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A new model for engineering career progression focused on impact rather than headcount, showing how organizations can retain and grow leaders during stable or low-growth periods.
It is a well known principle that for people to grow in a position, they need to be challenged. And because of that, technology companies currently have an important problem to solve: how to promote their leaders?
With the past decade being focused on company growth, the industry has mostly settled on leadership career growth oriented on team growth: managers become more senior by managing larger organizations. In an environment of slow or nonexistent growth, does it mean managers need to pause their career movements?
This presentation will advocate that they don’t, since all organizations have an almost unlimited pool of challenges to solve. If companies can match the people to the challenges, they can both improve their effectiveness and support the growth of their leaders.
The talk will present the results of an experiment in a company of 200+ engineers in orienting the engineering leadership career ladder, and processes related to it, towards not only engineering teams but also engineering problems, allowing leaders to increase the complexity and impact of their roles without necessarily increasing the headcount.
It will present:
- The problem we were seeing in practice, and the leadership principles we followed in this change
- The practical change in process and perspective, providing a path for leadership career growth focused on engineering workstreams
- The results of this experiment 12 months after it’s execution
Leaders will come out with this presentation with a practical perspective on how they could change their perspectives to allow for leadership growth and retain top talent in the current trying times.
Key takeaways
- Understand how to focus engineering leadership growth in a context of stable headcount
- A practical perspective on how to evaluate leaders for their broad impact and implement changes in that direction
- A view on the actual results of this change in a public technology company
