The numbers don’t lie: teams that mishandle the move from individual contributor to engineering or manufacturing team leader see measurable drops in engagement and output. If you’ve felt the pain of unclear expectations, shifting decision criteria, or a lack of support during this transition, you’re in good company. Identifying these pain points and finding champions within your organization can make all the difference. In this edition of, “Engineering 365” we’re celebrating our 80th article with some exclusive insights brought to you courtesy of several conversations with manufacturing leaders over the last 9 months. Let’s explore why promoting technical experts into leadership roles often fails—and what successful companies and teams do differently.
Gallup data reveals 70% of team engagement stems from the manager
The Core Challenge: Technical Excellence ≠ Leadership Readiness
The Communication Gap As one engineering manager candidly shared, “some of those engineering people became engineers because they don’t have a lot of personality.” While, I do not personally believe this to be true, it is still an industry-wide misperception of “engineering types”. The very traits that make someone an exceptional engineer—deep focus, analytical thinking, preference for systems over people—can become obstacles in leadership roles that require constant human interaction and communication.
The “Weeds” Problem Technical leaders struggle to “step out of the weeds without losing that knowledge.” They often continue doing the technical work they’re comfortable with rather than focusing on strategic leadership responsibilities, creating bottlenecks and limiting team growth.
McKinsey research shows 27-46% of technical leadership transitions fail within 2 years
The 5 Critical Transition Challenges
1. Mindset Shift: From Perfection to Progress
The Challenge: Engineers are trained for precision and perfection. One aerospace company had to help their team transition “from purist engineering to meeting requirements and deadlines” when pivoting from R&D to commercial projects.
What Goes Wrong: New technical leaders often get stuck trying to perfect every detail instead of making strategic decisions and moving projects forward.
The Solution: Establish clear “good enough” criteria and decision-making frameworks that help technical leaders understand when to stop optimizing and start executing.
2. People Management: The Human Element
The Challenge: Technical people often prefer working with systems and data rather than managing personalities, emotions, and interpersonal dynamics.
What Goes Wrong: They struggle with difficult conversations, performance management, and motivating team members who aren’t self-directed.
The Solution: One successful HR leader emphasized finding people who can “bridge both worlds”—technical competence combined with strong interpersonal skills. Rather than forcing pure technicians into people management, identify those rare individuals who naturally excel at both.
3. Strategic Thinking vs. Tactical Execution
The Challenge: Moving from “how do we solve this technical problem” to “what problems should we be solving and why.”
What Goes Wrong: Technical leaders often focus on immediate technical challenges rather than long-term strategic planning and resource allocation.
The Solution: Create structured strategic planning processes and pair new technical leaders with experienced business mentors who can help them develop strategic thinking skills.
4. Communication Across Functions
The Challenge: Technical leaders must translate complex engineering concepts for non-technical stakeholders while also communicating business priorities back to their technical teams.
What Goes Wrong: They either over-explain technical details to business stakeholders or under-communicate the business context to their engineering teams.
The Solution: Implement regular cross-functional communication protocols and train technical leaders in “translation” skills—how to communicate the same information differently to different audiences.
5. Delegation and Trust
The Challenge: High-performing individual contributors are used to controlling quality by doing the work themselves.
What Goes Wrong: They become bottlenecks, burning out while their team members remain underdeveloped.
The Solution: Create structured delegation frameworks with clear checkpoints and quality gates that allow technical leaders to maintain oversight without micromanaging.
What Successful Companies Do Instead
The “Bridge Builder” Strategy
Rather than automatically promoting the best technical person, successful companies identify individuals who naturally “bridge both worlds.” These are people who combine technical credibility with genuine interest in developing others and driving business outcomes.
The Gradual Transition Approach
One HR leader described successfully managing cultural change by “understanding and addressing the motivations of each individual team member.” Instead of throwing technical experts into full leadership roles, create progression paths that gradually increase leadership responsibilities while maintaining technical involvement.
The Dual-Track Career Path
Recognize that not every great engineer should become a manager. Create senior technical roles (Principal Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer lll or lV, etc.) that provide career advancement without requiring people management responsibilities.
The Mentorship Model
Pair new technical leaders with experienced managers who can provide guidance on the non-technical aspects of leadership while the technical leader maintains their domain expertise.
What I’ve Observed
The most successful manufacturing and engineering orgs don’t just promote their best technical people. They strategically identify those rare individuals who have both technical credibility and natural leadership abilities. For everyone else, they create alternative paths for career growth that leverage technical expertise without forcing uncomfortable transitions into people management. As one seasoned HR professional noted, the key is “building relationships with employees and focusing on strategic planning” rather than assuming technical competence automatically translates to leadership success. The companies that get this right don’t just avoid the costs of failed leadership transitions—they create stronger technical teams led by people who genuinely want to develop others and drive business results.
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