My article draws inspiration from a LinkedIn post by Chris Donnelly. It compares how a “(Unhealthy) Boss” and a “(Servant) Leader” would approach different situations in leadership.
If you identify with the “Leader” in these pictures but still haven’t been promoted to a manager title with direct reports, you will get there. Using this time wisely can really help dial in your unique approaches to servant leadership. Discover what management style plays to your strengths. Reflecting on yourself and writing things down can help figure out what the missing pieces are and what to work on.
Preliminary Questions
Here are some examples of questions you can ask yourself:
- What leadership qualities can you uniquely offer your teammates right now? Example: You and your teammates frequently mention that someone needs to finish the onboarding documentation for getting a new developer up to speed using the team’s preferences, configuration, and coding environment. Offer to the team that you can get this done and ask if anyone has any tribal knowledge or specific aspects included. Set a realistic deadline for yourself and ensure you follow through. Remember, taking initiative requires clear communication and collaboration to avoid overstepping. Additionally, keep product owners and project managers in the loop, especially if the task will take significant effort. Other ways to serve your team include being the first to offer constructive feedback on pull requests or helping organize and prepare for a demo. Think of leaders you’ve worked with in the past, what duties and responsibilities did you and the team value the most. If it aligns with team priorities, take the initiative now.
- Why does a title change matter to you? Is it intrinsically or extrinsically motivated?
If you are extrinsically motivated, is it the money? The PTO time for vacations? Many professionals that are extrinsically motivated care more about the money/benefits than a prestigious title. If this is you, getting a promotion in the near future may not be the only way forward. Research if the company you work for does market adjustments (if you know you’re far below average market rate). Potentially look at earning extra money on the weekends through teaching bootcamps, monetizing content, etc. - If you’re intrinsically motivated, what are those responsibilities or duties that you find most fulfilling?
Does your current job description accurately describe your actual day to day? In my case, the title and new job description, boosted two aspects of my job which I loved the most: 1) Specifically in AMU’s team structure, having the title of Lead Front-end Web Developer meant I was consulted more often as an SME for Ruby on Rails, React.js/Next.js, User Experience, etc. Almost overnight, I began working with several more cross-functional teams on a daily basis. This amplified our team’s ability to drive positive change across a catalogue of 40 digital products. 2) If you deliver excellent results to someone, they’re going to come back. Doing this for 7 years, the actual duties and responsibilities that were being expected of me had grown drastically. With an updated job description, the day-to-day duties and the growing responsibility I had to my teammates were all accurately described in the job description. Having the responsibility to represent our team’s voice is something I never had since front-end and back-end were all under a single director. If are intrinsically motivated, look ahead of where you’ve naturally grown responsibilities and duties, this is likely what gives you fulfillment. It also may mean different types of leadership paths like growing into a Principle UI Architect vs. Software Engineering Manager. - Who would you be reporting to? What could you do to make their job easier?
Let’s say you’ve been asked by the Director to lead an annual budget audit for the entire department. You’ve done it for the past three years. This year, look for proactive ways in which you could automate parts or maybe all of the process. Being able to quickly streamline routine tasks is an example of both making your boss’ life easier and saving you time to focus on other responsibilities. - What would change if you were promoted today? What gets easier? Are there benefits? What gets harder? What are the drawbacks?
The goal of this question is to get to an answer where even after a month after your promotion into leadership, the job feels the same. In my experience it actually became slightly easier. While practicing effective servant leadership, it’s rare you have to play the “Boss” card and say something like this:
“I understand you feel that way but I think it’s best for the team that we don’t use that package currently in beta on our largest flagship website while under a independent cybersecurity audit.” (Yes. This was actually something I said to an engineer during a 3 month long audit.)”
A hallmark of great leadership is being masterful at aligning perspectives. Not just aligning you and a teammate’s but aligning a group of diverse perspectives when the decision matters for your entire team. In software engineering, this can be uniquely difficult and is often described as “Herding Cats.” Make consensus building a superpower, it’s so important for sole contributors and leadership, alike. - What weaknesses are holding you back from being promoted?
As you write down all the reasons you aren’t the Principle UX Architect, Director of Software Engineering, or Director of Operations, try to focus on things directly within your control. None of your answers should begin with people’s names or their pronouns like: He, Her, They. Start with I want, or I should.
Bad example: If Zack would adopt the Airbnb best-practices we’ve outlined as a team, I’d be able to spend more time on technical architecture like the Director wants me doing…
Better Example: I spend a significant portion of my time re-reviewing pull requests and doing code reviews. I WANT to set up a private conversation with Zach SO THAT I can better understand if he is overwhelmed with the best practices or maybe he doesn’t agree with certain guidelines. Is there a way we can enforce the team’s best practices before features are raised as a pull requests? If an engineer doesn’t agree with a rule or guideline, how can I help make it easy their opinions to be raised without embarrassment?
Your Promotion Plan
Now that you have a clearer view of your unique contributions and motivations, it’s time to begin your own plan. You will gradually grow into your target role but it will be difficult. This effort is on top of your current duties. Many of the best leaders and peers that I’ve ever worked with had a clear bias for action. They took on many of the next role’s duties and responsibilities well before getting promoted.”
Strive to uphold these mantras each day as you begin to put your plan in motion. When people say “Lead by Example,” this is precisely what that means. Many of the best leaders that I’ve ever worked with, had a clear bias to act. They assumed many of the next role’s duties and responsibilities before getting promoted.”
And yes, it sucks.
I was in that same spot 7 years ago as a Lead Front-end Developer at AMU. We had lost two really great Technical Directors to better opportunities while going through a turbulent season of churn. I was the closest thing to a Software Engineering Manager or a Technical Director and began reporting directly to our Chief Digital Officer. It didn’t take even a couple weeks and I had absorbed many of the previous director’s responsibilities and duties without the pay or title. I felt stretched thin and began to realize it took twice the effort to unofficially lead our diverse team of developers while we tried to restructure. In hindsight, I’m really grateful for that experience. It was being in Leadership on “HARD” mode. Below are the 8 steps that got me promoted and prepared me for managing a growing software engineering te.
- 1
ESTABLISH YOUR PROFESSIONAL GOAL
Try to get there job description of the role you are working towards. It helps to shed light on what’s missing between A and B.
- 2
QUANTIFY YOUR PROGRESS
List your accomplishments and any of the target role’s duties that you’re already doing. This may be a bittersweet process.
The sweet: Offers confirmation for responsibilities that you’ve already grown into.
The bitter: you may see responsibilities on the target role’s description that you didn’t even realize they had to deal with. This can humble your ambitions and give appreciation for things you may not have known that you don’t know.
Make a plan for each of the duties and responsibilities so you are ready after being promoted.
- 3
BOSS: SHARE YOUR GOAL WITH LEADERSHIP
Communicate to the right people that you’re passionate about growing professionally and interested in a promotion. The “right people” will be different for each of you but generally it’s going to be your boss or someone in a leadership role above you in the ladder. Be direct but tactful. You may be doing all the work and putting in 11 hour days. If nobody knows your interested in career growth, your ambitions remain in your mind only. Best case scenario is to get a leader one level above your target role to outline which steps are still needed before you’re eligible for promotion. In my situation, I asked for guidance from our Director of software engineering. He outlined the steps I still needed to complete before being promoted to Manager of software engineering. I really looked up to this individual and used a statement similar to this:
“I’ve been incredibly inspired by your leadership and the growth you’ve fostered in our team. I’d love to discuss how I can follow in your footsteps and contribute even more to our success. Do you mind if we set a 30 minute meeting to outline some actionable steps I can take to prepare for a promotion?”
- 4
FIND TWO MENTORS TO HELP YOU LEVEL UP (DOUBLE XP STYLE!)
Setup a reoccurring 30 minute meeting once a month or sprint and be clear about your intentions of growing professionally into the next role. Keep track of your progress and pick mentors that will hold you accountable. I used a confluence document with a simple table. Ideally, the first mentor is in your craft (and likely who you talked to in step #4), a strong leader in or above the role you’re working towards. IE: Software Engineering Manager or Director of Software Engineering. If you can find a second mentor, it helps if their craft IS people like an executive or proven leader at the company like an HR Director or related role. I had an amazing experience with Susan Johnson, AMU’s Chief People and Communications Officer at the time. Over several months, she had me read a few books, rumbled with me on areas where I needed to grow, and completely changed my way of thinking around leadership. I couldn’t be more appreciative for the wisdom gained from that experience.
- 5
TRAIN UP ON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES
While being mentored, it’s a great time to sign up for leadership training and attend one which come recommended by one of your mentors. *Queue the Rocky training montage!* It’s really important to maintain a mindset of continuous improvement. It helps to stay in that mindset for the next item.
- 6
PUT LESSONS INTO PRACTICE AND SERVE THE TEAM
With a healthy mindset and mentors, you now know what you should be working on and have at least a rough idea on how to get there. Serve your team! Transforming a team into a gold standard of excellence is so much harder when you are all teammates and they do not report to you. Think of the quote
“A rising tide lifts all boats.”
You are the tide here. If this sentiment is your guiding light, you will grow exponentially. As you continue to hone your unique leadership style, you’ll begin to recognize that you’re forming instincts around how best to support certain personality types.
- 7
CREATE YOUR OWN “10 COMMANDMENTS”
As you are honing your unique leadership style, now it’s time to draw up your leadership mantras. Write down the principles you value the most as a leader, here are mine. Take important note to include how you will deliver on each of them. In my case, each mantra had a quote which was mentioned often on my team. This helps quite a bit to reinforce each principal.
- 8
THE FINAL BOSS: SHARE YOUR GOAL WITH THE TEAM
By now, you have an arsenal of leadership tactics, approaches, and a style of leadership you can call your own. Looking back at the past few months, you count several feathers in your cap that weren’t there before. Things like reducing non-coding time on a ticket from 65 minutes to less than 5. You’ve developed a system that streamlines the time to onboard new engineers from 60 days to a single two week sprint.
Each feather isn’t quantified by having the highest number of LeetCode problems solved or holding the record of code contributions for 4 years in a row. You Think like an Owner now. Success is measured on your ability to elevate those around you while championing team performance. Your teammates are becoming legends in their own right and leadership is beginning to recognize your team as a driving force for the company’s mission. Both your mentors share the exciting news, you are finally eligible for a promotion to Manager of Software Engineering! Except…
As one last step, the mentor asks you to get candid feedback from your team. If you received sharp criticism from your closest friends and colleagues that could string for days! Don’t panic, just like the your first boss, it’s time to gradually and tactfully share your goal of being promotion. The feedback from those you’ve been in the trenches with is more important than you realize.
If your at this step but haven’t heard that you are eligible for a promotion yet, you can still proceed. A good litmus test is if a mentor has recommended you get feedback from the team. Another good check is if your answer to #5 is “very little would change after a promotion except my title and pay.”
When I started this process, I humbly began asking for feedback from the engineers on my team. As the Lead Front-end Engineer, I privately met with each one and shared that I have been working towards a promotion to Manager of Software Engineer. I asked my teammate to give honest feedback on the past year and a half.
1. What were the things they would like me to do more of?
2. Were there opportunities that they think I could improve on more before taking on the new role.
3. Is there anything that gave them reservations before I became manager of our team?
This took a lot of guts because I really primed each engineer to feel comfortable delivering non-sugarcoated feedback. If you have worked hard to serve your team and the company, chances are you’ll hear mostly cheerleading and positive feedback, even after . Keep your ears keen to neutral or cryptic feedback. Lean into what they are saying with questions like: “Is there anything else?” or “Can you tell me more about *cryptic thing*.” It takes guts for someone to give constructive feedback face-to-face. If they are confident enough to say it, really try to gain clarity in what their message is. It may hurt to hear in the moment but getting guidance on an area where you can improve is a rare gift. Help them deliver it, it will make you a better person and in turn, help the team.
Be relentless everyday, follow your own Mantras and principles. It will come. You’ll be ready!
I realize this is a very opinionated topic. Each person’s situation and role comes with endless nuance. However, this was my journey and it got me promoted from Lead Front-end Engineer to Manager of Software Engineering Manager (Front-end) over the course of 8 months. If this article helps even one person in achieving the next level in their career, writing this would have been worth it. I’d love to hear other professional’s stories about transitioning from a sole contributor to Manager/Director. Leave a comment on LinkedIn, here!
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