about

I work with the gap between what you know and what you still do under pressure.

Engineering managers rarely need another explanation of leadership. The useful evidence is already in the work: the decision you delay, the detail you correct, the responsibility you take back and the conversation you leave.

I make behaviour visible while it is happening.

Morten Gottliebsen

perspective

The behaviour makes sense before it becomes expensive.

Taking work back can protect quality. Asking for more analysis can reduce risk. Correcting the detail can keep delivery moving. Avoiding the conversation can preserve stability for another day.

That is why these patterns are difficult to change. They work in the moment.

I do not treat the behaviour as irrational. I look at what it protects, what it repeats and what it costs.

Method

I work with the situation that is happening now.

Bring one current issue. I listen for the gap between what you intended and what actually happened.

We slow the situation down: what was said, what went unsaid, when you stepped in, what the other person learned and why the work returned to you.

The pattern becomes clear enough to test in the next meeting, handover, decision, or conversation.

Working

The work stays close to the evidence.

I listen for what repeats. I challenge the explanation when it hides the behaviour. We stay with the actual situation until the pattern becomes clear enough to test.

I do not give you a theoretical version of leadership to imitate. The evidence is what changes in the next decision, handover or conversation.

The objective is observable change in the work.

EVIDENCE

What the work looks like from the other side

“Morten is a good listener. He asks various questions helping to efficiently clarify the real problem to discuss. Once we accurately identified my challenge Morten often would suggest perspectives to my challenge other than my usual points of view. We would start to discuss together specific steps to overcome barriers and efficiently move forward toward my end goal.”

Tillmann Heinisch

Team Leader, Enzymatic RNA Synthesis, Enzyme Engineering

next step

Bring one situation that keeps repeating.

Bring one decision, one handover, one conversation or one responsibility that keeps returning to you. 

A short conversation is enough to see where the pattern starts.

No preparation.
No commitment.