esty boo ba So, before starting talking about open leadership, let's set what is a leader in this context at least. A leader is not something that is under my formal authority. He is more everyone in a group, in a company, in an organisation that could do one or more of those functions provide vision and strategic direction, clarify the values, establish or reinforce connection, create and maintain momentum, mentoring and coaching. Basically, what normally we think leadership in a general perspective is not necessary in a company. And this is important because, again, is nothing related to hierarchy, is nothing related to any formal or invested authority. But before going, we are talking about open leadership. So, I will ask you if you want to play just a second with me with mentee. There is a QR code if you can use it or use mentee.com with that code. Open leader has five well-known characteristics defined formally by a document on what is open leadership. It is basically the characteristic that helps an open organization to grow and to act as an open organization. But before going, I would like to see if you can put one or more single words that define the characteristic and see what do you think an open leader should do or should be. Most probably they will not be strictly what define a document but is a start for our discussion. Then I will present you the five characteristics and since I know perfectly that it is hard to remember, I will try to help you to remember them. Open minded, self-perfective, mentor, listening, inspiring, accepted, open, of course. Inspiration, trust, trust and transparency is the most important of the movement. Let's try with mentee.com and the code that is easier. So let's see mentor and mentoring is more or less the same. Care is an interesting one. Direction, give direction to trustworthy, transparent transparency again, open minded and trust the most voted one. So the five characteristics while you are still writing transparency, inclusivity, adaptability, collaboration, community. Those are the five characteristics as defined from open source.org. Let's move back to my slide and as said they are pretty hard to remember. So transparency, see behind and see inside basically this is the idea. But what is transparency in this context? Please note that I am trying to speak with you and to talk about what is being an open leader in the real life. So what are the challenging more than the characteristics? Of course this is my favorite one is for me the foundation of being an open leader, be transparent. It is the most important for me and I found everything on that also the other four characteristics. But every characteristic is interconnected as we would see. So feedback is a gift. You need trust. You need to make open decision, create safe space and see failures as opportunities. This is the way to be transparent in an open leadership manner. But where is the challenge here? The feedback is always challenging. Both if you give or if you receive feedback. But it is really the foundation of the transparency. Because if you don't ask proactively feedback you will never get as a leader. Because everyone look at you especially if the leadership for me I am also manager, not only a leader. And this is even more challenging because people reporting you is hard for them to give you feedback. So you need to ask proactively always and create a safe space for them to give you feedback. And safe space mean here not only that they feel safe, no reaction or things like that. But also that you will apply their feedback on your day by day job. And this is very important. And the same is on open decision. And together with feedback make trust. Because when you get a decision that has an impact to someone you need to be transparent with him or her and everyone else. Because only transparent decision create trust. And trust is very important and is a challenge especially when you cannot be transparent. Or people expect that you would be transparent. And they think you weren't. Recently unfortunately we had a few layoffs. A lot of layoffs. And when I announced to my team even if my team has not been impacted. I transparently said to them I didn't know. I haven't shared anything with you because I didn't know. Because the most important part of transparency is to keep the trust of the team. And also when you know something and that's true I didn't know. But also when you know something and you cannot share. Because there is a situation where you know and you cannot share. Transparenly say I cannot share this information with you. Not at the moment. Be patient. And there is good reason because of that. And if you can explain the reasons. Not the topic. Not the content because you cannot. But explain the reasons because you are not sharing. And when hopefully you can share it immediately. And at the last point see failures as opportunity. Your own failure. Not only the failure of the team. Be transparent on your failure. I am always transparent with my team when I fail. Because it is important for them to understand that failure is not an issue. Failure is an opportunity. An opportunity to learn. And we will return on that on another characteristics. Inclusivity. Inclusivity here is more than diversity, equity and inclusion. It's not just that. That's important. It's part of. But being inclusive with your team is something more. It is no and share and admit that you need others perspective. And tell them that you cannot have all the view. All the perspective because different cultures. Different positions. And maybe different views on things. Conquered to have the team opinion and the team direction. And this is to be really conclusive. Ask other perspective and admit that you don't have all the large view that you need to have to take decision and so on. My team is distributed in I think nine countries. And this is a challenge of course. A challenge for culture, a challenge for time zones. A challenge for many reasons. But it is also a challenge from inclusivity perspective. Because there is, I'm jumping to the third point. Because you need to be aware of different cultures, different biases. My biases maybe is different from my colleague. Or maybe is the same but has a slightly different flavor. And so you need to reconcile it. And go over the biases. And the same is inviting others to play their role in your team. And is sometimes challenging. Because you have people that is maybe very close. Or not ready to step in any discussion. But inviting everyone to participate is part of the role of an open leader. Even when it seems forcing a bit them. But it's not forcing. You need to be gentle of course. But it is an important part. And probably one of the most challenging sharing with you, my personal personas. Don't be essential. Always make a step back. Has been very challenging for me. Becoming a leader to step back. And don't think to be essential. Well, I'm ambitious. I work hard. I try to work smart. But still I wanted to be part of the team. Still I wanted to be part of the action. Being essential. If everyone depends on you. Is a big limit. And is a big limit to everyone. To the team and to yourself also. You need to step back a bit. Don't be essential. And only this way you are here inclusive. And observing what happening in the team. Observe and listen is too different. And very difficult. Places that you can bring in the team. Because if you talk too much. And if you give all the directions. You are not inclusive. And probably many people will not talk. Will not bring their perspective. And so on. So try to step back. Especially if I'm rushing in the company. And also the new role of manager. Like me. Step back. Because the opinion of the manager. Is as always a different weight. But should not. Adaptability. Like a caballion. The adaptability is another important characteristic. And because you know. We all know that our organization is flexible. Our organization is resilient. Is able to change and adapt to the market. And have new challenge always. And react to this challenge. But if the leaders are not flexible. In the first time. And the leaders are stick on their decision. Or on their biases. The whole organization of the team. And then up and down and up to the organization. Is not flexible. Is not resilient. And here the feedback again. How can you adapt? You need to know. What you did. And so you need feedback. Always. And again. If you don't ask feedback. You will not get feedback. As team probably. For sure as leader. And feedback is very important. For them. Fail fast. Fail of them. I extended this. Fail fast. Learn faster. And adapt quickly to improve. Because again. Transmit your team. That feeling is fine. If is a learning process. But of course you need to fail. As fast as possible. Because if you fail too late. Is big problem as usual. And is nothing anymore to learn. Or to adapt. While you need to document everything happening. All the fail, all the fail that you get. Is basically your role as leader. And create a reflection inside the team. Discuss and perspectives. For example. To bring you a story. In my team. We are so used to have perspectives. That we have at a different level. Not at the release date. But with a cadence. That is monthly or quarterly. Depends on the project. We do a retrospective of the project. What happened during the quarter. What happened during the month. And what we can do better. In a different way. Maybe something that will work perfectly. And so we want to keep on. But we bring this discussion. Also at the personal level. When I have one-to-ones with my reports. I always try to have a retrospective of their goals. Which is not about assess their goals. We need to do that and we do that. But retrospective of why. They work in a way instead of another. And what is the goal. They reached the goal. Where they didn't work at all. And why. And see if we can adjust something. And the last point. Is very connected with the previous. Characteristic inclusivity. And is to adapt to different people and cultures. How. Is hard to adapt your style. And your leadership. And maybe your needs or company needs. To different people. But especially different cultures. If you have a Brazilian guy. And a German person working with you. And I have. You learn that the culture is so much different. So. Is not about commitment or things like that. They are both very committed. Very accountable both. But the point is that. What you say them. Will be taken in a different way. The feedback has different. Wait for them. So you need to adapt to different cultures. And the best. The best way I found. To do that. Is to have a common culture. And our common culture. Is our company culture. And our company values. So. This is the common ground base. Even if they have the background. And so on. They know. That. Those principles. And. For values. Collaboration. The first sentence has been. Paste it. The open leadership definition. And. I think. Is the most important sentence. Of the slide. Because. The key of an effective. Is. For everyone. Who collaborate. As person. And of course. Need a lot of negotiation. Negotiation. Is. My day by day job. This guy always. But not. Not only. Me. With the other. Other. For a proficiency. Negotiation with other. Other people. Or between. People in the team. And so the second point is that. My role is. Is the role of the coach. I'm coaching. My team. To be collaborative. They are great engineers. But. Great engineers. Tense to be. Very personal. Very. So much focus. To their task. That they lose. The idea of collaboration. I hate. Single person project. When I got the team. Basically. Everyone has a project. Lead by him or her. With very little collaboration. I mix up everything. Because. Is important. To. Contaminate others. With ideas. With fresh ideas. And the other point. The open decision basically. The open decision framework. Consider that. You as leader. Project lead. As me. At some point you will need to take decision. In the end. Is your is part of your responsibilities. But. Is respectful. To involve as much as possible. People impacted by. These. Decisions. In the decision process. Not only. Being transparent on the decision. And why you took. But involving him or her. Or them. Much before that. Why the decision. Process started. Again being transparent as much as you can. There is a situation. Where you cannot be transparent. Of course. But try to limit as much as possible. Those situations. And involve them in the decision. Because that decision. Will be much better accepted. On one end. And it will be a much better decision also. Because most probably. You don't have the full context. To take the decision for someone else. The one affected by the decision. Is probably. The person that has more context. Than anyone else. And celebrate collaboration success. This is. An important. And a great point. Pretty hard. Team quite frankly. My story is pretty hard on that. But we try. We try to celebrate. Not the success of the team. The success on the project. And so on. But when the collaboration. Draw to this success. Is a slightly different. But very important. To try to. To have a more. Cohesive team. Who else better. Than. For communities. And organization. A group. Is really open only when. It acts as a community. This is the. The basic milestone. What is being. A community. In a group or in a company. Well. The most. The most important part is having shared values. And culture. Work a lot on that. Whatever it is. Is the company culture. Is already. Maybe for you. Or you can create your own culture. But try to. Somehow. Document somehow. Make it explicit. For others. President wise. Is just. Common practices. But common practices are not culture. From common practices. You can build culture. But culture is something more. Something more formal. Somehow. Even if it comes from informal. And so on that. Facility rate. Whoever comes to the team. To the organization. Need to be coached. To the culture. I listen a talk today. A great talk. And in the end. The speaker said. That. He select people. Also. Trying to understand. If they can get to the. Group or in culture. Which is a great approach. It doesn't work always. Because of your interview. But still. Still. You need also to adapt. The culture sometimes. To. To the people. That form your group. Or your organization. It's important. Again. And we connect. As you see community connect. To adapt. Everything is interconnected. It's important to be an example. Life. The culture of the group or the team. Otherwise no one believe you. No one trust you. When you say. We have this culture. But you do the opposite. We have the culture of transparency. You are not transparent. No one will trust you. And no one will be transparent. That's it. I'm happy to have 8 minutes. First one. Yeah. I have a question regarding culture. Yes. As we are working. You are leading people in different countries. How to maintain culture. Of remote colleagues. And how it works. So I think. Could be challenging. Could be challenging to maintain culture. For our moza. More important. There are more distributed people. Because. Doesn't matter if they work at home. Or in the Canadian office. They are in Canada. Again. Being an example. And applying the culture. But you define for the group. Or for the company. In our case we have a strong company culture. To everything you do. And ask to do the same. And. Try to be very clear. That's the only common culture. We have. I have. Seventeen. Seventeen people. Between direct and indirect. And only two are in the same country. Everyone else in different countries. Different. Different geographical areas. And so on. And I always. Say them. We cannot rely on our background. Because it's so much different. We will not understand each other. Try to rely on the company. And group culture. And nothing else. Did I. I have a question. Thank you very much for the presentation. My question would be how do you walk the fine line. Between having everyone understand. That they are welcome. In this process of making decisions. But also while avoiding. Having people. That feel forced. To be involved in that. In that decision making. Process. So that they. Sometimes decision making processes. And having not so constructive. Conversations. Because some people don't get constructive. They kind of feel forced into something they don't really care. Yeah, sure. This is of course. Challenger. And. Well, the very first. Point is to. Share everything. By default. And share it early. So basically. My meetings. All my meetings. Have a background document. That needed to be shared. 24 hours. 12 at least. Before the meeting. And when I say. All my meeting is. All meeting of my team. Not only driven by me. I'm pretty lucky. Having other leaders. That work with me. And I'm very happy. To give them. Space to lead. Is. No document. Period. This is important. Because it give time. Especially to introvert. To. To digest the topic. Maybe to give their contribution. Offline. I have a great engineer. Who. Who gave in the past. And still. To give us. Great feedback. Never. Because. She is very introvert. And that's fine. And she know that's fine. Because I told her. That's fine. Don't you want to talk? Right. No problem. But adding. Both. Will. Not find space for her. Because I know that she will never. Take the mic and say. I don't agree. Is part of her culture. By the way. To return to the culture. So. To return to the culture. Is something that I didn't mention. Is important to know. That you have different culture. As leader. To adapt. The way you communicate. To permit. Different cultures. Maybe for the place. Where they grow. Because of personal reasons. To contribute. To the discussion. Their way. Not your way. This is an example. But there is many other way. To do the same. Maybe to work. Because it's not so large. With larger team you need something else. I don't know. But the important point is. Give them the space. To express themselves. Is this then the follow up? I don't know if you have a question. But then as a follow up question. Is this a shared understanding within the team? Sorry. Is the whole team aware. Of all of these differences. How do you coach the team. To understand these differences. So that no one will feel. Okay. I meet them. Once a week. My calendar is pretty crazy. One to one. And then I have no length. Every three weeks more or less. And I always try to coach them. During the one to ones. And during the all ends. Basically. To set the culture. So I try to. Explain anything that happened. At my level. Or after me. In a transparent way. And doing that. I try to set. The culture. And I see that is. Sometimes it's hard. I have just two, three people taking the mic. In these whole ends. And because. And this is another challenger. Of course. When you have many people. And you want every perspective. You also need to. Limit a bit. The most extra work. Is a balance always. Did I answer.