How to Support Engineers in New Leadership Roles

I’ll never forget when I saw a newly promoted engineer (let’s call him Joe) make a mistake in his first leadership role.

It was his first time running a big meeting since his promotion, and Joe, who had always been open about the frustrations he occasionally encountered in his work, shared some of those concerns with the group. However, what he didn’t realize was that, as a leader, his words now carried much more weight. What had once been taken as casual venting among peers was now interpreted as official department policy—simply because Joe wasn’t fully aware of the new responsibilities and expectations that came with his new title.

As a team leader in the engineering field for more than fifteen years, I remember how exciting (and daunting) it is to step into a leadership role for the first time. It’s a moment to prove you have what it takes to help the team succeed. But if you aren’t prepared like Joe wasn’t, it could also amplify mistakes in front of the people you respect most.

Unfortunately, plenty of people take this step feeling unequipped for the role. According to the Center for Creative Leadership: 

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Having a mentor help you along the way can make all the difference. An experienced leader can offer direction, support, and even help problem-solve along the way. I certainly wouldn’t have achieved what I have as a leader without the sage advice of my current and former bosses.

I’ve also had the privilege of helping others on my team grow into their first-time leadership roles. As more engineers step into these positions for the first time, here are three key lessons for mentors to set new leaders up for success.

Help these new leaders adjust to new expectations and relationships

One of the most essential lessons for new leaders is that the rules and expectations couldn’t be more different with this added responsibility. It’s certainly a lesson that would have saved Joe from learning a lesson the hard way.

For many, however, this isn’t intuitive. When an employee takes on a new role on the same team, you might think they know what the team needs. After all, they’ve been working with these colleagues for years. 

Yet supervising people you already know can be one of the toughest challenges for a new leader. New-found authority can change a person’s relationship with colleagues in uncomfortable ways, and just because they were already on the team doesn’t mean they were privy to all the behind-the-scenes dynamics that are now their responsibility.

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At this pivotal intersection, it’s important to help an employee understand how—and why—this role is different from the ones they’ve held previously. Namely, that they’ll be evaluated differently, with new metrics and benchmarks for success. As a front-line employee, their success was measured by individual performance. As a leader, their success is all about how the team performs, which requires a radical change in perspective. They’ll also face new expectations (sometimes unspoken) about discretion, responsiveness, and office etiquette, as Joe found out the hard way. 

Sharing best practices and templates for managing a busier calendar, demanding client correspondence, employee benchmarking, and other new responsibilities is critical during this transition. Even providing common HR resources and letting them shadow you during client meetings can have big benefits. Most strong companies have great HR job aids for leadership, but unfortunately some never see them until they’re already experienced leaders.

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Show them new responsibilities require different skillsets

Knowing how to ride a bike doesn’t mean you can repair one. The same applies to engineering a project and leading a team—experience doing one doesn’t mean you’re equipped to do the other. 

For instance, engineers who easily understand what’s happening technically on a client project may struggle when faced with managing an underperforming supervisee or smoothing over tension between two engineers who don’t get along. 

Before entering that employee discussion, they should ask themselves, “Do I have the right mindset to deal with this situation at the personal level?” I often repeat the mantra “people are not projects” (borrowed from a previous mentor) before I enter any charged interpersonal discussions.

In fact, our managing director always reminds leaders to “separate the job from the role.” While the job may be black and white, the role of a leader is more nuanced. A leader should put the team above self. Be empathetic, not sympathetic. Coach, rather than tell. Lead instead of direct.

Offering a new leader tips on how to manage interpersonal challenges, delegate appropriately, and excel in both the job and the role can help them earn and keep their team’s respect as they embark on a new leadership journey.

Encourage them to be open to learning new things

Even someone who appears to be a “natural” leader still needs coaching. The reality is that leadership isn’t an instinct or personality trait. No one is born a perfect leader—rather, it’s a skill that develops over time through mentorship, observation, and formal instruction. 

Even just sharing a list of books that have helped you as a leader can prove useful. For example, our Power Delivery Engineering management team is challenged to reflect on and live by the insights of books like What Color Is Your Parachute? By Richard N. Bolles, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

I also encourage mentees to take advantage of engineering leadership training programs. While most companies offer such leadership development programs, they often fall by the wayside for new leaders either because they feel they don’t have the time or doubt its usefulness. A little nudging can help them see the value these programs hold. I’m grateful to my company and leaders for seeing the value in leadership training and proactively recommending sessions they think I would benefit from. They’ve always included lessons that were right on time.

New leaders need strong mentorship to increase their self-awareness and, in turn, properly develop themselves. Ultimately, the most successful leaders are those who know that engineering leadership development is a never-ending journey. Let’s help each other along the way.