person's/teams interest ahead of your own. The opposite for a manager is to dictate actions and take no responsibility for the outcome. A humble leader will explain what the mission is, how we can accomplish it and address each person's role with their own being the support role to make sure everyone else succeeds. Of course good leaders are doing a lot of work to make sure things succeed, but the team sees those as support to help them get to the goal. As for not being a doormat, this is the critical part, and it means you set boundaries and do not allow anyone to take advantage of you.
- jaclaz 7y ago>I'd also start off with them one and one, and tell them humbly but direct that you sometimes can struggle with verbal communication and that if they see an issue or have a concern to just raise it with you so you can work on it together. Additionally, make it clear that: 1) everyone can ask to talk to you privately anytime 2) anything said in such a conversation will remain inside the room I have seen over the years quite a few teams (in non-programming fields) have issues from what I call "public" meetings, a lot of people have difficulties in expressing themselves and their opinions when their colleagues are there, expecially when (and it often happens) there are people in the team that - no matter if rightfully or not - appear to be more brilliant or are simply more aggressive/talkative than the others.