If you’re in a mid to senior role and struggling to progress, you’ve probably gotten some vague feedback about demonstrating more leadership or seniority.
You might already have opportunities to show leadership that you haven’t capitalised on. One of my favourite (and, I think, underrated) rituals to practice on is the humble retrospective.
(I’m not going to get into why I love retros so much or why I think they’re so valuable – but if you would like that, reply to this email and let me know!)
Did you know you can just… run retros?
A lot of people assume that the leader/manager or product manager runs the retro, but it’s definitely not a rule. Actually, since the best retros are really safe and open, it can be even better if they’re run by the team.
🤩 Why retros are such a great career opportunity
Retros are the perfect way to develop 3 key leadership skills that you’ll need as you get more senior:
Facilitation: you’ll need to wrangle more stakeholders and keep them on track.
Public speaking: you’ll need to be able to talk comfortably in front of a group of people.
Meeting/workshop design: you’ll need to plan an agenda with timings, design the right format for the outcome you want, and consider the flow for the best participation.
Why wait until you get to a high-stakes meeting to practice these skills? Retros are generally a pretty safe space to experiment and grow.
💘 How to ask to run retros
There are two ways you can go about getting this opportunity:
👋 Talk to your manager
If your manager runs the retros, you can talk to them directly about helping out. Framing it as a career development opportunity can be really effective, especially if you’ve had conversations with them about developing your leadership skills.
🤗 Talk to your team
If you’re in a team with no hierarchy, you could pitch it as an opportunity for all of you, and introduce a rotating schedule for who facilitates. This is especially great if you know many people in your team also want to practice developing their leadership skills, and you can all learn from each other.
(Note: I wouldn’t force a rotating schedule on anyone in your team who really doesn’t want to do this, so make it clear that it’s an opportunity for those who want it.)
There’s no right way, so choose whichever you think makes the most send for your team!
🚀 Have fun with them!
Retros are a relatively low-stakes way to experiment with facilitation styles, meeting formats, and icebreakers. If you do go for a rotating format, you’ll learn a lot just from observing each other, and you might even settle on some new team norms.
If retros are common across your company, you could also trial “guest facilitators” where you invite someone outside your team to run the retro. This is really cool because you get to see how someone else runs the meeting, but also you can return the favour and run it with their team.
Time for some retro fun!
While running retros might not sound like a massive career move, it’s a great way to practice some core skills and build a reputation as someone who’s good at stakeholder management. And it’s much more comfortable to practice your leadership skills in an environment where everyone wants you to do a great job.
