Relationship Building

At Level 3, you develop and sustain strong relationships across departments and functions. You operate with empathy, diplomacy, and clarity—building trust not only within engineering, but with product, design, marketing, support, and beyond. You navigate complex interpersonal and team dynamics with grace. You're often the person people turn to when relationships feel strained or misaligned because you bring calm, curiosity, and a collaborative spirit.

Key Behaviors

  • Builds relationships with stakeholders across multiple departments
  • Actively bridges understanding across functions with differing goals or perspectives
  • Maintains long-term working relationships through change, challenge, or ambiguity
  • Helps others feel seen, heard, and respected—even when there's disagreement
  • Advocates for others and helps resolve relational tension with empathy and clarity

Common Struggles

  • May feel overextended maintaining many relationships
  • Can default to people-pleasing instead of surfacing needed conflict
  • Might struggle to balance personal influence with organizational responsibility

Success Indicators

You know you're successful when you:

  • Cultivate trusted relationships across a broad range of roles and teams
  • Create shared context and alignment across org boundaries
  • Are recognized as someone who leads through empathy and relationship—not just authority
  • Influence culture by the way you treat people and help others connect

Mindset Shift

From:

"I build trust across the organization."

To:

"I shape how trust is built, shared, and scaled across the organization."

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What unspoken dynamics are affecting how people relate?
  • Who needs to be brought into the fold, and how can I help that happen?
  • What relationship gaps are blocking collaboration or progress?

Build These Habits

  • 1
    Normalize giving and receiving feedback across functions
  • 2
    Model authenticity and vulnerability in cross-functional settings
  • 3
    Create space for relational repair, not just resolution

Seek Feedback

  • "What helps you feel supported in this relationship?"
  • "How can we improve the way our teams relate and work together?"
  • "Is there anyone I should get to know better to help this succeed?"

Signals You're Ready to Level Up

  • People across the org seek your perspective when things feel relationally complex
  • You're trusted to build coalitions and connect dots others miss
  • You're seen as a steady, humanizing force in cross-team collaboration

Focus Summary

  • Model empathy
  • Connect perspectives
  • Shape how we relate

At Level 3, relationship building becomes culture work. You help the organization operate more cohesively, with trust and humanity at the center.