How can a Materials Science professional transition to management?

Why are you looking to move into management? If it is just for the next pay rise don't! Organisations are littered with great technical specialists who have made that move and become useless managers the techies run rings round. If you have a passion for organisation and management on the other hand go for it, take every chance you can to develop your skills as a manager in areas like people management, budgets and finance and managing difficult situations and conversations as those are the sort of thing you will doing day to day.

Moving from a technical job to a management position is like crossing the Rubicon. There is normally no turning back so you need to be prepared for a significant transition in nearly everything. The skills that made you a success in a technical role will help in a managerial role, but are not the keys to success. A manager needs people skills, decision-making skills, and the ability to ask the right questions. The technical skills provide the background for effective System 1 (heuristics based) decision-making, but may not help in more involved deliberate decision-making.

For highly technical jobs, one needs to be at home in the overall knowledge competence along with management traits. Often, experience reveals a highly competence managers from management competence but they don't technically strong to take appropriate decisions. Hence, these gaps must be identified and work on to excell well in the world of work.

Know your strengths well, many of them overlap between technical and management roles. A technical management role allows you to leverage most of your technical strengths. Leadership and communication skills are paramount. To be a leader is not the same as being a manager. Communicating technical information is not the same as rallying others toward a common goal, even if it is of a technical nature. Finally, build your network, to understand what is needed to where you want to go. In short, know where you are and decide where you are going.

My experience in transitioning from an academic career specialized in Materials Science to a job as an analyst for the Brazilian government can be attributed to my dedication of writing daily observations on a journal. The maintenance of a vacuum equipment (necessary for the production of thin film samples) is a task that gathers professionals with different specialization, and this challenge reinforced my skills of working as a team on my public career. The data necessary to produce a PhD thesis was all extracted from my notes, and the habit of keeping notes during periodic meetings or those ones that were not previously scheduled has not been abandoned when I changed my professional journey.

Focus on NOT doing things yourself. Initially you will find this difficult. You may feel that if you allow someone else to do the job, that someone else might not do things as well as yourself. But you can always review and correct the output at the appropriate time. You need to learn how to delegate. Try taking online courses on delegation. Many universities allow people to attend online courses for free - if you don't insist on getting a certificate.

I have found these to be useful in any management role including project administration and implementation. 1. Understand your strengths and weaknesses. This will inform your actions and their extent. 2. Understand the people you work with. This helps build synergy in whatever team you work with by harnessing their full potential. 3. Understand the task at hand. This will inform the input you apply to achieve the results. By applying this 3 principles, it's easy to transition from a laboratory-based materials researcher to a professional in any field including management. One important lesson is that a leader shows the way. If you can synergize the 3 above, you will definitely show the way in management.

Good way what I used is online courses webinars most importantly networking All these will help to bridge the gap between science and management.

There are many ways as courses or an MBA program. Nevertheless, I would suggest to ask your employer for their recommendation. They may also offer funding to support you. I‘m confident saying that most companies will acknowledge that you want to learn new skills.

I agree on building knowledge and deepening your understanding from various perspectives related to management and leadership. I don’t, however, fully agree that you should try to set very specific, measurable goals - more important is to say it out and tell others that this is what you’re interested in, seek help from your network, be open to opportunities, especially those you’re unable to predict. So I would advice to learn more about the path and set your direction, but navigate in a flexible manner.

In my experience transitioning from a technical role to a managerial role doesn't start with an introspection and skills assessment but rather with having the exposure to those who have the role, and who may become your mentors in the future. Don't be afraid to make your aspirations known, by discussing with them how they made the transition or alternatively climbed the ladder. Similarly, volunteer or become involved with industry associations, because the more you learn about an industry and how it works, the more value you bring to your employer. Specific management skills or techniques can always be learned, experience however has more value and must be gained through interaction.

This is something one can do in their role with little effort if inclined to go for management role. It could be also a part of their role, if done well could lead to management positions.

Volunteer for assignments that require getting work done through others. Develop and demonstrate your ability to achieve results through team effort.

Joining committees or supervising teammates are ways in which you can practice to communicate with and coordinate different groups of people. Shake off the shackles of your own discipline. If you have a chance to join interdisciplinary projects, go for it. In my personal experience, learning from masters of their trade is the way to go. Expand your network, go to events, talk to people, and observe. What styles of communication do like? What makes good team spirit and what do you find inspiring? Courses and podcasts only give you passive knowledge. Challenging yourself to take responsibility in teams or volunteering to coordinate and organize projects, events, and so forth will help you develop intuition for different aspects of management.

Perpetuum mobile. Keep an eye on what is coming along: new techniques, new instruments, new processes, etc. Think how it can be adopted. Make a plan and present it to the decision maker(s). Suggest taking a lead or contributing. The plan needs to be realistic, and the outcome considerable.

Show people your authentic self. Be open about your (professional) interests and allow others to see your commitment - your successes, thoughts on failures, and plans for the future. However, I would advise against being too literal about it. Showing off a list of certificates and posting about yet another successful online course might indicate that you need external metrics to show your value. Of course attaining a certificate should be documented. Nevertheless, people might be more interested in learning why you chose to acquire a certain skill (or how you did it) and why you are interested in a certain field. You are painting a mosaic of yourself that represents your unique perspective. This allows others to see the value you can bring.

This one is critical: no matter how good you are at what you do if you don't present results and achievements well, no one will know. Don't forget to collect the appreciation you deserve. Here is also an important skill for the manager: not to confuse actual productive professional and just a good talker.

Somebody said, 'The most important skills are the soft skills!" Work on the soft skills. Listening! Listening! Listening!. Get your head out of your computer, and other places. Walk around and talk to people. If they're remote call them regularly, one-on-one. Talk to them as a group, creating the space for them to speak up about their concerns. Get a mentor and a coach.

Prior to contemplating moving from any technical role to a management one, you should look back and ask yourself, have I been a leader since childhood? When opportunities present themselves, do you seize them? When management asks for a team to investigate an important issue, do you volunteer? When in self-managed technical or multi-disciplinary teams, do you provide structure to the team and have team members happy to have you organize things? When it comes to presenting team results to management, volunteer to make the presentation. Can you see how your organization's strategy can be effectively implemented? Are you good at 'connecting the dots'? Seek out a role model as a mentor. Get involved in your professional technical society.

This one's a doozy. How do you adapt and adjust your mindset? It takes time. Okay... but how? The underlying question is: are you still approaching things as a scientist or engineer? You might know what methods to deploy in a given situation. But setting the right goals and measuring them can be quite different to your previous technical profession. Being aware of the complexities of management projects involving organizational and social structures will help. You need to leave room (time) to observe and adjust. This means letting go of the urge to indulge in technical activities and allowing others to take over. Delegate, monitor, and steer. Finding joy in the successes of your team is a great way to ease yourself into the new position.

Professional knowledge ensures strong logical thinking ability; management gives greater flexibility, and what is more tested is emotional intelligence. In any case, self-confidence is very important.

Transitioning from a technical role in Materials Science to management requires honing leadership skills, networking, and gaining business acumen. Yet, the question remains: Does a true Materials professional find fulfillment in technical intricacies or is the allure of management more compelling? It's a personal choice that defines one's career trajectory.

As a technician you were a do’er, as a manager your job is to lead, enable, and support the do’ers. Remember that, as a lot forget. As a manager you have your specific tasks and roles and the ever present and ongoing responsibility to the team you are leading, it sometimes adds an extra burden and requires time to lead your team and individuals within it, but it is far more important than the budget, shift rota, qtrly return etc etc. They’re are just your job, leadership is an obligation made to your team when you accepted the position.

I think it is crucial to ask yourself if you really want to do the job or if you‘re just motivated by the new job title, the salary raise or just the fact, that you go forward in your career. Most scientists and engineers have a deep passion for their work and may not be fulfilled by a management position.

As management requires both technical and sift skills, it might be helpful to purpose your support to colleagues with different presentations and meetings. As well as participate different events inside your company, customers and suppliers events and industry conferences. Doing so let you train your soft skills and get more information about your colleagues work - management requires not a narrow knowledge, but a wide understanding of industry work.