Leadership @ Spotify

Apr 23

Spotify offers plenty of resources to support lifelong learning, which I love about the company. One standout in-person course is the Leadership@Spotify program. This intensive training helps us strengthen our leadership skills with real-world exercises and provides a refresher on different business areas. It’s a great way to discuss common challenges we face as managers across the company.

Leadership@Spotify focuses on our Manager Manifesto behaviors and is mandatory for all managerial levels, including directors. This ensures consistent leadership practices across the board. In a large organization with complex business units, it's easy to work in silos. Programs like this help us learn what our peers are doing to build teams that align with Spotify’s philosophy, fostering a unified approach to leadership.

I completed my Leadership@Spotify training in March 2024, just shy of my two-year mark with the company. After experiencing two major RIFFs and numerous structural and strategic changes, the training came at the perfect time, grounding me for the next phase of my journey at Spotify.

Here are my key insights, distilled for managers and leaders with a holistic approach so you can apply it to your day-to-day.

When operating in complexity and chaos, as is often the case at fast-growing companies, how might managers assess where they actually stand?

*Leading now means deciding in two worlds: predictable and unpredictable. Polarities aren’t problems to fix but perspectives to balance. Aim for harmony, not resolution.*

In a traditional management approach, stability is achieved through a structured process of change, followed by a return to stability. Leaders and managers operate with a sense of predictability and maintain control over outcomes. This approach emphasizes a “big picture” perspective, with a clear separation between thinking and action, means and ends, and tasks from processes. Alignment within the organization is prioritized, encouraging shared values and leaving politics at the door.

In contrast, complexity science views organizations as never truly at rest, experiencing “one damned thing after another.” Here, predictability is blended with unpredictability, and there is no single locus of control; outcomes emerge from the collective actions of everyone involved. The focus shifts to both local interactions and the broader patterns they create, linking means and ends in a more dynamic way. This approach embraces differences, enabling constraints, and acknowledges the influence of politics and power in shaping outcomes.

When we ran both lines of questioning with pairs of coaching teams in person, the solution-focused approach consistently produced more productive, more positive conversations that reached resolution faster.

Problems-Solving Questioning

Tell me about the problem
What other problems is this problem causing?
How did it get like this?
Where does the fault lie?
Why will this be really difficult to overcome?
Why does this keep happening?

Solutions-Focused Questioning

Describe Future Perfect of this situation
On a scale of 1-10, where 10 is the Future Perfect, where are you now?
What’s helped you to achieve so much already?
What would take you a small step (say, one point) higher?
What would be the first tiny signs of progress?
How will you celebrate when you’ve achieved the next step?

TLDR: Not groundbreaking, but a good reminder: when navigating complexity, stay solution-focused.

Think Ideal future
Create scaling
Articulate what is going well
Map the small steps
Celebrate the wins

So what is a high performing team? how can we fast track our teams there?

**Teams succeed when:**
1. Everyone shares the same vision and understands how the goals are relevant to them.
2. Roles are clear and accepted by every member.
3. Individual needs and expectations are being met.
4. Communication is open, and feedback is used regularly to improve effectiveness.
5. Decisions are made thoughtfully and backed by sound strategy.
6. Leadership style matches where the team is in its development.
7. Conflict arises but is managed well and resolved quickly.

Dependency & Inclusion: In the first stage, new relationships are forming and individuals are primarily focused on feeling included. Disagreement is avoided for fear of rejection, and the group assumes consensus on goals even when clarity is lacking. Members rely heavily on directive leadership to provide structure and direction.

Counter-Dependency & Fight: As members feel more secure, natural disagreements begin to surface. People start questioning their roles and whether their perspectives are being heard. This stage is essential. Working through it builds the cohesion and trust the group needs to move forward, and leadership must create the space for open, honest discussion.
Trust & Structure: If the group navigates the previous stage successfully, cooperation grows. Roles and tasks are refined, goals become clear to everyone, and while conflict still occurs, it is managed far more effectively. Communication becomes more focused and productive.
Performance & Productivity: This is where teams operate at their best. Cooperation is strong, support between members is high, and responsibility is shared collectively rather than carried individually. Feedback flows freely and conflict is handled with efficiency and care.
Termination: Not a development stage in itself, but a vital one. Teams can end their collaboration at any point, and when they do, members need a genuine sense of closure and the opportunity to reflect on and extract learnings from the experience.

Every team is different, and this process doesn’t work linearly. For example, groups might spend more time at some stages, get stuck, and regress before moving forward.

Lastly, in a world of high chaos, increased complexity and fewer promotions to go around, how are we addressing physiological safety?