Are you an Individual Contributor or a Team Lead?

While some people can work productively either as an individual contributor or as an integral member or leader of a team, many people have a preference or predisposition towards one or the other.  In some companies, there is a perception that unless you are on a career track that results in a team lead or manager role, you will limit your eligibility for advancement, promotion or earning more money. As a result, many people aspire to these roles regardless of their capability or real preference.  In fact, I have seen very qualified, technical people fail when put in team lead roles.  After proving their skills as individual contributors, a manager concludes that if they can perform the work well, they can lead others.  In fact, the skills required to perform work activities do not always equate to the skills required of a manager or leader. In response to this, many companies have technical and management tracks to assure both worker types can achieve success.

While most people don’t like to be pigeon-holed or limited, in reality, some of us are natural team leaders and managers, and others of us thrive as individual contributors.  In fact, there are many personality traits tests that can help you to understand your inherent pre-dispositions.  They do not judge you or indicate that one personality type is better or worse than another, they merely help you to understand what comes naturally to you versus what you many need to adjust to be more successful in different roles or environments. 

What I found, was that if there was a goal I was determined to achieve, and I could identify the characteristics and skills required to successfully achieve the goal, I could determine whether I was capable of achieving the goal. How far out of my comfort zone did I want to push myself in order to achieve the goal?  In some cases, I found that some of the activities that caused me initial discomfort became more natural over time, and in other cases I would always feel like an imposter.  Most importantly, I learned enough about myself and the difference between my perceived and actual boundaries, that I didn’t put myself in situations where I was doomed to fail, or would be so miserable in my quest for success that it simply wasn’t worth it.

One Reply to “Are you an Individual Contributor or a Team Lead?”

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