How to scale your product leadership

How are you scaling your product leadership, your ability to take on more?

Focusing on results: setting high expectations and striving for firm commitments?

I see this type of result-focus being used a lot. Applying it in the product roadmap process, and also as a leadership philosophy, do work for some leaders.

I have also met many product leaders who get stuck this way. Result-focus easily leads to a need for keeping the pressure high, which requires constant attention and work. That in turn makes it hard to take on more, to grow and advance career-wise.

The question these product leaders raise with me is: “how do I break this cycle and step back from operational issues, without jeopardising the results?"

My answer: shift your mindset, and start focusing on making agreements. 

Yes, it takes courage, and an initial time investment, to discuss your expectations in detail and create a mutual agreement. But at the end you will have much more powerful commitments, made by people who feel empowered. And perhaps most importantly: once an agreement is made, only a fraction of your time and energy is needed to manage it.

How would you use the freed-up time?

How could agreements help you becoming more impactful?