Servant Leadership

When I'm asked to describe my leadership style I talk about how I strive to be a servant leader. I once attended a training for a regional Burning Man event where one of the instructors described servant leadership using an inverted pyramid. The leader is on the bottom of the pyramid and the members of the team are on the top. Coaching, mentoring, and removing obstacles are how the leader can provide support to the team.

Unblocking

I want to preemptively remove blocks before they impact the team. For a new employee there are several things that should be done before the first day:

• Hardware (ie: a laptop) is configured and delivered to the employee
• Accounts are created
• A 30/60/90 has been developed
• Scheduling:
• The employee has been added to group meetings
• I’ve scheduled an introductory meeting
• I’ve created a recurring 1:1
• The employee has been scheduled for required trainings
• I’ve assigned a mentor (sometimes myself and sometimes another member of the team)
• Getting started documentation is up-to-date with any changes since the last new hire joined

Another way to prevent obstacles is to shield the team from distractions. Sometimes this means fielding questions and paperwork for the team. Sometimes this means taking the heat when a stakeholder is upset. Sometimes this means pacing when outsiders interact with the team.

Agile frameworks, like scrum, have natural ways to highlight obstacles. Tracking software often has settings to mark tasks as blocked. Scrum has multiple ceremonies where obstacles can be discussed:

Grooming

Requirements are often brought to light during a grooming session. Ideally these dependencies are linked to the work within the tracking software. For internal dependencies, the backlog may need to be re-ordered. If there are dependencies discovered that are the responsibility of other teams those dependencies have to be resolved before the story can be completed (and in many cases even started). Depending on the team’s structure these dependencies can be the responsibility of the product manager, the team lead, or the engineering manager to work out with the other team. Stakeholders may need to be notified about how these dependencies will impact the release schedule.

Sprint Planning

When a sprint is being planned each story being pulled in needs to be checked to see if there are any outstanding requirements that need to be resolved. If there are unresolved requirements the team needs to decide if it’s possible for both the requirements and the story to be done within the sprint.

Stand-ups

The scrum master is responsible for asking each person if they are blocked. Often whatever is blocking a person can be resolved by the team during standup. For some obstacles the product manager may need to work with stakeholders to further refine specifications. Other teams may need to be contacted to help remove the obstacle (for example if a developer is blocked because their laptop cannot boot IT might need to be contacted).

Retrospectives

A retrospective is a great opportunity to discuss recurring obstacles (like the network goes down every Friday at 3PM JST or the product manager keeps changing the acceptance criteria after work has started).

Mentoring

When I’m serving as the dedicated mentor to a member of the group I aim to have up to 40% of my time available to the mentee. Some people consider mentoriting a distraction to their work. When a member joins a team, or project, they cannot be impactful until they are up-to-speed. The time it takes to get them up-to-speed may slow the mentor down (up to 40%) for a few months but ultimately that investment will improve the team velocity as the mentee takes on work.?

Approach-ability is critical for a mentor. If a mentee is told by a mentor, “I can’t help right now,” multiple times in a row, the mentee is liable to give up and flounder. When a mentee approaches me, and I have to turn them away, I make it a point to tell them when I expect to be available. I reach out to the mentee when that time comes.?

If a mentor needs to be “heads down” at times then it is their responsibility to tell the mentee when they are available. This can be done formally with scheduled mentor “office hours”. This can also be done less formally by stating times of the day or week that are off-limits for “focus time”.??

Mentoring requires psychological safety to ensure honest conversations about a mentee’s challenges occur. Often when a mentee comes to me with an issue I’ve also struggled with I’ll tell them how I also found it challenging. It’s important for mentors to flag their own fallibility.??

Mentoring has to be about “teaching to fish”. Sometimes I need to slow down so I can review the steps that lead me to a decision. The mentee needs to know how to take those steps solo and make their own conclusion. While it can be tempting to just “do the work” or point to a solution, the extra effort of showing how to find a solution will pay huge dividends for the team.

Coaching

Most of my coaching is done in 1:1 meetings. In an initial hiring manager interview, or first meeting with an employee, I note the employees 5 - 10 year goals. We revisit those goals regularly to discuss how upcoming work can help, or hinder, meeting those goals.

I urge all of my employees to have a comprehensive LinkedIn profile . For interns I also often help them refine their resume . Depending on career goals, I sometimes help interns to decide what jobs to apply for and how to orient their resume to the job description.?

I assign employees an amount of work that is geared to their personal goals. I also include formal goals in written reviews that align their personal goals with the team, the product, and the company. I outline how this work can further their career. When an employee gets to the point where they are ready for the next step in their career, if that step cannot be within the group, I help them to find internal and external opportunities.?

Summary

I’m surprised at how many styles of leadership there are. I’ve heard of managers who have reported their style to be dictatorial. It’s my hope that after reading this article you have some new ideas of how to coach, mentor, and unblock your team.?

For more advice and ideas message me on LinkedIn .