Engineering Management for the Rest of Us

When you’re misaligned, burnout is inevitable. Working on a team with values that largely align with your own is nice, because you can really dig into the makeup of the culture on your team. Clarity is what we’re aiming for here. Clarity is key.

Take a minute or two to examine this list. Which three words resonated with you most? For those values you noticed yourself aligning with, think about why you picked them. Was it a value your parents drove home for you as a kid? Did you overcome adversity and come out the other side, understanding the need for one of these values? Are there…

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When someone is acting in misalignment with their stated values, this is precisely when to be careful. In his book, Nonviolent Communication, Marshall B. Rosenberg points out that “All criticism, attack, insults, and judgments vanish when we focus attention on hearing the feelings and needs behind a message.”

Here’s an example of values I’ve put forth on my teams: We celebrate everyone’s wins as though they’re our own. No compare and despair. Be empowered to forge forward, we hired you because you’re an expert. Make mistakes. Choose impact over butts in seats (We’re not counting hours here, focus on making an impact and work when and how you want).

Values are the fundamental beliefs that guide us, motivate us, and drive our actions. Values describe the qualities we want most to embody. They help us determine what is important, help us understand what we essentially align with…

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Good company values do this. They convey a viewpoint that you can easily understand and check against. If you notice your company lacks a point of view in their mission statement and you’re in the position to push back, I highly suggest asking about it. Leadership is all about driving clarity, and company values should make it clear what the drivin

People can be internally inconsistent. Sometimes it seems that someone values one thing, but they act another way instead. For those around them, this can be disorienting. When you see miscommunication or conflict arise, perhaps dig in to whether this may be the source.

What life events have the people you work with been through that changed the way they think about things? What can you learn about how they’ve evolved as people by understanding what shaped their values?

Communicating our own values also gives our employees a bit of context about our working style and needs, which they’ll need in order to best understand us.