The power of stepping back
As a leader, it is important to be present, to make decisions, to see your
team. I will argue that it is also important to know when to step back and
don’t speak your mind.
I started my career as a developer and thought that would be the life long path for me. But my first manager saw a potential I was not aware of myself. He put me through a test — without me knowing — and in the end he asked me to be his next project manager. I was scared, but took the change and saw it as an opportunity for growth. And after all — he would be there by my side to guide and help me. He was our team’s superman. He knew the code, he knew the database, he knew the team members, he knew the business and he knew what the customer needed. He participated in every meeting and was known in the company as the man to go to for those complicated questions.
Then one day, he told me he would leave the company to pursue new opportunities, and he wanted me to take over his team. I was terrified! And I knew I needed help! My experience and my knowledge of the product was not even close to those of my former manager. I had to compensate, so in every meeting I brought with me at least one developer from the team. If the team members needed to discuss problems or new solutions, there were no help discussing it only with me. We needed the whole team to be part of the discussions.
To be truly successful as a leader, you need to know when to step back! For me this came by accident because I didn’t know the product well enough. But over the last decade I have observed different managers with different leadership styles, and I have reflected over this well known visdom. Both how true it is and how difficult it can be to follow if you actually are the expert. I have looked at my manager for decisions on topics where I could have made a perfectly good decision myself — only because it was my managers preferred way of doing business. It did not bring out the best in me!
After I have gathered more experience, I have selected managers with an empowering leadership style. And over the last years, were I have acted as a leader in different roles, I find myself in situations where I need to not speak my mind. At least not until the team has had a chance to share their thoughts. As a leader, the most important skill you can learn your team, it is to make good decisions. An empowered and autonomous team will outperform the best manager any day of the week.
