Transitioning to a director role involves aligning team vision and connecting with broader company goals.
Success as a director requires a genuine belief in effective leadership, strong management fundamentals, and mentorship support.
Deep dives
Transitioning from Manager to Director
Moving from a manager role to a director position involves a considerable shift in responsibilities. The primary distinction lies in transitioning from overseeing individual contributors to managing other managers. Directors face new challenges such as setting and aligning the team's vision, resolving high-level team obstacles, and connecting the team with the broader company goals. This shift often poses difficulties for individuals, with a notable failure rate for those navigating the transition.
Misconceptions about Director Roles
One common misconception about transitioning to a director role is the belief that it entails more control. However, directors often find themselves with added responsibilities and reduced autonomy due to the need for alignment across various organizational levels. Focusing solely on internal team dynamics without engaging with other company functions can lead to negative outcomes, emphasizing the importance of understanding the broader leadership scope.
Motivation and Skills for Director Success
A critical aspect of succeeding as a director is understanding the underlying motivation for pursuing such a career path. Rather than seeking power or titles, thriving in a director role necessitates a genuine belief in the transformative impact of effective leadership. Essential skills for directors include strong management fundamentals, adept delegation, effective communication, and the ability to provide constructive feedback to team members.
Support and Evaluation for Director Development
For organizations and higher leadership levels, supporting new directors through mentorship, training, and clear expectations is crucial. Identifying struggling directors early on and offering guidance, feedback, and adjustment opportunities can enhance their chances of success. Encouraging self-awareness, seeking feedback, and fostering personal growth are key elements in nurturing effective leadership transitions.
Interview with Mike Seavers, VP of Online Development at Epic Games about becoming a manager of managers. He talks about his hardships as a new director, he tells the story of overcoming them, and shares other stories about coaching other leaders to turn them into great directors.
Differences between managing ICs and managing managers
Story of transitioning from manager to director
Necessary skills to managing managers
Common mistakes of new directors
Warning signs for new directors
Choosing from director candidates
Support from executive leaders to new directors
Story of coaching a director new to managing managers
Bonus advice to managing managers
Excerpt from the interview:
"I first became a director and started managing managers about 17 years ago. My team consisted of five sub-teams, about 50 people combined, and I had six or seven managers reporting to me. We were going through an Agile transformation.
I spent all my time focusing internally, working with my team. I attended stand-ups, we were teaching Scrum and we were introducing new tooling to manage the Agile process. We changed our release method and other internal processes.
I was proud of what we managed to accomplish, but when it came time for performance reviews, I received the worst review of my career. My peers and everyone around me outside my team said in their feedback that they had no relationship with me. They didn’t know what I was doing, they just saw me making changes in engineering without involving the leaders of the project management team, the release management team, or the QA team."
