Leading a Team of Senior Engineers
A how-to guide for creating a collaborative and supportive culture
When I became a manager, I experienced fear and self-doubt, which made me question my capabilities of leading an engineering team.
But partnering with my team members helped me learn quickly, make the right decisions, and grow my confidence as a leader.
After a year of managing a team, I learned that you don't have to be an expert to lead. Instead, having solid experience in your team's space and a genuine interest in helping others will help you lead and care about your team members.
In this article, I will dive into how you can create a collaborative and supportive team environment with a focus on senior engineers.
Learn about the people on your team
When I received the green light to transition into a management role, I had one week to prepare.
I started by reading The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhou, where I learned the importance of truly understanding the people on your team. To begin this process, I scheduled a bi-weekly team meeting and 1:1s.
I learned that my senior engineers could handle scheduling their day-to-day but still wanted to know that I had their back, and they wanted autonomy, professional growth, and to have their input valued.
Prove that you’ll support them
While senior engineers may require less technical guidance compared to newcomers, they still rely on your support. To prove that you’ll have their back, you can take three key steps: ask questions, take appropriate action, and follow up.
What types of questions should you ask? During 1:1s, I find the following questions to be helpful:
What is the biggest challenge you’re facing this week?
Is there something you need from me that I still need to provide?
How can I help?
Senior engineers are typically self-sufficient, so their first response may not reveal areas where you can offer help. When this happens, try shifting the focus to their plan for completing specific tasks. For instance, ask about their approach to implementing a new feature or how they intend to address a particular problem.
As they respond, pay close attention; if you can offer helpful feedback or support, do it. Alternatively, note any action items for yourself and ensure you follow through on them. If they have a solid plan, let them know they did a great job putting it together.
By actively engaging with your senior engineers through thoughtful questioning, taking action versus waiting to be asked, and consistently following up on their needs, you will prove that you genuinely care about their success.
Support their career growth
To learn more about supporting my team’s growth, I read a book, Radical Candor, by Kim Scott where she shares how to care personally and challenge directly to support your team.
Her book outlines two main growth trajectories for high-performing team members: gradual and steep growth.
Gradual growth:
People who consistently exceed expectations, make incremental improvements over time, and want to avoid a promotion if it means changing their current scope.
Steep growth:
People who want to advance their skills quickly and actively seek promotion. Keep them continually challenged.
To find out which trajectory your team members are on, you need to have a conversation about their career goals.
Here are some questions to guide this conversation:
What work activities or tasks energize you?
What would you like to achieve in the next 6 to 12 months?
What motivates you to strive for these goals?
What resources or support do you believe you need to accomplish them?
After this conversation, you can work on finding opportunities that align with their growth trajectory.
Give them space to make decisions
Once you assign them an opportunity, giving them space to make decisions and support them is important because it helps them become more confident in their decision-making process. Giving your team autonomy is easier said than done, but my first manager at Amazon was great at it.
He trusted me to make decisions and provided guidance when needed. Looking back, he balanced the two by understanding my strengths and growth areas. Recognizing my expertise in networking (switches, routers, network topologies, etc.), he encouraged me to take ownership of networking-related projects. However, he offered additional support for tasks outside my usual scope.
To give your team autonomy, you should genuinely believe in their ability to make decisions and ensure they have support. So, take the time to understand their strengths, interests, and areas where they can grow.
With this understanding, you can provide them opportunities to make meaningful contributions, encourage ownership, and support their growth.
For instance, “Because you expressed interest in learning about this framework, I want you to own this particular task. Here are some important details and my expectations. Let’s sync tomorrow to address any questions you may have.”
By expressing your confidence in their capabilities and providing clear expectations and support, you encourage them to take charge of their responsibilities and share their insights with you and the team.
Collaborate with your senior engineers
Giving your team autonomy also creates a collaborative environment where people, including you, can operate independently, ask for help, and share knowledge.
I lead by example by asking my team for input when something comes up that I’m not familiar with.
For example, when our team took on new responsibilities during an org change, I learned alongside them. As new things came up, we worked together to figure it out. This process helped us find solutions and created a sense of camaraderie and trust.
Now, you may be wondering how to put this approach into practice. Here are some tips to help you collaborate with your senior engineers:
Be open and honest about not having the answer and invite your team to share their insights
Share problems with your team and incorporate their feedback into the decision or plan
Recognize and celebrate their contributions no matter how small they may seem to them
Be assertive about your decisions
Although collaboration is the best approach for making decisions, you will have to make some choices without consulting your team. Either because you have to decide right away, because you believe a change is necessary, or there is direction from senior leadership.
In either case, you should spend time preparing your message to your team, which can be intimidating. Some of your senior engineers may strongly disagree with a decision. But as a manager, you will have to lead your team through this change.
When you or senior leadership choose a direction, share the decision during your team meeting, remember to pause for feedback, and ask for questions.
Here’s a simple framework you can follow to prepare your message:
Clearly state the change — whether it’s a new project, feature, or process.
Explain the reasoning behind the change, including the need and goals.
Consider and communicate how the change will impact the team.
Anticipate any questions or concerns your group may have and address them upfront.
To strengthen your message, consider Christine van Wyk’s advice on choosing your words carefully. For instance, replace “I think” with “I believe,” use “will” instead of “could” when appropriate, and avoid excessive use of “only” when explaining your reasoning.
In summary
As a new engineering leader, confidently guiding your team may seem challenging, especially if you’ve recently been promoted and find yourself managing the same senior engineers who once mentored you.
However, the key lies in building trust. By genuinely caring about your team’s well-being and development, you earn your team’s permission to lead.
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Great read! From a non-manager perspective, feeling supported and valued by your manager is so important.