Hi, I'm Stephane, as your manager, I look forward to getting to know you more through conversations and interactions. To give you a head start in knowing me I'd like to share my management style, philosophy, expectations and some information about myself.
This is a living document, which will change. Please let me know if you have any feedback on how to make this more useful to you and the team.
My role is to:
- provide context
- support you in your next steps / goals
- challenge you
- provide psychological safety
- provide feedback
I am not here to make all the decisions nor should I or should you let me.
I'm here to help, empower and support you, to set context for what you're working on, and to advocate for you and the team with the rest of the company.
Everyday I work to guide, advise and facilitate the growth of our team and our impact on the products we build and support.
I'm a believer in Servant Leadership. I serve you, not the other way around. I'm always available to assist. Ask me.
You work for the company, not for me. Optimize for the company. I'm making mistakes, and I want to improve just like you. Hold me accountable. Tell me.
A team's success is not defined by any one person's achievements or failures.
Each and every member of our team needs to help positively influence, guide, change, and improve our product, technology & processes.
That is your role and the role of everyone on the team. At times you will need to be able to change the mindsets and beliefs of your team; this give and take, these professional debates, are not optional. They will make you a better professional and leader, but they can be trying and often difficult. I'm here to provide guidance and course correct the conversation if need be, but I cannot and will not speak for you.
- 1-1s are very important to me because they are dedicated space for you to talk about anything and everything you want
- They are meetings primarily for you, and only secondarily for me
- It’s not a status meeting, unless you want to talk about status
- 1-1s are flexible -- they can shift and change to fit around our shifting schedules
- Don’t save urgent matters for a 1-1!
Few ideas that can be discussed in these meetings:
- new ideas you have that you need a sounding board for
- if there is something I can do to guide you, coach you
- if you're having a problem and you don't know how to attack it
- if you want to discuss something and need someone to listen
I trust each and every member of our team. Trust isn't earned, it's lost.
I hire smart people because I like to surround myself with opinionated, passionate, hard-working people. Please challenge my ideas, thoughts and feedback. If you're not comfortable doing it in a group setting please make sure to voice your thoughts in our 1-1.
I typically work between 9am and 6pm, and unless there's an emergency, I don't expect to communicate with you (about work) outside of these hours. As such, I never expect you to respond to me outside these hours either unless it is an emergency.
Regardless of where you work, our success relies on your independence and autonomy. My role is to provide a framework and support so you can be productive and feel productive. If our processes or procedures don't enable you to be productive or feel productive make sure to tell me.
I love talking technology and can do so for hours on end; but technology is rarely the only component an engineering team produces or supports. I expect the team to focus on adding business value and making decisions that ensure we can and do deliver on our commitments to the business and our customers.
I expect the team to have a passion for learning and growing and I will do my best to challenge and entice you to learn new and exciting things.