Stepping Forward and Back

One of the challenges of being an effective and inspirational Product leader is knowing when to step forward and when to step back.

If you've led any sort of visioning or discovery work, your natural tendency, may be to step forward by spelling out your recommended solution. This is especially true when it's your product, when the team becomes blocked and timelines slip, or when others lack the context to make the "right" decision. And so you insert your authority and expertise to nudge (or shove) the team forward.

Today's nudge isn't the problem. The problem is the onslaught of nudges that follow.

Stepping forward becomes standing forward - justified by the belief that we're protecting the team from failing. And then we remember that one of primary gripes of leaders above or outside of Product is their intolerance for failure and experimentation... #irony

I'm not suggesting to routinely push your team off a cliff. Leadership without boundaries, expectation setting, and feedback is sabotage.

Instead, if the goal is to empower others (and yourself in tow) to rise, we need to develop healthy habits of stepping forward and back...

Step forward with an inspiring vision, then step back to let them choose the opportunities.
Step forward with constraints, then step back to let them experiment within.
Step forward with empowering questions, then step back to let them answer.
Step forward with well framed problems, then step back to let them create solutions.
Step forward by attending the meeting, then step back by speaking last (or not at all).
Step forward by anointing someone else to step forward, then step back to let them flop and flounder and eventually rise.

Change will be hard. Conversations will be tense. People will get frustrated. Shit will break.

Just the same, new ideas will come forward from new voices. People will learn and create, together. Teams will build trust. Momentum will build.

Step forward and step back so that everyone can step up.