Marcela Sapone
Job titles make a lot of sense in a GE-style hierarchy. They are nearly impossible to translate in a world where “Product Manager” means seven different things at seven different organizations, and where 43% of U.S. workers are projected to be self-employed in some capacity by 2020.
You can experience the erosion of titles right here on LinkedIn. There are "Gurus" of every type, more Founders than there are companies, and VPs of functions of functions.
Without clear translation and meaning, titles are confusing outdmoded markers of status. They hurt more than they help. Externally speaking, titles don't do justice to the interesting things we invest our time into or opt to get out of bed in the morning for, and within the workplace emphasize superficial distinctions among employees that encourage them to fixate on the next promotion—or the next job with the more impressive title.
In startups, where teams are in the business of building something from scratch, titles move from problematic to toxic. They are used as carrots to appeal to the ego and our sense of possibility, encouraging candidates to jump into a risky venture. Which is why venture capital firm a16z encourages startup founders to give out fat titles: employees want them and they are virtually free.
They aren’t. They create a ball and chain that encourages people to act the way a “VP of Business Development” would act rather than taking on whatever initiative a startup really needs to reach its next survival milestone.
When my co-founder and I first started our company, Hello Alfred, we tried a different approach focused on goals. Instead of filling conventional boxes on an org chart, we started with the company mission and outcomes we needed to achieve. We wrote these specific outcomes on post-its and moved them around into practical groups that became a collection of goals a team member could own. Posted on the office wall, everyone could see the goals they were responsible for as well as the goals of their teammates. The groups of goals needed no names—we were all working towards the company mission. I believe a mindset like this, made us a more creative, collaborative, fungible, and resilient organization.
Here’s how we can rethink titles and focus on people, not boxes.
Leave room for growth—even at the top
Titles can be particularly problematic for startups, where lean teams and rapid growth set the stage for inflation and infighting over status. And it often starts when co-founders are quick to divvy up the C-suite slots before they’ve even begun to grow. Better to follow the example of Michelle Zatlyn, a co-founder of SaaS platform Cloudflare who waited years before adding COO to her profile and thus set the tone for a mission-driven—not status-focused—culture.
Although she understands why many startups give away titles to attract talent (they’re free, after all), Zatlyn and co-founder (and CEO) Matthew Prince chose to hold off and still managed to hire some of the tech industry’s standout talent. As the company grew, 100-plus employees were identified by the teams they reported to. Once the startup began to grow beyond 120, they “added a bit more structure,” Zatlyn told me, with titles like “Engineering Manager” and “Tech Lead.”
“The lack of titles gives us lots of flexibility in how we build our organization,” she said. “It allowed us to keep early team members in meaningful positions without having to create a ton of VP or SVP titles.” Or, she added, without having to demote them: “Basically, if you give someone a VP title in the first 100 people, it is unlikely they are going to be the VP for that same team when you are 500 people.”
Make teams your titles
Taking a more creative approach to job titles has proven benefits. In a study by Business School Professors Adam Grant and Dan Cable 450 employees created their own, new titles and after one quarter reported being 16% more satisfied with their work and company than employees in a control group. Creative retitling is a good first step, but it’s really only changing the label on the box. Better to scrap the box entirely.
While we use traditional titles at Hello Alfred for external communications, our internal handles are the teams, or pods, to which we’re assigned—e.g., Activation, Expansion, Habit, and (our humor intact) New World Order. Practically speaking, this means “titles” and responsibilities evolve every few weeks or quarters, along with the goals and teams tasked with achieving them. As pods reconfigure, different people come together bringing different strengths and expertise, making for a more collaborative, dynamic workplace.
Hire the story behind the title
When it comes to hiring, we basically ignore candidates’ titles on their resume. Instead we look at the companies where they’ve worked, how long they worked there, and how the companies grew during their tenure. We make a lot of effort to understand what a candidate’s team looked like, what the true responsibilities were, and how they evolved.
We aren’t trying to minimize accomplishments or diminish achievements. Quite the opposite: it’s about putting the spotlight on exactly those things. That’s why I didn’t hire a CRO—I hired the guy who suggested to Jony Ive and Dr. Dre that Apple should acquire Beats and then helped them seal a landmark cultural business deal.
Start with you
No one gets out of bed in the morning, looks in the mirror, and thinks, “I’m the VP of Product.” Titles don’t get us fired up; it’s envisioning achievement—“Today, my team will nail the customer interaction that gets more people to try our product.”—that spurs us to action.
Make your title your personal mission
So, if it seems too daunting or unrealistic to kill titles across the company, you can start with you. Scrap your own title, look in the mirror, and call yourself the thing you want to achieve: “I am building an unparalleled product team” or “I am making DevOps a competitive advantage for us.”
As for your LinkedIn profile take this advice from executive recruiter Pete Leibman:
Step 1: Say WHAT you are.
Step 2: Say WHO you help.
Step 3: Say HOW you make their life/work better.
Step 4: Give PROOF that you are credible.
Examples:
Executive Recruiter/Speaker/Author/who helps you create a better career. Featured on Fox/CBS/CNN
Fundraising consultant who helps major non-profits raise more money. Clients include the Red Cross and YMCA.
Personal Trainer who helps high school athletes get stronger and faster. Certified by the American Council on Exercise.
www.fotavgeia.blogspot.com
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