1. The Expert as Leader
Stories from our latest research
Margi Gordon and Jonny Gifford
Roffey Park
www.roffeypark.com

2. Welcome to the Roffey Park webinar
Experts as Leaders
Margi Gordon
g Jonny Gifford
y
Director of Tailored Programmes Principal Researcher
www.roffeypark.com

3. Some of our clients
clients…

4. The Expert as Leader – agenda
 Research approach
 Stories and examples on:
– Do we need technical experts to be leaders?
– What sort of leaders do technical experts make?
– H
How can ‘
‘expert l d hi ’ b d
t leadership’ be developed?
l d?
 Q&A
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5. Case study research
 ARM – semiconductor
manufacture
 BAM – construction
engineering
 ‘Bioscience Research’
 Cmed – clinical services and
technology
 ‘Countywide F
‘C t id Foundation
d ti
Trust’
 RBS Insurance
 Syngenta – agriculture
research and technology
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6. Do we need technical experts to be leaders?
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7. Do technical experts need to be led by experts?
“The l
“Th classic situation i someone who’s t h i ll good at
i it ti is h ’ technically d t
their job becomes the manager. For those who are the most
technically good at their job are often not the best
managers, I’ve seen that so many times.”
There are two options:
 Employ professional managers
 Develop experts to become good leaders

8. Why have experts as leaders?
 Experts have career expectations and deserve
opportunities
 They have credibility with their p
y y peers and reports
p
 They can be role models for others
 Th
There is opportunity f succession planning
i t it for i l i
 Technical knowledge is an enabler of leadership
(rather than an essential)
But it does wane over time…
time
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9. What is the motivation to become a leader?
“I meet a lot who will say, ‘I’d never want to do
y
your job for all the tea in China, y know’, and
j you
they’re quite certain about that.”
However leadership does provide opportunities for:
 Broadening one’s sphere of influence
one s
 Supporting others’ development and achievements

10. What sort of leaders do technical experts make?
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11. Areas of development for expert leaders
Leading
g Emotional
Defining change Intelligence People
direction Skills
Thinking
g Impact and
strategically influence
Self
Common awareness Political
purpose awareness
Managing Developing
performance
f individuals
i di id l
Working
with teams
© Roffey Park, 2011
www.roffeypark.com Delivering results

12. Moving beyond specialisms
 St
Strong identification with specialisms
id tifi ti ith i li
 Used to being deferred to (or deferring to others)
 As strategic leaders:
– Step outside field of expertise
– Listen to others’ views on your expertise
– Make sense of complex information
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13. Just the facts, if you please
 Strong reliance on facts
 Paralysis of analysis
“It just takes twice as long to get anything done … They have to
It
argue about everything. Well, of course they do, because that’s
what they do, they test the hypotheses”
 Ambiguity, risk, instinct
“[It’s] mind rather than heart, so a lot of them will find it very difficult
to
t come to the conclusion unless th ' got enough d t and
t th l i l they've t h data d
enough hard analytics.”
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14. Influencing people
 Win an argument or win people over?
“Once they have [their] conclusion … they will tend to shut
down other people who might have another idea because
they've got the answer backed up by the numbers.”
 Emotional side of change
g
“It can be a bit confusing, because if it made sense, why
wouldn't you do it?”
 Networking & working in large groups
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15. Individualism
“Either as leaders or
Either
[followers], they’d
rather tell you the
answer or expect
you to work it out
yourself. If you
can’t, you’re
’t ’
probably not able to
do the job anyway.”
 Strong value placed on individual thinking and ability
 Developing others

16. Styles of developing people
Tell
(directive)
(di i )
Teach
eac Faking it
a g t
Ask
(non- Mentor Coach
directive)
Know Don t
Don’t know
(expert) (non-expert)
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17. Individualism #2
 Strong value placed on individual
thinking & ability
 Developing others
 Collaboration
 Organisational commitment is
situational
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18. Managing performance
“‘Why do you not see that?
Why do you not understand
that's a better way of doing
it?’ … It b
becomes: ‘I d 't
don't
understand you, therefore it's
very difficult for me to deal
with you.’”
you ’”
Critical thinking & deficit orientation
Feedback is robust
Having difficult conversations
Understanding poor performance
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19. How can ‘expert leadership’ be developed?
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20. Leadership development programmes
 High level, delivered by experts
 Experiential learning
 Practically relevant

21. Feedback & self awareness
“What I started to realise was that actually I could be a lot more
effective in my dealing with people if … [ I resisted] putting on the mask
thinking, Now
thinking ‘Now I’m at work I need to be serious’ … I stood back from
that and said, ‘No, I actually need to be a bit more myself.’”

22. Thought leadership
 A natural way for experts to develop as leaders
“The people right at the top of that technical expert space to be
the ones defining what the organisation needs to know; and
g g ;
giving them accountability for teaching that into the
organisation.”

23. Make sure the role of leadership is valued
p
 Culture clash: ‘experts’
vs ‘leaders’
 Embed in performance
management
 R l models
Role d l
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24. Overseeing leadership development
 Selection
 Motivation
 Parallel career
structures
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25. email:
research@roffeypark.com www.roffeypark.com/reports

26. Email:
tailored@roffeypark.com
Tel +441293851644

27. Thank you for listening
Thank you for listening
Questions…?
Questions…?
margi.gordon@roffeypark.com
margi gordon@roffeypark com jonny.gifford@roffeypark.com
jonny gifford@roffeypark com
www.roffeypark.com