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    Leading Technical Professionals and Teams
    MIT Sloan School of Management

    Leading Technical Professionals and Teams

    MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge
    HomeMIT Sloan School of ManagementLeading Technical Professionals and Teams
    2 daysDuration
    onlineFormat
    EnglishLanguage
    LeadershipTopic

    Available Cohorts

    Choose your preferred start date

    Apr 21 - Apr 22, 2026
    2 days · online · Instructor-Led
    Open
    Jul 7 - Jul 8, 2026
    2 days · in-person · Instructor-Led · Cambridge
    Open
    Oct 13 - Oct 14, 2026
    2 days · in-person · Instructor-Led · Cambridge
    Open
    $4,900

    All-inclusive program fee

    About This Program

    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:


    Identify what drives high-performers—whether intellectual curiosity, recognition, or meaningful contributions—and align incentives accordingly


    Develop strategies to create cohesive, high-performing technical teams, taking into account diverse work styles, expertise, and decision-making processes


    Adapt their management styles based on team composition, corporate culture, and technical complexity


    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


    Address common pitfalls, such as managing “rockstar” employees, balancing autonomy with oversight, and handling underperformance effectively

    Why MIT Sloan School of Management?

    MIT Sloan doesn't trade on prestige alone — it trades on proximity. Proximity to one of the world's densest concentrations of engineering, AI, and life sciences research, and to a faculty that publishes the ideas executives will be managing around in five years. If you want to understand how technology reshapes strategy before it reshapes your industry, this is the room to be in.

    Your Profile

    • Managers, team leads, and directors looking to refine their leadership skills for technical teams
    • Individual contributors preparing for their first leadership roles
    • Executives overseeing cross-functional or geographically distributed teams
    • Professionals in tech, engineering, R&D, aerospace, defense, pharmaceuticals, and biotech who want to improve leadership effectiveness in technical environments

    Benefits

    • Identify what drives high-performers—whether intellectual curiosity, recognition, or meaningful contributions—and align incentives accordingly
    • Develop strategies to create cohesive, high-performing technical teams, taking into account diverse work styles, expertise, and decision-making processes
    • Adapt their management styles based on team composition, corporate culture, and technical complexity
    • 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
    • Address common pitfalls, such as managing “rockstar” employees, balancing autonomy with oversight, and handling underperformance effectively