QA Leadership without title: How to Build a QA Lead from a QA Engineer in Your Team with the IMAGE Model

By Igor Goldshmidt, Testing & Quality Engineering Expert

As a QA Manager, one of my goals was always to grow a solid QA Lead from within our team. I had talented QA Engineers who showed potential but lacked the leadership experience to step into a QA Lead role. They were technically strong but needed to build a skill set beyond testing tools and frameworks — like problem-solving, decision-making, and a sense of ownership in team processes. I knew we needed a structured path to guide this growth, and the IMAGE model offered exactly that.

What is the IMAGE Model?

The IMAGE model, by Robin Sharma, stands for Innovation, Mastery, Authenticity, Guts, and Ethics. This model provides a personal and professional development roadmap, emphasizing core values that can transform a technically skilled QA Engineer into a well-rounded, dependable QA Lead.

5 Actionable Steps to Grow a QA Lead in Your Team

1. Encourage Innovation: Foster Experimentation and Creativity. Leaders need to think beyond their tools. Give QA Engineers room to experiment with new automation tools or develop innovative approaches to test cases. Allow them to pilot new ideas, like introducing automated regression testing or leveraging AI for defect prediction. This freedom builds confidence and develops the out-of-the-box thinking they will need as a lead.
2. Develop Mastery: Provide a Structured Learning Path. Establish a clear, goal-oriented learning plan. Include advanced automation skills, database management, and leadership soft skills like communication and time management. For example, task them with preparing and presenting a quarterly report on test metrics to other teams. This builds technical mastery and prepares them to communicate insights effectively — a vital skill for any QA Lead.
3. Promote Authenticity: Cultivate Honest and Open Communication. Authenticity is the bedrock of trust. Create an environment where QA Engineers feel comfortable voicing concerns or pointing out potential risks. Let them lead a meeting to report their findings or express risks associated with a release. One engineer on my team took on this responsibility, transforming their confidence and setting them up as trustworthy leaders in the eyes of both the development and product teams.
4. Build Guts: Empower Them to Make Decisions and Own Risks. Encourage engineers to lead on critical testing decisions, like defining the coverage scope or prioritizing bug fixes. This decision-making practice in controlled settings helps them manage risk and think critically. Let them make a tough call — like delaying a release for quality concerns — while backing them up as they navigate the impact. This courage is essential for a QA Lead role, which demands accountability and robust decision-making.
5. Instill Ethics: Emphasize Accountability and a Commitment to Quality. Ethics in QA means a commitment to deliver quality above all else. Reinforce the importance of thorough, honest documentation and transparency in test reporting. Encourage them to own their good or bad results, fostering a sense of responsibility. This ethical approach creates QA Leads who prioritize quality, leading by example and inspiring the team to do the same.

Growing a QA Lead from within is about more than technical ability; it’s about nurturing the values that make someone a dependable leader. The IMAGE model provides a framework that blends skill-building with leadership qualities. By fostering innovation, mastery, authenticity, courage, and ethics, you will develop a QA Engineer who is ready to lead and eager to inspire excellence.

Good luck growing QA leaders; your team members can always be great leaders without titles.

More about the model you can find in the Robin Sharma book: https://www.amazon.com/Leader-Who-Had-No-Title/dp/1439109133

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