It’s time for us to take an honest look at our leadership culture. While we have strong strategic talent across all levels, we continue to fall short in one critical area: people leadership. Leading people is not a secondary or passive responsibility, it’s the foundation of effective leadership.
Across the product organization, we’re seeing recurring issues that point to a gap in leadership development and accountability, including:
- Limited engagement and communication between leaders and their teams
- Over-reliance on operations or individual contributors to manage upward, downward and across without proper support
- Avoidance of difficult conversations and unresolved team conflicts (it is a leaders responsibility to support, manage and develop their people through conflict.. this includes addressing how your direct report is managing their team. EVERYONE BELOW YOU IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY)
- Inconsistent emotional regulation and listening skills among leaders (why are leaders snapping at junior employees on the reg?)
- Insufficient development of emerging talent and reluctance to promote based on growth potential
- Hierarchical attitudes that prioritize status over collaboration and merit (many TNF leaders were promoted because they were buddies with the right people, not because they are strong people leaders)
We cannot build a strong organization on weak leadership fundamentals. True leaders invest in their people, communicate transparently, and model the behaviors they expect from others. So let’s be clear about what effective people leadership looks like:
- Regular, meaningful check-ins with your direct reports (and no, being a busy VP is not an excuse.. you’re not special, we’re all busy and you get paid well for it. Support your people)
- Addressing performance or behavior concerns early and constructively
- Listening to feedback without defensiveness and taking accountability for outcomes
- Asking your team what they need from you and acting on it (I’ve seen associate employees open meetings with asking their coworkers how they’re doing and what support they need.. I have yet to see that from a senior leader)
- Providing direct, actionable development guidance and clear pathways for advancement (if you deny your employee a promotion, you better have a checklist of skills and developmental goals ready to hand over)
- Promoting based on potential and committing to coaching team members to success (if you don’t promote because your employee isn’t 100% ready, you’re a bad leader; promote when they are 80% there and invest time and LEADERSHIP into developing them the rest of the way.. talking to you, GM)
Leadership is not about being the smartest person in the room, it’s about creating an environment where everyone can succeed. Each of us has a responsibility to uphold that standard, but it should be of special interest to our leaders to set that bar. And unfortunately, the current location of our bar is in he-l.
To strengthen our leadership culture, we should be defining clear expectations for how much of every leadership role is dedicated to people development versus strategic execution. We also need targeted training on emotional intelligence, communication, and conflict management to better equip our leaders to LEAD.
Final thought.. HR outwardly being friends with Senior Leaders is problematic. Your people are afraid to speak up.