Introduction
With the growth of product teams in companies, I have seen a cool phenomenon happen: many people who were once Product Managers – individual contributors – are being promoted to be Product Leaders (Group Product Managers, Product Heads or even CPOs). And there is a tendency for certifications like the SAFe® POPM Certification to “have an increasing demand”.
This movement is very good for the entire product community, as in addition to giving opportunity to these more senior PMs, it also opens up new vacancies for younger PMs to start their careers. It’s the typical Win-Win situation where more people end up having growth opportunities.
However, there is a point that is worrying me in this whole context, which is the training of these new product leaders in people management. This is because those people who are being promoted to management positions have often never had the opportunity to be team leaders in their professional experience. As a result, they arrive unprepared for this role and I see that companies are not paying enough attention to this problem.
As good individual contributors who have proven themselves, these leaders have the knowledge necessary, in theory, to technically train the new PMs that are arriving and even help in the evolution of the other PMs of the team who report to them.
In this article I will give 5 tips on how new product leaders should work with their new teams to become as good managers as they were as individual contributors – which is what is actually expected of them from now on, and with that they generate a lot of more results.
1 – The Difference between Leading Analysts and Managers: Control vs Aligned Autonomy
First of all, it is worth explaining what I am calling “analysts” are in this article: they are people who are not part of the company’s management layer and who put their hands in the dough directly, that is, there are deliverables that they themselves are responsible.
For example, developers, designers, BI analysts, data scientists, financial analysts, etc. When you lead, you have a team made up of people at an “analyst” level – and who in the product area often end up playing a more tactical/operational role.
You are often responsible for directing the work they will have to do. to do on a more micro level, especially the more junior ones, helping to detail tasks and priorities for the week and charging for their execution according to available deadlines.
And, of course, you as a good leader who leads by example, and will monitor the execution, and help them make a delivery with a good technical level, helping to develop their skills.
2 – It all Starts with Building Trust between Leader and Employees
There is no leadership without building trust. There may be a relationship between the boss and the subordinate, but we know that being a leader is something quite different. So, it is very important that you as a new leader invest time in your personal relationship with each member of your team starts here.
Understand what motivates them: money? Recognition? Success? Balance between personal and professional life? Challenge?
Ask them what their goals are in terms of growth and the future, both personally and professionally: how do they see themselves in the company 1 year from now? And in 5? What are your life goals? What are your personal goals?
Discover your main fears: what turns you off? What should you as a leader not do? What are their weaknesses and how do they deal with them?
3 – Leading with Context Rather Than Control
When leading managers, and especially product managers, it is super important that you are able to constantly and well understand the business context and the company’s situation. This is because those who are one or more hierarchical levels above tend to have more strategic information than their subordinates. So it’s critical that you have constant, open communication about where the company is going and why.
Only then will the managers under theirmanagement be able to make better decisions and be aligned with what the company needs. Not to mention that you also avoid the famous top-downs, which no one likes to do or take. With the context set, even if it is necessary to change the strategy, and in turn the tactics, the reason is clear and the top-down is seen as a lane correction and its deployment is much easier.
4 – Understanding Your Team’s Individual Motivators
Having a diverse team is super important nowadays, after all, being able to count on different points of view given the differences in terms of gender, social class and culture helps a lot to cover points of view that we often don’t have visibility because of what is called bubble filter or bubble effect. And that alone makes leaders have to deal with different ways of thinking, communicating and motivating.
But even in less diverse teams, each person’s individual motivators can change a lot, due to each one’s time of life, individual values or even education received. That’s why understanding what motivates each individual ends up being very important to keep your team’s talents.
5 – Giving Honest and Timely Feedback
It is not uncommon for people to work for months without receiving any kind of feedback. Neither positive nor negative. And that sucks, after all if you don’t know if you’re doing something wrong or good, where should you focus your efforts? And here comes the surprise in the annual performance evaluation where everything that happened in the year comes to light and is often used not to give a raise or a promotion, generating a very bad feeling for both the giver and the receiver.
To prevent this type of situation from occurring, a good practice is that you give feedback as soon as the fact has occurred and preferably using the SCI format, that is, situation, behavior, impact:
At first, when taking feedback, it is important that the employee knows and recognizes what the situation is. So, explain everything that happened, giving details of how, where and when it happened.
In the next step, you must describe the behavior of the contributor in the mentioned situation. It is important to make as few judgments as possible and only describe what you witnessed, as gossip can detract from your speech. Finally, it is necessary to demonstrate the impact generated from the behavior of the employee. Make it clear that this is your perception, so the speech will be fairer and not show offensive judgment.
