Are you an effective manager/leader?
Most of us have experienced at some point how someone (or yourself) with outstanding tech skills became a manager. In the tech industry, it’s a common scenario.
Sometimes this doesn’t work out very well. Even with good intentions and hard work, everything can go awry because dealing with people is complex. Maybe you approached this problem like a technical one, with trial and error. But every time a manager makes a mistake is on her direct report’s back. Not cool.
Emotional intelligence is what allows you to deal with this complexity. First, by becoming aware of your emotions and second, by managing them effectively so you can better understand and interact with others.
Every person has beliefs and perspectives, wants and desires, hopes and vulnerabilities, just like you and me.
“There is no team without trust”, says https://hbr.org/2017/08/high-performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-create-it. If managers fail to build a physiological safe space, then engagement and performance decrease. After a while, this could only lead to disengagement and eventually to burnout.
Tell me IH, what experiences do you have on this topic? How are you currently dealing with this issue?
"Don't think that because you are at the top you can boss others around. Be very clear about what you have decided to do and what you ask others to do and take full responsibility for it. Scolding subordinates and looking for people to blame for problems - seeking scapegoats - is useless and counterproductive. The proper thing to do is to make use of the motivations that you share with people to accomplish something that will be to the advantage of both - win-win scenerios."
-akio morita