Image by author

From Individual Contributor to Lead: Balancing Leadership and Hands-On Execution

How to balance guiding your team with rolling up your sleeves

Introduction

Imagine this: you’ve spent years perfecting your craft, becoming the go-to person for solving tough problems, and delivering results with precision. Then one day, everything changes. You’re not just responsible for your work anymore; you’re tasked with guiding a team and executing critical projects yourself.

Welcome to being a “Lead” — a role that demands both leadership finesse and technical prowess.

For non-paying readers, you may use this link to read the entire article for free.

This dual responsibility can feel like walking a tightrope. Your team may be inexperienced, needing mentorship and coaching to grow, while your own deliverables pile up.

“Your own deliverables pile up”

That last bit is probably the part that’s least talked about when ICs (individual contributors) get promoted to senior/lead role. It’s not just about being asked to lead a set of people and being asked to tackle a more complex problem — the hard part is that you’re being expected to deliver “on both side at the same time” (which is not what the typical people manager needs to do).