The Anchor Playbook
The Servant Leader
Pivotal/Tanzu Labs
AN EXPERT FACILITATOR AND COACH; CAN STEP UP OR STEP BACK AS NEEDED.
A skillful leader does not make decisions in a vacuum; they make space for the team to make decisions as a group.
Many Pivotal/Tanzu Labs engineers feel that anchors are responsible for assessing what needs to be done — from an engineering perspective — and making sure those tasks get done through skillful facilitation and delegation. The trick here is providing enough leadership to move the team forward without taking control of the decision-making process. Much like the Peer, it may be unclear to outsiders who the anchor (servant leader) actually is.
Responsibilities
- Bring the team to a higher level of situational awareness
- Facilitate conversations, especially through activities
- Keep the team moving forward
- Model values and norms for the team to imitate
- Make sure everyone has a voice in decision-making
Considerations
- A servant leader opens up the team for more diversity and safety for experimentation
- Even while growing, the team needs to be held to a standard of excellence
Challenges
- Anchors may put unreasonable expectations on themselves and feel alone and stressed
- Anchors with many other responsibilities have little time to pair and code