How to lead people who have more technical experience than you

Julie Zhuo is Facebook's vice president of product design.

Question: How do you manage to lead people with more experience or deeper knowledge in a certain area? What are the important differences? When talking tête-à-tête with specialists, how much do you go into technical details?


Usain Bolt is a Jamaican athlete specializing in short-distance running, an eight-time Olympic champion and an 11-time world champion.
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It was only a few years after graduating from college, when I became a design manager. Due to the fact that in college I studied computer science, and then began to work as an engineer at Facebook, I mostly studied design. In the days of start-ups in the company, the tradition of quick decision making implied that I rarely engaged in deepening my knowledge and honing my skills. Often it seemed that I was an impostor among real designers.

As a result, at the beginning of my manager career, I got on well with college graduates, in whom I saw a younger version of myself. But I was worried that anyone with real design experience would not respect me. In the end, how can I be a boss for people who are not only several years older than me, but also are professionals in their field? How can I teach them something they don’t know yet?

I once shared this experience with my husband when we watched the Olympics. He said, “Do you really think that Usain Bolt’s coach runs faster than him?” Previously, I did not think that Glen Mills - the head coach of the Jamaica national team in running, who is responsible for the most successful sprinters - is not something that does not have high speed, but is not a runner at all.


Glenn Mills - Jamaica's head coach for running.

Don't pretend to be perfect.

If you work as a design manager, this does not mean that you are the “best designer”. Just as the fact that your work as a coach does not mean that you are “the fastest runner”. The point is in different roles.

If one-to-one conversations consist solely in news about work without offers of help or interaction because of the fear that you will look inexperienced or lose your trust, then in this case you will not earn it, but you will not be will add.

There is power in vulnerability. The best way to undermine the trust of your team is to pretend that you know all the answers. Be honest with your senior colleagues about what knowledge you have and what not - and you can work out a plan together, how you can support them. You may not be so strong in design, but you can help people solve problems and discuss them after they are solved. Perhaps you do not have in-depth technical knowledge to go hand in hand with this area, but you can inspire people to more specific goals and help them divide a lot of work among team members into small segments. You may be able to combine some people with others with similar skills to encourage a critical process within the organization.

There is always something you can help with. Be ready to have open and slightly awkward conversations to find out. As for me, I know that I am not as strong in design as my colleagues, but I understand the design concept on Facebook and can support my team members by setting ambitious goals and setting effective work with partners.

Greet the opportunity to learn from elders.

As a manager, your goal is to maximize the impact of your team. The easiest way to increase team input is to have the most qualified talented employees in it. And one of the most terrible mistakes of managers is the hiring of young employees, which, as it seems to them, can be controlled.

One of the questions that we always discuss after interviewing hiring senior employees: “Will they ever be my superiors? Will I work for this man? ” The answer “yes” means that this candidate has the value that will help him become a member of the team.

Without a doubt, over the years I have become a better designer thanks to the contribution of senior designers. Working with people who are better than you professionally is a privilege, because it is the fastest way to learn. As a manager, inspire them to use their strengths to help other colleagues improve their skills through mentoring, training and setting the bar high for the whole team.

No need to take everything on yourself. Just make sure the work is done.

A good manager, like a good coach, helps his team focus on the most important aspects.

Maybe I can’t do the work of the same quality as my more experienced colleagues, but due to the fact that I provide control in many areas, I can direct the attention of employees to where their skills will be most useful; including finding opportunities for senior team members to work with other designers.

Even when you are not sure whether the design is good, you can always ask questions or share your opinion.

You are all on the same team and working to support shared goals. There should be no “who is the best designer” competition. On the contrary, you must join forces and work together to find a better solution.

Leaving senior team members without leadership, believing that they are “experienced, they can handle it themselves” does not bring them closer to success. Clarification of situations and questions like “How did you come to this decision?” Or “Why do you think this is a good way out of the situation?” Can help them formulate the thought process and find areas that need to be re-viewed. Even expressing personal concerns like “I think people will embarrass this interface” can lead to a healthy discussion about improving work or bringing practicality to confirm the assumptions.

You are the sum of the people around you.

To be a great design manager, you need to develop a clear understanding of what it means to be a great designer. If you cannot create a design yourself, you should know what it looks like, as well as understand the habits and qualities of highly qualified designers. The ability to grow is your eyes.

I came to the conclusion that the best way to grow as a design manager is to manage the most qualified designers as much as possible. My first direct experience of observing the work of great designers developed an understanding of how a really good design looks and helped our team to work more efficiently and better. Therefore, if you are lucky enough to have your own Usain Bolt in the design team, then use it and go for your gold.

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The translation was made with the support of the company EDISON Software , which is professionally engaged in the development of software for large customers (for example, an urban lighting control system or an electronic medical examination system ).