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Disclaimer: This is not my story. So, thank you Sarah for letting me eavesdrop on your conversation and share this experience... and an extra thank you for the cup of coffee. It’s not just a monthly article; it really is a lifestyle choice.
“I’m not firing you, Marcus,” Sarah said. “I’m ‘unbossing’ you”
I heard this comment while sitting in an airport waiting for my connecting flight. I was replying to a client regarding a feedback conversation she was about to have and couldn’t help but overhear Sarah use the word “unbossing” to her colleague while relaying a story about her direct report, Marcus. I thought I misheard her, until she continued.
Sarah continued stating that Marcus just froze for a minute and asked, “What the hell is that?” (Full transparency, it wasn’t “hell” that was used) “Are you making that stuff up?” (Once again, “stuff” was not the language shared.) “Is this some sort of company thing that’s going to make me do more BS work?”
I realized Sarah and Marcus had a very familiar manager to report relationship based on the language and tone of the exchange Sarah was relaying.
Sarah continued her story, “Actually, it’s the opposite. You’re a brilliant coder, but as a Team Lead, you’re not so good. Actually, you kinda suck. You’re totally out of place in a management role. You’re like a pork chop in a Jewish synagogue.”
And that’s when I lost my cold brew coffee out of my nose and spilled it all over the table. Thank you again for the coffee, Sarah.
“Here’s the deal,” Sarah said. “We’re deleting your management track. No more performance reviews, no more budget spreadsheets, no more team syncs that you have to lead. Instead, you’re our first ‘Principal Operator of Old Protocols.’ You will be the point person for legacy systems and spearhead necessary migrations.”
There’s no way she just gave him the job title, POOP or POOOP, I thought to myself.
Sarah said that Marcus looked at the paper and responded, “So, I just get to do the stuff I already do and actually like? No direct reports? No one asking me about their ’career journey' while I’m trying to debug or migrate old data?”
“Exactly. You’re an individual contributor with the same salary and the autonomy to do your job,” Sarah said.
What a brilliant move! Ok, perhaps there were some coaching opportunities around Sarah’s professionalism and delivery, but she was able to retain a valuable employee, reinvigorate Marcus and meet what sounded like a key business need.
Modern day development requires modern approaches. To think otherwise will frustrate and disengage your workforce. And it seemed to work well in this situation.
Sarah finished the story saying that in the end Marcus looked relieved and said, “I’ve never been so happy to be demoted.”
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