The inspiration for this document came from my own manager 4 years ago. I found it super helpful to learn more about her management style via a cohesive ReadMe post, so now I want to do the same for my coworkers, direct reports and everyone who is curious to learn more about me.
In my spare time, I love dancing 💃 (just putting headphones on, loud music and dancing around the house 😅), meditating, reflecting and journaling 🧘♀️ (I’m very passionate about personal development and spirituality), running, going on long walks, reading or just enjoying a good Netflix show 🍿.
I am an ambivert - meaning a mix of introvert and extrovert. I enjoy working in teams, hanging out with people, socializing, but I also enjoy reflecting, spending time alone and working independently. It all depends on the situation and context.
If you're curious about my professional experience, feel free to check out my LinkedIn page.
I strongly believe in Servant Leadership and am passionate about empowering teams and helping each individual and the team as a whole achieve its full potential.
- I serve you, not the other way around, and I’m here to help you grow, remove any blockers, advance in your career and become the most efficient, motivated, energized and productive self
- I value clear, transparent and frequent communication, radical candor and honest feedback
- I strive to always set clear expectations when it comes to your role, projects that we’re working on or outcomes we want to achieve
- Processes are here to serve us, not cause blockers. Only by regularly reflecting on what works and what doesn’t and iterating on the way we do things can we keep raising the bar and improving.
- I hold myself accountable for the results of my team and the decisions made (even if those decisions weren't made by me)
- We never jump to conclusions but rather assume best intentions from everyone until proven otherwise
- We lead open, honest and transparent communication, keeping in mind other person’s needs and taking their point of view into account
- We have a strong bias toward action. If it can be reverted - default to action.
- We learn from our mistakes consistently. We’re not afraid to make mistakes, take accountability and the learnings in order to improve ourselves and our processes.
- We work as a team and as no-ego doers, always willing to help others, share our learnings and work for the benefit of the team and the company
I am a big fan of weekly 1:1s, mostly because they enable us to develop deep, trusting relationships, surface any issues or challenges early on and identify areas of growth potential.
The 1:1s are your time, you set the agenda and the topics you want to discuss. I usually have a place (paper) to put any items we want to talk about. If something (non-urgent) comes up during the week that you’d like to talk about, please put it on the agenda. It’s ok if nothing comes up, we can use the time to share a quick update, get to know eachother better, or talk about career growth opportunities.
1:1s are not a place for long status updates (we have our team syncs for that), but rather a place to share any concerns, wins, anything that’s on your mind or anything I can help you with.
Also, if anything comes up during the week you’d like to chat about, please don’t hesitate to book a slot on my calendar. If it looks busy, that’s ok, I can always find a slot in the day and helping/unblocking you is always my top priority!
Just as you can expect to receive kind, clear, honest and timely feedback from me, I encourage you to do the same for me.
Feedback is the best way to grow and improve, so please, if there’s anything at all you notice, don’t hesitate to share it with me.
It can be helpful to remove any judgment or emotion from the feedback and just honestly share your observation of the event or characteristic, the impact it has on your or others and what you think would be a better way.
It's also important to have psychological safety in order to provide and receive feedback, which is why I strive to develop deep, trusting relationships where it is safe to openly share any concerns or observations.
I am also quite big on praise and celebrating small wins 🎉, so you can expect to see a lot of small celebrations from me whenever appropriate.
I am very passionate about constant growth and improvement (one of my core BICEPS needs), which is why I put a lot of focus on mentoring and career growth of my direct reports.
I know that not everyone is always in high-growth mode, and I fully respect that. It can be that due to your personal situation or simply your character, career growth is not something you’re actively pursuing right now. And that’s ok! We’ll talk about that on our 1:1s and define what you feel comfortable with. If career and professional growth is high on your list, though, I’d love to work with you on setting clear expectations, goals and projects that will help you improve your skills and advance in your career.
I will give you feedback on how you're doing continuously, including in our one-on-ones. If I'm worried about your performance, I will let you know. My goal is for you to never be unsure about how you're performing (and how I think you're performing). If you ever feel unsure about either of these things, please let me know.
I prefer regular, timely communication and preventing any "big reveals". This can be on our daily standups or simply sharing a sentence or two on Slack at the end of your day.
I also respect working hours. Once I get to know your preferred schedule and working hours, I'll do my best to not ping you outside of those. If we're working in different timezones, it might be best to adjust Slack notifications though as I might have to leave you a message for your tomorrow.
This is in no way a complete list of my management practices, nor is it meant to replace getting to know me in person during our 1:1s, but it does provide a high-level overview or my leadership style and preferences.
Hope you found it useful.
With smiles 🤗,
Ivana