Course Highlights

• Develop strategies to create cohesive, high-performing technical teams, taking into account diverse work styles, expertise, and decision-making processes
• Identify what drives high-performers—whether intellectual curiosity, recognition, or meaningful contributions—and align incentives accordingly
• Improve communication with technical staff, bridge communication gaps, set clearer expectations, and facilitate productive discussions
• Implement team structures that reduce unnecessary bottlenecks, enable efficient workflows, and enhance coordination in remote and hybrid settings
• Earn a certificate of course completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management

Course Description

Managing technical professionals demands a distinct set of leadership skills. These individuals—whether 10x engineers, full-stack developers, technical visionaries, data experts, or elite scientists—offer exceptional expertise but can also bring unique management challenges. They may be fiercely independent, deeply focused on their work, or driven by intellectual curiosity and autonomy rather than traditional corporate incentives. Leaders of technical teams must skillfully navigate these dynamics to foster collaboration and unlock their teams’ full potential.

Leading Technical Professionals and Teams is designed to help emerging and current leaders develop a practical toolkit for managing and motivating high-performing technical talent. Over two immersive days, participants will delve into the complexities of mentoring and rewarding technical staff, forming new technical teams, and understanding management styles through case studies and examples such as Amazon, SpaceX, Ford, Facebook, GSK, Google, the Broad Institute, and Los Alamos National Lab. The course addresses modern challenges, including managing international teams and designing team responsibilities for remote work. Moreover, it offers practical tools for leading exceptionally talented individuals who may require tailored management approaches.

At the end of this course, participants will be equipped to:

• Describe how teams can be designed, not just inherited
• Calibrate a team culture on exploration and innovation
• Articulate tradeoffs on coordination effort vs. team agility
• Identify what type of technical and managerial supervision is desired
• Use data-driven management 
• Diffuse team member conflicts and set clear role boundaries
• Build a better set of annual goals
• Identify coachable communications objectives
• Identify technical rework, its causes, and how to avoid it

Applying to the course

We accept enrollments until the offering reaches capacity, at which point we will maintain a waitlist. Many of the courses fill up several weeks in advance, so we advise that you enroll as early as possible to secure your seat.

You can begin the application process by using the 'Enroll Now' bar at the bottom of the screen.

Health and Safety

See our on-campus health and safety policies.

Have questions?
Contact us if you would like to speak with a program director or visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for answers to common questions about our courses.