After 5+ years working as a solo docs writer, I recently spent 8 months as a team lead before being promoted to manager. Though I was only leading one person, the challenge of scaling our docs processes from being suited to a solo docs writer to working for a team – and of balancing continued IC work with my leadership growth – was (and still is) daunting.
The role was a weird limbo between lead and IC (individual contributor) work, where not all of the management advice was relevant, though there were some principles I was able to apply to my situation to make it work. In case you end up in the same scenario, here’s what helped me along the way.
Tip #1: Review popular leadership & communication frameworks
Prior to my promotion to lead, I prepared for the management track by reading up on some of the most popular leadership and communication frameworks. This helped inform the leadership and communication style I wanted to cultivate within myself.
Something important I want to say here is that you don’t need to lead exactly like anyone else. There are a variety of different leadership and communication styles out there. As long as you figure out what works to help you be the most effective leader you can, take what you like and lead the rest.
Here are some of the frameworks that helped shape my leadership and communication style:
Crucial Conversations – This is a framework for navigating some of the most difficult and important conversations you’ll ever have. I’ve applied it to every single tough conversation I’ve had since reading it. It’s been invaluable for allowing me to dismantle my own assumptions before I let them out as ill-fated words, and to better navigate uncomfortable moments to keep difficult conversations on track.
Radical Candor – Though I found the book to be poorly edited and difficult to get through, the framework itself is useful, particularly for making the case for why certain common leadership traits do more harm then good (ex. being fake nice). It also offers a lot of helpful tactile advice, such as how to run an effective meeting, and types of meetings that are useful vs. ones that are not.
Multipliers – Without giving anything away, the multiplier is the type of leader I wish every major organization had at the helm. This book breaks down methods of leadership that actually bring out the best in people and inspire them, as opposed to simply scaring or subduing them into doing the minimum to not get fired. Doing an honest assessment of your own habits and beliefs against the multiplier scale is a great way to figure out where you need to grow.
You’re Not Listening – The title is as impactful as the book itself. It hurt in how honest it was about how terrible we all are at listening to one another (including listening to ourselves). But it also offered constructive guidance on how to get yourself out of that and into being a decent listener. I still think about and apply the tips from this book all the time in so many aspects of my life.
The Four Agreements – Though technically not a management book, the advice in this book on being a good human being is relevant to both ICs and leaders. I highly recommend this book, or at least a review of the four agreements, to everyone.
There are an infinite amount of books and resources like these, so try to narrow your scope based on what speaks to you. Also, try to get this type of wisdom early on (ideally, before you’re even promoted). This gives you time to start strengthening your lead muscles before you’re thrown into it.
Tip #2: Find a mentor (or two!)
Having more experienced managers who you can turn to for all things – whether it’s perspective on your leadership style, tactile advice on how to write a message, or anything else – is invaluable. There’s nothing like direct feedback from someone whose already been down the same path.
In my case, I sought out a mentor who was in the same type of management as me (managing writers) and also a manager from an entirely different team (People Ops). This gave me a lot of different perspective on how to approach things. I also sought out one-off coffee chats from managers I looked up to, both at Heap and at other companies. I kept a book of notes (like the documentarian I am) to keep their wisdom with me.
It may feel uncomfortable to ask someone to mentor you, though you have to push yourself to do it. Remember, people love to be flattered, and asking for mentorship is you saying you look up to them and want to learn from them. The worst that can happen is they say no!
Tip #3: Connect with other team leads
Another great support system if your fellow team leads. In my case, there weren’t any other docs writing team leads at Heap, though I was able to connect with some via Write The Docs and other communities. However, there were leads in different teams I was able to share my struggles with who could relate and who had helpful advice for getting through it.
Hearing how they handled their role helped ease the stress of it all and gave me useful advice to apply to my own. It also helped me get past the impostor syndrome of the role by realizing the struggle I was experiencing was pretty normal for newbie leads.
Tip #4: Get good at calendar tetris
Ahh, the wonderful life of an individual contributor, with all the focus time in the world…
Though I knew the transition to lead would come with more meetings, what didn’t fully resonate was the new way in which I had to engage with meetings. The vast majority of my meetings were lead by me, or were meetings in which I had to represent a whole team as opposed to just myself. Every meeting, I was challenged to bring the best of my ability to be an active listener, think critically, and be quick on my feet when disagreements arose, more then I ever had before.
My first month of this, I was constantly exhausted. I didn’t have the energy for fulfilling hobbies in the evenings. I found myself feeling burned out by meeting #2 in a day with 5-6 meetings on my calendar. I’m not going to lie, I struggled a lot.
What got me through it, to the point where my lead muscles had developed enough to handle the new meeting load, was learning to thoughtfully block off my calendar so that I could manage all these meetings.
Some ways of accomplishing this:
Block off time to prepare for your day/week. I now have repeating ‘week start’, ‘daily planning’, ‘daily wrap-up’ and ‘weekly wrap-up’ calendar events. These are sacred times during which I get to set myself up to use the time I have in that day as effectively as I can.
Try to start all of your meetings at the :05 mark. There’s a Google calendar setting that will automatically schedule your meetings with a 5-minute buffer. This gives you time to breathe between calls. Some of my colleagues noticed this, loved it, and ended up adapting it themselves. Let’s all normalize meetings starting at :05!
Take 5 mins to mentally prepare for each and every meeting. I’ve found this so useful in so many ways. Depending on the nature of the meeting, I’ll spend this time reviewing the questions I plan to ask, setting up my screen to be shared, or just taking a moment to unwind from my last call and formulate my mindset for the next one. I always remind myself what my goal is for the meeting and what my key takeaways are, even if it’s just an informal get-to-know-you coffee chat.
Prioritize some focus blocks. It’s dangerously easy for your schedule to get eaten up by meetings to the point where you have nothing but sporadic 30-minute windows to complete follow-up tasks from your meetings. Use extensions like Clockwise to automatically make space for focus time. I’ve found having at least 3 3-hour or 4 2-hour focus blocks helps me get stuff done.
Tip #5: Tailor your leadership to who you’re leading
It’s easy to get caught up in leadership philosophies and rhetoric and forget that at the end of the day, all that matters is that your direct reports feel supported to do their best work. The way this happens will vary based on who you manage.
The best way to figure this out is simply to ask. Some useful questions for gauging this that one of my mentors shared:
What is your preferred time frame for calls? (morning, afternoon, certain days, etc.). Meeting people where they’re at when they want to be met with is the best!
How do you prefer to collaborate? Some people love to jump on a call and power through work together, while others prefer to work on their own and share feedback asynchronously.
How do you like to receive feedback? This is a big one. Some people prefer feedback given to them directly on a call, where they can read the tone of voice and make it a conversation. Others prefer to receive it in writing so they can digest it and follow up.
Remind them that there is no real “wrong” answer to any of these, and ALWAYS FOLLOW THROUGH on what they say. Don’t have them tell you that they prefer afternoon meetings, then continually schedule morning ones! That just makes people feel dismissed. It won’t matter that you asked if you don’t listen and follow through.
I’m happy to say I successfully made it through my time as lead, and earned my promotion to manager in May 2022. I’m still on that journey today, and plan to share more learnings down the road.
In the meantime, if there’s leadership advice that’s been particularly helpful for you, or a framework you’d recommend, please share it with me.