It is better to lead from behind. But it’s hard.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
Lao Tzu

Not long ago one of my team members asked me this question:

Gosia, what do you actually do at work? You have a team of Product Managers and Group Product Managers to manage them. What is there left for you?

My immediate reaction was a feeling of disappointment. How come he does not see all my hard work? All the sweat and tears that I put into work every single day. All the difficult conversations I have. All the decisions I make. But the more I reflected on his comment, the more I started to feel good about it. Let me explain why.

I have coached many Product Managers through their transition to people leaders. I have very vivid memories of all the pitfalls I have fallen into myself. This experience helped me coin the following principles, which I share with the emerging leaders whom I mentor.

(The context for these principles is product management, but they are universal and you can apply them to other crafts.)

Step aside: to let others become experts

As Product Managers, we get to know the ins and outs of the products in our portfolio. We know our customers and their needs. We understand market trends and we have all the most recent product analytics data handy.

When Product Managers step up into a leadership role they become responsible for a broader product portfolio. Oftentimes they jump into the increased scope right away and try to be across everything.

This never surprises me. One of the strongest instincts of product people is to embrace customer problems and drive towards outcomes. Yet, this rule should not apply to leaders. Leaders who manage other product managers need to step aside and let their team members become experts in the problem space they own.

For first-time leaders, it’s hard to “let go”. They are more experienced, they can see through problems and make decisions faster than their team members. It’s tempting to tell others what to do and get things done faster.

But it never is the right approach. For the product to continue to be successful and for the team to feel empowered, product leaders have to entrust the product to their teams. It’s now time for others to become experts and take control, while you step up and focus on identifying new opportunities for your product to expand and for your team to grow.

Let me share a handful of tips on what leaders can do to help their teams become experts:

• connect your team with customers;
• connect your team with the right stakeholders and help them build strong, ongoing relationships;
• always keep your team in the loop for the topics they are responsible for; redirect all communication and questions to the right owners rather than responding yourself; if you happen to get involved, follow up with your team to let them know what was the outcome of your actions/discussions.
• ask questions rather than give answers; listen to your team’s suggested approaches before you share your idea or point of view;
• expose your team to the broader context that might not be accessible to them e.g. questions or comments from the executive team;
• influence others, don’t try to do it all yourself;

Step in: to amplify team success and protect the team

You have to make sure that it is your team (not you!) who is involved in the day-to-day decision-making for the problem space they own. There are however two situations when a leader has to step in.

First, always remember to celebrate your team's success and advertise their achievements with the broader internal audience. Make sure you become an amplifier for your team's wins and make them become visible in contexts that might be hard for them to get into.

• share top highlights and wins during Town Hall presentations;
• organize a stakeholder demo to showcase the recently shipped customer value;
• bring your team to customer advisory boards, partner councils, or other customer-facing forums to share what has been shipped but also share their plans and explorations;
• encourage them to proactively reach out to stakeholders to show off their recent achievements;
• congratulate them in front of others; share kudos and feedback and make sure they feel appreciated.
• make sure it’s about them and not about you!

Another situation when leaders should step in is to protect the team from unjustified pressure and false expectations. How to do it?

• drive clarity with stakeholders on what your team can and cannot deliver;
• make sure that your team engages with the right stakeholders for the right reasons e.g. if you can see that a manager skip level 1:1 turns into a micromanagement session, stop it.
• be there for the team when they fail to deliver on time, and help answer the hard questions if you see team is struggling.

This quote from Nelson Mandela is a great summary of the first two principles.

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

Step up: to become a multiplier

I encourage all my leaders to get familiar with the concept of a multiplier from Liz Wiseman’s book and apply multiplier practices in their approach to leading teams.

Multiplier leaders focus on the genius in others rather than dwelling on their own greatness and intelligence. As you can imagine, it’s not easy and requires a fair bit of humbles and maturity. But the good news is that there is a well-defined set of practices that you can follow to become a multiplier.

You should not be fooled. Multipliers are not leaders who make everyone feel good and enjoy themselves. Multipliers focus on utilizing the full potential of their teams. They will stretch you but also support you through your growth.

These five leadership practices will help you become a multiplier for your team.

• See and acknowledge the skill and talent in your team; entrust that your team can figure things out. Make sure you build a diverse and well-balanced team.
• Create opportunities for your team to come up with creative ideas and solutions, encourage them to challenge the status quo, and think outside of the box.
• Stimulate the growth of your team by giving them stretch assignments; get them out of their comfort zone and be clear on the next skill you will help them master.
• Include your team in debates and the decision-making process; debate before you decide.
• Make your team own their goals and keep them accountable (see principle 1)

If you wonder how I responded to the question from above... I asked a question back:

Do you believe you and your team are set up for success?

The answer was “Yes”.

What I do at work might have helped with that — I concluded.