“Becoming a leader isn’t just about being great at your job, it’s about helping others succeed at theirs. When I made the leap from IC to leading a global SE team, I learned that leadership starts before you get the title. It’s about consistently performing, taking initiative, mentoring others, making your work visible, and building trust across the org. If you want to move into management, don’t wait, start acting like a leader now, and make yourself the no-brainer when the next opportunity opens up.” – Yuji Higashi, Co-Founder, BetterCareers

Opine partnered with BetterCareers to create this guide to ensure your transition is seamless, impactful, and successful.

Making the Leap: Your New Leadership Reality

The move from individual contributor (IC) to leading an SE team is more than just a promotion. It’s a complete transformation. You're no longer responsible solely for your own performance, but for empowering your entire team to succeed. To thrive, you must shift your focus from tactical execution to strategic vision, from managing tasks to managing people, processes, and technology. Your team's growth and effectiveness become your new benchmarks for success.

This guide will walk you through the essential mindset shifts, help you see your role differently, think strategically, and act intentionally. You'll leave with practical tools and a clear checklist for immediate impact.

Mindset Shifts

As an individual contributor, you’ve likely found success by focusing deeply on specific tasks and excelling technically. Leadership demands a broader view. It’s no longer solely about executing tasks well but about envisioning and guiding your team towards strategic goals. This requires a complete reorientation in how you view success, prioritize your tasks, and approach problem-solving.

From Tactical Execution to Strategic Vision

• IC Approach: Focused on delivering immediate results and demonstrating technical expertise.

• Leader Approach: Thinking ahead, anticipating challenges, and aligning team efforts to long-term business goals.

• Quick Win: Regularly set aside time to assess the broader business impacts of your team’s activities.

From Individual Success to Team Achievement

• IC Approach: Your success hinges on personal deal closures and direct contributions.

• Leader Approach: Success is measured by your team's growth, efficiency, and collective revenue impact.

• Quick Win: Regularly celebrate team achievements publicly to reinforce shared goals.

From Doing to Coaching

• IC Approach: Directly handles problems as they arise.

• Leader Approach: Coaches team members to develop problem-solving skills independently.

• Quick Win: Establish weekly coaching sessions focused on common challenges.

Seeing Differently

As a new SE leader, your effectiveness depends on seeing the larger strategic picture. The shift from tactical task execution to strategic oversight is crucial. You must learn to recognize and address systemic issues, viewing problems through a strategic lens rather than as isolated occurrences.

Adopting a Big Picture Lens

As a leader, your focus must expand from individual deals to team pipelines, risk management, and strategic alignment with organizational objectives.

• Example: Shift meetings from tactical updates to discussions on pipeline health, strategic deal alignment, and cross-functional collaboration.

Understanding the “Why”

Dive deeper into recurring challenges. Identify root causes such as manual administrative tasks, outdated tools, or inefficient workflows, and address these systematically.

• Quick Win: Use a tool like Opine to automate SE administrative tasks, allowing your team to focus on strategic tasks. Time spent more on selling and building trust with your buyers means higher likelihood of hitting revenue forecast, and that’s good for everyone.

Thinking Differently

Leadership demands proactive thinking. You’re no longer responding to immediate problems as they arise, but actively anticipating them. It requires strategic foresight and cross-functional collaboration to influence the overall direction of the business effectively.

Problem Solver to Problem Preventer

Rather than repeatedly fixing similar issues, proactively identify patterns and implement scalable solutions, such as automated processes and AI-driven tools.

• Quick Win: Implement Opine’s automated stakeholder updates and AI deal summarization, and business case document generation to reduce manual efforts.

Tactical Performer to Strategic Influencer

Build strategic relationships across Sales, Product, and Customer Success teams to influence broader business outcomes.

• Quick Win: Schedule monthly strategic alignment sessions with cross-functional leaders.

Reactive to Proactive

Move beyond responding to immediate demands. Anticipate team needs and market trends, leveraging real-time analytics and insights.

• Quick Win: Regularly review team insights provided by platforms like Opine to proactively address potential issues and optimize not only your team but how they work a deal resulting in faster and higher closed-won rates.

Acting Differently

Your leadership is ultimately defined by the actions you take each day. You must now prioritize people development, clear communication, and process innovation. Effective SE leaders are those who consistently take meaningful steps to enhance team performance and organizational success.

From Solo Performer to Team Builder

Your primary role is now developing talent, coaching, and establishing clear growth paths within your team.

• Quick Win: Implement quarterly career planning sessions with each team member.

From Executor to Communicator

Clear, consistent communication with your team, stakeholders, and executives becomes critical. Adopt technology to simplify and streamline these communications.

• Quick Win: Create a transparent and regular cadence of communication through weekly team updates.

From Task Doer to Process Innovator

Continuously optimize workflows by reducing manual effort, embracing automation, and adopting intuitive tools.

• Quick Win: Conduct a quarterly workflow audit to identify opportunities for automation and improvement.

Practical Leadership Checklist

Inspired by BetterCareers, use this checklist to proactively step into leadership today:

• Deliver Consistently: Excel in complex, high-impact deals and build trust as the go-to SE.

• Lead Now: Manage internal projects, mentor colleagues, and coach proactively.

• Increase Visibility: Share wins, learnings, and insights regularly.

• Build Relationships: Foster connections across departments and with leadership.

• Clearly State Ambitions: Communicate your leadership goals and seek regular feedback.

• Address Feedback Proactively: Identify and actively work to close skill gaps.

• Engage with the Community: Stay connected externally through SE groups, events, and bring insights back to your team.

Your goal is clear: become the natural choice for leadership by demonstrating these behaviors consistently and authentically. Embrace this journey, and elevate your team to new heights.

Your Leadership Journey Started Yesterday

Leadership isn't defined by a title, but by the actions and behaviors you exhibit every day, starting long before any formal promotion. As Yuji Higashi emphasizes, your journey into SE leadership began yesterday. Now, it's about amplifying your existing efforts. Clearly communicate your career ambitions, proactively seek feedback, and take deliberate steps to close skill gaps. 

“The most important aspect of being an SE leader is the ability to coach your team to win when they otherwise wouldn't have alone. Winning isn't just about closing new revenue, winning can also be helping them communicating concerns to leadership more effectively, navigating a promotion or raise, avoiding a poorly qualified opportunity, or being an executive sponsor to accelerate an opportunity." – Akash Ganapathi, Co-Founder and CEO, Opine.

Mentor proactively, build trust deliberately, and consistently deliver visible value across your organization. When the next leadership opportunity emerges, you'll already be the undeniable choice because you didn’t wait until you had the title to do your best work.

Your leadership journey is already in progress. Keep moving forward intentionally, and watch your influence and impact grow exponentially.