The Leader You Actually Are: Coaching for Technical Managers
The Leader You Actually Are is a 10-session private coaching package for technical managers who were promoted for technical skill and now need a stronger system for leading people. Technical skill got you promoted. People leadership is the job now. This package helps you build your People Leadership OS, a practical leadership system for delegation, performance conversations, hard conversations, trust, communication under pressure, and calm authority. This is not generic leadership coaching. I am not here to turn you into someone else’s version of a manager. We will build from how you actually think, communicate, decide, handle pressure, and build trust. Across 10 private coaching sessions, we will take your real workplace challenges and turn them into a leadership system you can keep using. We may work through delegation issues, underperformance, former peer dynamics, stakeholder tension, team trust, 1:1s, feedback, decision-making, manager identity, and the pressure of no longer being the person who just solves the problem. The goal is simple: To help you stop leading from old IC habits and start leading from a system built around who you actually are. By the end, you should have clearer delegation, stronger performance management language, better hard conversation structure, a calmer leadership presence, and a practical operating system for leading people without carrying everything yourself.
What's included
My coaching style is direct, practical, and diagnostic. We use your real leadership situations as the material. That means we do not stay in theory. We work through actual team dynamics, delegation issues, performance concerns, hard conversations, stakeholder pressure, former peer dynamics, trust gaps, and moments where your current way of leading is costing too much. The work usually moves through three layers. First, we name what is really happening. Not just the surface issue, but the pattern underneath it. Second, we identify how you are actually wired as a leader: your strengths, instincts, story, communication style, values, pressure patterns, and natural edge. Third, we turn that into a practical leadership system you can use with your team. My goal is not to make you sound like a generic leadership book. My goal is to help you lead more clearly from who you actually are.
- Leadership Design Map A clear map of your strengths, instincts, communication style, pressure patterns, values, and natural leadership edge.
- People Leadership OS A practical operating system for delegation, performance, feedback, 1:1s, trust, and communication under pressure.
- Delegation System A way to transfer ownership without lowering standards, micromanaging, or becoming the bottleneck.
- Performance Conversation Framework Clear structure for addressing expectations, feedback, and underperformance earlier and more directly.
- Hard Conversation Scripts Language and prep tools for real conversations involving conflict, expectations, former peers, stakeholders, or direct reports.
- Calm Authority Operating Rhythm A weekly leadership rhythm that helps you lead under pressure without forcing, rescuing, shrinking, or overexplaining.
- Final Leadership OS Summary A practical summary of your leadership design, operating principles, scripts, pressure patterns, and next-step leadership practices.
Meet your expert
Jay F.
Technical Manager Coach | People Leadership OS | Former Zapier Data Leader
A lot of high-performing technical managers are doing good work, but paying too much for the way they lead. That is usually where I come in. I’m Jay Floyd, a leadership coach and former Engineering Manager, Data Platforms at Zapier with 15+ years across data engineering, analytics engineering, data platforms, governance, and technical leadership. I coach technical managers who were promoted because they were strong technically, but now need a stronger system for people leadership. Delegation. Performance conversations. Hard conversations. Trust. Communication under pressure. Stakeholder friction. Former peer dynamics. The stuff that becomes the real job once you are no longer just responsible for your own output. My work is built around a simple idea: technical skill got you promoted, but people leadership is the job now. I help clients build their People Leadership OS, a practical leadership system built around how they actually think, communicate, decide, handle pressure, and build trust. I do not coach people into generic leadership templates. I help them turn the way they are wired into the way they lead.
