# Steven J. Zaluk's Manager Readme

**Director at DevAcuity Consulting**

# Mission Statement

In  order to understand how I approach leadership and management it may be helpful to set forth a mission statement which clarifies what my goals are inside the organization, both for myself and any teams I may lead.

Continue to discover, learn, and apply leadership techniques to myself and my teams. Use these techniques as an opportunity to lead by example. Use these techniques to help build everyone around me into a leader themselves.

Why is this important to me?

- A boss makes decisions for their team. A leader gives their team the opportunity to make the right decisions.
- A boss says "us" vs "them". A leader says "we".
- A boss will attempt to control their team. A leader will coordinate their team.

# 

# Role

As an Engineering Manager, I...

- Make sure my teams have room to achieve their objectives, by...
  - Removing blockers
  - Reducing meetings
  - Reacting on their behalf

- Keep people motivated about their work, learning, and career growth. Make sure all of these goals align with the longer term company goals.
- Work with the teams to identify modern day best practices and weave it into our culture as necessary.
- Mentor and coach team members to make sure they understand our processes, philosophy, and culture.
- Build individuals into leaders and owners so that they can excel at being the best contributors they can.

At the end of the day I am here to serve you, not the other way around.

# 

# Management Philosophy

- Family first, hands down.
- I actively work to create leaders and owners. I absolutely do not micromanage.  
- We all make mistakes. We all learn from our mistakes. If your mistake impacts the business that is the fault of the people who made the process which failed, not the individual who made the mistake.
- Communication is the most fundamental building block of a team. Problems typically arise due to _lack of communication_.
- I care more about the quality of your work, not the quantity of time it took to get it done. Outcomes are more important than the path it took to achieve the goal.
- Rewards go to those who step up, volunteer, and shine a light on their achievements. Show that you are providing proper impact to the company; don't expect others to recognize everything you do, it's not scalable.

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# What I Value

- Self-starters and volunteers. Not everything is a cakewalk, sometimes we need to distribute the load, even if it isn't always the most interesting work.
- People that deep dive into the technology they use on a daily basis in an attempt to excel at becoming an expert at it. Alternatively, people that increase the breadth of knowledge around the technology they use in an attempt to be a global thinking generalist.
- People that intelligently question things to improve their understanding, and not just question things because they disagree.
- People that take the time to help teach their peers. We all rise together. Seniors should be turning Juniors into future Seniors.

## 

# 1-1s

I meet weekly with all direct reports for roughly 30 minutes (and tend to go over that time with certain individuals, which is great). I also do skip 1-1s (if applicable) to get a "boots on the ground" feel for where each team is at, whether their lead/manager is providing them with proper direction, and to gauge general happiness.

Getting time with me is not constrained to 1-1s! I can always make time for important discussions that need to occur.

- These are not status update meetings.
- Anything under the sun is a worthy topic.
- I like to put emphasis on career growth, learning, and overall happiness.

I will  **always ** ask your permission to reschedule, or in a worst case scenario cancel, your 1:1, and provide you with what I hope to be a credible reason to do so. I consider these meetings a promise that I am required to uphold and do not take it as lightly as other meetings typically on my schedule.