Slides from Diana Zarnoch's webcast held on Oct 29, 2009 on Leading Technical Professionals: Description Successful businesses rely on the expertise of highly skilled employees who can be independent, rebellious, intellectually agile and insular. Typically, these smart employees move into leadership roles because of their technical expertise, not their business savvy or people skills. Many fail. Diana Zarnoch will reveal six characteristics that make expert employees more challenging to lead and present lessons learned in helping new leaders coach and inspire their expert teams to succeed instead of micro-managing them out the door!

1. Developing Smart Doers
into Smart Leaders
Avoiding the “My Way” Trap
Diana Zarnoch
Technical Talent
Practice Leader
Fraser Marlow
VP Marketing
29 October 2009

2. BlessingWhite Research
All research mentioned
in this presentation can
be downloaded from the
BlessingWhite website.
Click on ‘Research and
Articles’ on the
homepage.
A copy of the slides will
be provided after the
presentation.
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3. We will begin shortly
This session will begin at 7:00 p.m. GMT / 3:00
p.m. EST / 2:00 p.m. CST / 12:00 p.m. PST
Also: Mark your calendar for the November session!
Also: Mark your calendar for the November session!
Uncertainty's Antidote:
Uncertainty's Antidote:
Three Leadership Imperatives
Three Leadership Imperatives
19 November 2009,
19 November 2009,
Three leadership imperatives to condition the environment for
Three leadership imperatives to condition the environment for
future success & specific strategies for turning worried and
future success & specific strategies for turning worried and
unsettled employees into engaged employees.
unsettled employees into engaged employees.
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4. BlessingWhite – Who We Are
• A global leadership consulting
firm dedicated to creating
sustainable high-performance
organizations
• Aligning Organizational
Culture to Strategy
• Leadership
• Engaging Employees
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5. Housekeeping
Send a Chat message or
question to the speaker
Use emoticons to provide feedback
Speed up or Slow Down
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
Raise hand to signal a question
Session will be conducted in ‘Presentation Mode’
• Attendee lines are muted.
• Questions may be submitted via Chat
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6. Today
• Who are your “smart employees”?
• What do they want?
• What can happen when they are promoted into
leadership roles?
• What do you need them need to do?
• How can you develop “smarter” leaders?
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7. Diana Zarnoch
BlessingWhite
Consultant
&
Technical Talent
Practice Leader
7 | © 2009 BlessingWhite, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

8. Who are your
“smart employees”…
…and what do they want?
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9. Experts, highly educated and skilled
individuals
who work in a
wide variety of functional disciplines and
industries.
They have strong views
about how their work should be done
and prefer a high degree of control in how they
perform their jobs.
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10. Scientists, analysts, software developers,
engineers, mathematicians, accountants…
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11. Poll
Who are your “smart doers”? (Pick all that fit)
• Engineers
• Scientists
• Creative/Designers
• Software developers, IT specialists or programmers
• Financial analysts or mathematicians
• All of the above
• Something different than the above
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12. Needs of Smart Employees
• Achievement
• Autonomy
• Professional Identification
• Participation in Mission and Goals
• Collegial Support and Sharing
• Keeping Current
Leading Technical Professionals © BlessingWhite, Inc.
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13. Implications
“It takes deft leadership, not
supervision, to unleash and align their
energy and talents to deliver what
your organization requires.”
− Christopher Rice, “Smartest Employees Most Difficult to Manage,”
Talent Management
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14. What can happen
when they…
…become leaders?
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15. They Stay in Their Comfort Zone
… and never
quite getting
around to
leading.
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16. They Manage Everyone’s Projects
….or not!
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17. They Experience a Tug-of-War
Develop themselves or their team?
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18. They Micromanage
Because they
are still the
experts
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19. Implications of the “My Way” Trap
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20. Poll
Which trap do leaders in your organization fall into most?
• Staying in their comfort zone, not leading
• Managing everyone’s projects, not people
• Developing themselves, not their team
• Micromanaging
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21. What’s required…
…for them to lead successfully?
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22. Competing Dynamics of Leadership
Competence Connection
Business Aptitude Trustworthiness
Internal Attunement External Attunement
Clarity Depth
Responsibility Empathy
*Source: BlessingWhite 22 | © 2009 BlessingWhite, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

23. What Matters Most?
High
(6) Empathy
(5) Trustworthiness
(1) Business Aptitude PERSONAL
CONNECTION
(8) Depth
(7) External Attunement
(3) Clarity
(2) Responsibility
(4) Internal Attunement
Low
*Source: BlessingWhite 23 | © 2009 BlessingWhite, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

24. Leadership = Relationship
You cannot be a leader without followers.
Give followers:
• Community
• Authenticity
• Significance
• Excitement
Relationship trumps skills.
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25. areresultsschedule? or
is the budget?
is thedeliverables?
are desired
Delegation expected?
“What ideas do
you have?”
Sticking to the
‘what’
not the ‘how’.
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26. What can you do…
…to develop “smarter” leaders?
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27. 1. Provide Alternative Career Paths
• Professional vs. managerial track
• Development for all paths
• Tools to support career decisions
Don’t force fit for the wrong reasons.
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28. 2. Expect Them to Be Leaders & Coaches
• Define leadership and coaching for them.
• Hold them accountable – and reward them.
• Beware player/coach role assignments.
• Challenge them with fundamental leadership questions:
– What inspires you personally?
– What are you a leader for?
– Why should anyone be led by you?
What gets measured and rewarded gets done.
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29. 3. Provide Development Opportunities
• High-potential tracks
• New manager on-boarding/transition programs
• Training or stretch assignments
• Executive coaching
• Social networking
Focus on competence and connection!
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30. 4. Expect Them to Remain “Smart”
Challenge and satisfy their needs as “smart employees”:
• Achievement
• Autonomy
• Participation in mission and goals
• Collegial support and sharing
• Keeping current
• Professional identification
Engage them emotionally.
30 | © 2009 BlessingWhite, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

31. If You Remember Only 3 Things…
“Smart” leaders of “smart” employees need to:
• Be just enough of an expert to lead, not do.
• Be leaders of people, not managers of projects.
• Understand and address what makes their
teams tick.
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32. Questions? Thank You!
Diana Zarnoch
1.908.904.1000 x8162 Please give us
Please give us
your feedback!
your feedback!
dianaz@bwinc.com
Fraser Marlow Please take a minute
Please take a minute
1.908.904.1000 x8012 to complete the
to complete the
fraserm@bwinc.com evaluation in the poll
evaluation in the poll
section on the right.
section on the right.
www.blessingwhite.com
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