When I started my design career fresh out of art school, there was so much ambiguity and questions that I either couldn't find answers to or the leaders and managers I had were just plain bad at leading people. My goal as a leader is to craft processes and frameworks to help my teams be successful and growth their careers.
I really don't like telling people what to do. I lived through old school art directors at advertising agencies coming in and flat out giving me a list of things to do. No conversation, no context, no asking for my opinion or perspective. It sucks to be in an environment like that.
My “leadership style” is to be a partner to you. I will help guide but never dictate. I can help you frame the problem space a little more, maybe help remove some of the ambiguity and guide towards a viable solution.
If you need direction and more direct guidance from me, ask. Even better, be prepared with a list of things you want guidance on. Lean into being a “list maker” instead of a “list taker”. This also helps me since I am averse to telling you what to do.
I will always default to you and ask what you think first. You were hired and and are part of this team because you're good at what you do. Sure, I might drop hints or strongly make suggestions about what I think you should or should not do. But for the most part I will always defer to your decision.
Your family and your health come first, no matter what. If you have a personal or family issue to attend to, just give me a heads up (a quick Slack message works). We'll figure out how to cover your current projects and don't worry about formally requesting time off, we can figure that out later.
This is just a job, yes it's important but it's not your life. I plan and schedule around a normal 40 hour work week and I don't expect you to respond to ANYTHING work related after hours.
Take vacations, use holidays to your advantage for more time away from work. Even if you don't have a big vacation planned, take a day off as a mental health day. Basically take time to be a human and get away from work.
This is YOUR time. I will schedule a recurring time for us but whether it's once a week or every two weeks is up to you. I'm not a big fan of making 1:1s status report meetings. This is time for us to connect and have conversations that stretch beyond the day-to-day. That said, how we use this time is also up to you. Everyone approaches their 1:1s differently, whatever approach you choose works for me. I have a standard set of guiding questions but those are only conversation starters.
I have built career ladders and success frameworks for nearly every team I have worked with. At the end of the day, career development is a partnership. I'm here to help drive the conversation, understand where you ultimately want to go, and help guide you on that path.
There should never be any surprises when it comes to feedback and performance. I will make sure to provide constructive feedback throughout the year in our 1:1s. I will also provide quarterly feedback that is a bit more structured. This way there are never any surprises come end of year.
My role is not to tell you what to do. I'd much rather partner with you to help support and enable you to solve the problem at hand. The term “player coach” has been overused in our industry BUT you can think of me more as a team captain out on the field along side you instead of a coach or team owner on the sidelines.
I encourage my teams to always be open and honest in our communications both internally as a team and with cross-functional teams. We should feel comfortable pushing back on conventions, disagreeing, listening and trying new ideas to solve the problem space we're tackling.
Early in my career I distinctly remember feeling like I was only getting half-truths and part of the story from my managers and leaders. We're all adults and I don't like to play the hierarchy game. I will always be honest and truthful, giving you insight and exposing you to “how the sausage gets made”. That said, there will be times when I simply do not know the answer or it's not appropriate for me to tell you. In either case I will be honest and tell you “I don't know” or “I know but can't tell you right now”.
Mentorship is a two-way street. For myself as a mentor, it helps grow and sharpen my leadership and management skills. For a mentee, my goal is to help them enhance a particular skillset by partnering and working alongside each other.
True autonomy can be very scary and exciting at the same time. You were hired and and are part of this team because you're good at what you do. I'm not here to tell you what to do or how best to do your job. Need to go run an errand in the middle of the day? Do it. Take a mental health break and watch Netflix? Go for it. Just make sure you balance your team responsibilities and deliverables. You are free to manage your time and workload as needed.
Leadership does not mean that you are a manager. Anyone at any level of experience can be a leader. That can manifest as improvements to our team processes or as a strategy for the business.
Always think about the person you're building a product for and always ask “why”. As a matter of fact, ask “5 whys” and keep peeling back the layers of the onion.
In addition to striving to understand “why”, I expect you to always have the bigger picture in the back of your head. How does this micro-interaction or new feature fit into the larger ecosystem of the product? Are there overlapping priorities that warrant talking to another team?
See above. Be reasonable and don't abuse the trust.