Balancing Leadership and Team Development as You Grow

Balancing Leadership and Team Development as You Grow
Photo by Nick Fewings / Unsplash

I remember early in my career, sitting down with one of my mentors for a chat. He ordered a coffee—his third of the day, I’m pretty sure—and if you know me, you know I stuck with my usual glass of water. At the time, I was just starting to manage a small product team and felt overwhelmed by the growing responsibilities. I asked him, “How did you manage the transition when your team grew from just a handful of people to leading an entire product organization?”

His response became a cornerstone in my leadership approach: “As your team grows, the importance of coaching and developing your people doesn’t go away—it becomes even more critical. But your time becomes split between more people, more priorities, and bigger decisions. You must trust your team—delegate and build systems that will empower others to coach and develop themselves.”

That conversation shaped my career. Leadership at scale isn’t about doing everything yourself—it’s about creating frameworks and fostering a culture where development happens organically, from different voices within the team. Diversity in thinking brings fresh ideas and new ways of tackling challenges. As product leaders, we face a common challenge: how do we continue developing our teams as responsibilities multiply and our direct engagement time shrinks?

Let’s explore some practical strategies that have worked for me and others in similar roles.


Empowering Senior Team Members to Lead Development

As your team grows, the need to develop future leaders from within becomes critical. Rather than trying to directly manage the development of every team member, it’s far more effective to empower your senior team members to coach and mentor others. By delegating responsibility, you’re not just lightening your own load—you’re creating a network where knowledge-sharing and growth are part of the culture.

For example, organizations like Microsoft and Google have long-standing peer mentorship programs where senior team members guide their junior counterparts. I’ve seen firsthand how assigning a senior team member to mentor others can multiply the impact of leadership. One key to making this work is setting clear expectations for both the mentor and mentee, ensuring that both parties understand the goals of their relationship. It's not just about technical guidance, but fostering problem-solving skills, communication styles, and decision-making.

This approach doesn’t just scale leadership—it also encourages different communication styles to emerge. I once had a conversation with a senior team member where we compared our different approaches to giving feedback. That discussion made me realize the value of allowing various communication styles to surface. Encouraging others to step into leadership allows their distinct perspectives to add richness to the team dynamic.


Leveraging Group Coaching to Harness Collective Knowledge

When managing larger teams, one-on-one coaching becomes a challenge, but group coaching offers a way to develop multiple people at once while encouraging shared learning. Group coaching sessions, where team members tackle common challenges, can be an excellent way to foster collaboration and problem-solving skills.

Companies like IBM and Deloitte have successfully used thematic group coaching, where employees gather to discuss topics such as cross-functional team management or enhancing customer experience. This strategy reduces the repetition of delivering the same advice to multiple people while bringing different perspectives into the conversation.

At the end of each session, ensure there are actionable takeaways for everyone involved. For example, after discussing a theme like roadmap planning, each participant should leave with a specific goal or change to implement in their workflow. This not only makes group coaching more effective but also ensures accountability as participants track their progress at future sessions.


Using Technology to Scale Leadership and Communication

In today’s remote and hybrid work environments, technology is an invaluable tool for scaling leadership. Tools like blogs, recorded video sessions, or “ask me anything” (AMA) events can ensure your team remains connected, even when you can’t engage with everyone directly.

I’ve found that creating a knowledge base of recorded coaching sessions, written insights, or FAQs can be highly effective. Companies like Automattic, which operates in a fully distributed model, have perfected this. Leaders create internal blogs and share videos to disseminate guidance to a wide audience, allowing team members to engage with the content at their own pace. These resources can be revisited as often as needed, reducing the pressure for in-person coaching while maintaining a high level of support.

Incorporating regular virtual AMAs also helps. These sessions allow for immediate, open-ended questions from the team, addressing pressing concerns without requiring you to spend countless hours in individual meetings. Technology enables you to extend your influence across a wider base while ensuring consistent guidance and support.


Fostering a Culture of Continuous Feedback

Developing a team at scale often comes down to creating an environment where continuous feedback is the norm. This way, feedback becomes something that happens organically rather than during formal reviews. At Netflix, for example, employees are encouraged to offer real-time feedback during team interactions. This open, candid culture keeps everyone aligned and constantly improving.

The key is to integrate feedback loops into your daily and weekly routines. After each sprint or major project, make sure there’s space for open feedback about what worked and what didn’t. When this happens consistently, team members naturally become better at self-correction, learning, and growth, reducing the need for constant oversight from leadership.

More importantly, as your team becomes more accustomed to giving and receiving feedback, the quality of their interactions improves, and development happens organically. They start coaching each other, sharing insights in real-time, and creating a cycle of continuous learning.


Encouraging Ownership and Accountability to Drive Growth

Ownership is a powerful motivator. When team members feel accountable for their projects, they are more likely to self-manage and seek the resources needed for their own growth. This doesn’t just benefit them—it benefits the entire team by encouraging autonomy and reducing the need for constant oversight.

Amazon’s emphasis on ownership serves as a great example of this. Employees are given full responsibility for their projects, from conception to execution, and are trusted to deliver results. This doesn’t mean leaders should disappear entirely, but by giving your team the freedom to make decisions and learn from their mistakes, you’re fostering an environment of accountability.

When assigning ownership, make sure your team understands not just the goals but the full scope of responsibility that comes with the project. Give them the autonomy to navigate the challenges but be available for regular check-ins to offer guidance and support when needed. This balance ensures team members grow while staying aligned with the broader business goals.


Conclusion: Leadership at Scale Requires Systems, Not Just Hands-On Coaching

As you grow in your career, the importance of developing your team doesn’t diminish—it becomes more vital than ever. However, the time you can dedicate to each person shrinks as your responsibilities increase. By implementing strategies like peer mentorship, group coaching, leveraging technology, fostering continuous feedback, and encouraging ownership, you can continue to drive meaningful development across your team without being stretched too thin.

For me, this blog is my way of connecting with my team and the broader product community, while also evolving my own leadership style to meet the needs of this dynamic group that I care deeply about.

The goal isn’t to coach everyone directly—it’s to create a culture and systems that enable your team members to grow on their own and support each other along the way. Effective leadership at scale is about building an environment that fosters success, even when you’re not present in every moment.

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