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The Shit Umbrella — a rant
Elizabeth Ayer
2 min read·<br>Feb 13, 2019
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Broken Umbrella by Christopher Lance<br>You’ve probably heard the saying before, that a good manager acts as the “shit umbrella” for those below her, deflecting the bio-waste spewing forth from executives, so her teams can produce things of beauty.<br>Seriously. We gotta stop it with this metaphor.<br>Apart from being deeply insulting to senior managers, it also normalizes a toxic environment. By doing that, we enable bad behavior AND impede understanding between management and teams AND infantilize those teams. A veritable trifecta of unintended consequences out of our good intentions.<br>C’mon product people, our tag line is “responsibility without power,” surely we can take some responsibility for the work environment we perpetuate? In this case, we do have influence. Historically, we’ve been the lynchpin between all these groups. We can empathise and support. We can call out unacceptable behaviour. We can model challenge without attack. We can educate. We have practically infinite opportunities to facilitate productive dialog. But first we need to recognise that it’s our responsibility, and not just shrug when people around us misbehave.<br>As a product leader — or any kind of leader — your job is to create understanding between people above you and people below you. It is to grow people to take over your role and more. If you see your job as a barrier, that can’t happen.<br>A better approach it to actively develop the understanding of those inside and outside the umbrella. If you work with dev teams, open the door to the exec world. Show off the wonderful world of senior strategy development, the bewildering metrics, the responsibility, isolation, and pressure of making decisions with very large consequences and very scant information.
Duck Scrubbers (Wikipedia)If you insist on focusing on the unglamorous side, please at least use a metaphor with compassion. Maybe we’re penguin-cleaners after the oil spill. Or rehab nurses helping our execs off power-trip crack.<br>Whatever your metaphor, we should all be working out how to leave a company healthier than when we joined. Culture is not someone else’s problem. Even if it didn’t make for more effective work environments, we’re all humans before we’re employees.<br>This isn’t to say that it’s possible to fix all environments, and change can be very slow. If you find yourself consistently building mechanisms to allow for abusive leaders, though, it is your responsibility to consider your position.
Leadership
Culture
Product Management
Written by Elizabeth Ayer<br>1.3K followers<br>·154 following
Making software systems more humane, sustainable, and intentional. Infatuated by the possibilities of bringing product thinking to #govtech.
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