How To Manage Staff In A Remote, Asynchronous Reality

Thank you Okay Thank you all for coming so nice to see You good morning Uh today we're going to be talking about Uh you know over the span of two and a Half years the way we work has Completely changed There's no one way to adapt to this Reality so we're going to talk about Some of the challenges the opportunities And how to try to get this right today So uh daydrey your company is completely Remote Right uh and your product actually Manages your product actually helps Teams manage their workflows so I'm Wondering specifically like what have You seen that actually works yep I think Dollar we mostly remote our customers Even our large Enterprise customers are Mostly remote right and the thing that Gets important whether you're 100 people Or whether you're 100 000 people is does Everybody understand where we're going Like what what's the strategy is what Part of the strategy we're trying to Execute right now and does everybody Understand their part Right in that and what their team Contributes to that overall outcome and In in the absence of that auto-called Super fundamental understanding Um you have a lot of people remote but

You don't have a lot of people working In the interest or the direction that The company needs to go or travel right And I think for a lot of us managing a Remote team of organization it's pretty Hard to know like are we actually all Headed in the same direction and are we Moving fast it's actually quite hard to Know that if you aren't intentional About a structure and a method and a Process right you're not intentional About hey we all know where we're going And we all know how we contribute and we All know how we connect into that I Think that's crucial for companies right And it's um it won't happen by accident It happened by accident when we were at At the office yeah right we just Overhear from each other and and work Together easily osmosis worked it Doesn't work when we're on zoom and it Doesn't work when we're at home right so So one of the things you get right is Actually coming together in in a remote World yeah yeah okay so Um you know we've talked Adriana we've Talked a little bit about this as well About how to make it intentional Um your plan you're currently planning Murals you told me backstage murals Planning out their own um first time Meetup right so what is a good way to Yeah like what do you have to think About actually more importantly it's a

Lot of money right to plan these meetups To plan this way to get together you Know we're doing it right now there's Hotels there's events there's food it's A it's a new line item how do you really Um convince your CFO that that's a Strategic need It's really interesting because I would Say probably a year ago it required more Convincing of our CEO that it was a Strategic need what we're starting to See two and a half years into this Pandemic and people be much more Distributed and being more uh remote is This disconnected feeling that Individuals are getting so they are Actually clamoring to spend more time Together so it wasn't really that that Difficult that said if you are going to Be spending all that time all that money You're going to bring all these people Together you want to make sure that You're getting the most out of it and Intention is the biggest thing that We're keeping in mind try to understand Really what is it that you're trying to Get and really build an event based on That you need to orchestrate it right You can't just leave it up to chance I Think in the past we used to have these Offsides we would get a bar we would Just hope for the best and the Extroverts would be in a corner making Jokes and you have the introverts in a

Corner just like feeling lonely right so How do you think about Korean getting an Environment where everybody's feeling Welcome where people are actually Connecting at a human level and they're Building that Social Capital so that When you go back to the office and People are a lot more distributed there Is that trust which is fundamental to All of this distributed work that we're Doing well and how like what is an Example like how do you what's something That you might be planning to implement That you're you're you know ensuring That people feel connected to each other And not just you know being remote Weirdos who are very used to staying at Home alone in their pajamas you know What I mean so yeah there's there's These little exercises that we actually Have tried with smaller groups but they Have been super powerful and some of you Might have heard of some of these but One of them that I love is this lifeline And you just kind of go with a group of People you go through your life and you Talk about four or five events in your Life that were very impactful for you as A person and that have made you who you Are and it is really incredible what Comes out and people just get to know Each other as human beings and then You're kind of like oh now I am Understand why you respond the way in

Which you respond and it creates this Just familiar environment and we do a Ton of little exercises like this if the Team knows each other a little bit Better sometimes we do this feedback Session where we go around the room and We give positive feedback and then we go Around and we give constructive feedback It is incredible how open people are to Give in good feedback and also to Receiving it and all of this just builds That trust in that vulnerability and of Course you just want to have a little Fun right so maybe you cook a meal Together or go a meal together that's Actually yeah it's really great pizza Party yeah I like that how so Allison You've done a lot of remote work in your Life you know you were doing kind of Remote hybrid stuff at Uber as well I Believe you talked about How do you think that those kinds of Meetups and the way that you can connect In real life Um how do they translate to when you're Back behind you know the virtual screen Yeah great question I think If people are just starting to work Together when they're fully remote There's work can be very transactional When you're just in front of a computer And having meetings and I think it can Totally change the game when people Spend even a small bit of time together

So I think It's really important to plan what these Interactions are going to be and the More that you can communicate to people Also in advance what they can expect Because if people are fully remote You'll get a lot of requests from staff To do these types of meetups because I Think it's something really crave people Really crave and are coming back to and I think it speaks to the success of this Conference this year and how many people Are coming to see people in person Um when we've had three years of almost All remote work yeah now There are you know when you talk about Um That you know no one's ever met each Other a lot of people a lot of a lot of Startups started up during the pandemic Um no one's met each other So aside from meeting up in person right We still have to make this work while We're all remote different parts of the Country of the world how what's a good Example of a company culture like ways That you can develop a company culture Remotely Adriana you talked a little bit About this Yeah I think part of it is in the in the Past Culture almost happened through osmosis Right you would have onboarding classes That would be sitting next to people

That have been there for a while and Then just kind of absorb it from the Environment you maybe were being a Little bit more deliberate with if you Were opening offices in other locations Right where you would actually send a Team from the the headquarters to open Up another office just so they could see That that is no longer the norm so going Back to this intention right is how do You build moments where the culture is Exemplified from the moment that you Hire the person through every single Moment up to off-boarding right so During the interview phase how do you Understand what your values are and You're hiring for people that can add to Those values but I'll also identify with Them when you're promoting people when You're talking about how you made Decisions when you're talking about how You are rewarding individuals so during Our All Hands we do an awards for people Who have exemplified our values and we Tell stories because it is really all About the behaviors that people Exemplify and those stories really help With keeping Traditions rituals are also Really really important right how do you Start every meeting or every All Hands These kinds of things are just the ones That bring bring it alive the culture Yeah Now one thing that I

Often find myself getting concerned About you know one of the things about Company culture is diversity Equity Inclusion right and as a woman I know What it's like to be talked over in a Zoom meeting I mean sorry in a meeting When I'm in the room right so then when You're completely remote And everyone's on Zoom it's a lot easier To talk over people the loudest voices Will be heard it's also a lot easier to Check out I guess Daydream wondering if You know if there's any way that you can Kind of ensure that that doesn't happen And if there's any metrics for making Sure that everyone's feeling included And their voices are being heard yep Awesome question the best thing you can Do about it is have a diverse Workforce That's the first job and it's the Hardest job for sure right we have a um And I have from the first five people Had a super diverse and atypical Environment for a tech company in Particular and so the people you see on The zoom it's very likely Very likely that 60 of them are women Very likely and it just it creates a Different environment period Like the talk over thing is when it Happens is so rare that it's all like Whoa did you see that that was like a Talk over we don't do that yeah right And the so the norm is shifted and I

Think that's powerful but you have to be Intentional to borrow your word again The uh When I think about inclusion though I Think it's two things that can make a Difference when teams are meeting and One of those to me is actually being Clear about what we mean by inclusion Like we mean inclusion in the dialogue We mean ideas are included we mean Opportunities to excel our Equity Equitably distributed and we mean Opportunities to make an impact are Equally distributed and it's I think not Enough to say how do we make sure Everybody's ideas get heard and one way To do that of course is use a whiteboard Idea where the ideas are first and the Conversation follows right like a great Meeting right now can start with silence Where our ideas come out first and then We start talking about them versus the Loudest ideas come out and the rest Don't right that's one way but I think Beyond that is actually when you look at For example teams okrs who do the K who Owns the KRS right does Bob own them all Yeah thank you and the five women on the Team own none yeah okay that's not our Meeting and that's the way we're Managing right but you're actually Taking these like you're so you actually Are saying like these are okrs Objectives key results

Um these are Um yeah you're seeing how many come out Of each step not necessarily to you know Police them are you working hard enough But like are you yeah yeah it's a data Point so if 80 of the KRS across the Company are owned by Guys and 20 are owned by women then it's Like you gotta ask do we have 80 20 mix Of people and if we have a 50 50 mix of People then there's another conversation To be had and it's the data is not to go Indict anyone the data is to inform what Your culture really is regardless of What you say it is and I I think all Measurement data is actually just signal Like oh this is interesting information Should I change what I do next based on This information right and I think that Inclusion and opportunity inclusion and Impact is where our heads should be at When we talk about diversity inclusion Not just okay they can come to the Company well come to the company to be a Spectator it's not inclusion and getting Locked out of opportunities to Excel and Grow and impact and rise up in your Career that's not inclusion right yeah I Feel like a lot of the time we can just Kind of You know a lot of people have said During the pandemic they're so much more Productive working from home because no One's bothering them whatever people

Come they do their work right but then That often can lead to I'm just doing The job right instead of I'm feeling Safe enough to be creative and Innovative and and you know test the Boundaries you've worked with a lot of Different companies are you finding that Uh you know remote teams are finding it Difficult to Grow in that way just because they don't Have that human element a human Connection In regards to coaching strip and Mentor Coaching and mentorship Um I know we talked about this a little Bit on the call but I think an Interesting data point too is What age people are at in their careers I think in the first I don't know 10 or 15 years of my career it was all in Person and I have really close Relationships with those people years Later because we spent so much time Together and I think it's easy to forget The type of learning and osmosis you get From those people just by spending so Much time with them of like people of All levels and it's really intense work But you learn a lot through that period So I think we're going to have to Reinvent how we do a lot of the coaching And mentorship and making sure that Especially people right out of college Or younger employees really get

The types of opportunities that they Need to continue to Excel and yeah a lot Of it is through what Deirdre was Talking about about making sure people Own different things and they're able to Step up and part of it too is figuring Out how we rethink some of these models In this remote environment where you as A junior employee you may not just be Able to sit next to a more senior person And just learn a lot by observing how They're working but with that I think We're seeing right now the remote work Is giving all sorts of new opportunities For people that we that they didn't have Before I had a baby last year in the Middle middle of the pandemic and I know A lot of other people did too and I Think the data's starting to come out That there was a massive baby boom and I Think uh I sort of predicted that Because all my friends were having Babies at the same time but I think a Remote work has given people a lot of More time and space to think about Things like having families that maybe They previously would have put off Longer with commutes every day Absolutely we talked about this actually On the call about how you know the world Made for men Um there's you know public transits made For you know men going to the office and Offices are built around that kind of

Schedule and they don't really think About the family life and um yeah so but With that I mean with different time Zones we have asynchronous work work Realities but also the fact that we work Remotely people are expecting more Work-life balance they're like I'll get My work done but I have to take my kid To school or I have to do this so yeah I Guess Tech probably helps a lot with Managing this would you would you say That Deidre absolutely right if we don't Need to meet to figure out where we're Going and where we are now yeah what That means is I can move forward in my Moment and you can move forward in your Moment if we don't have systems that Provide us with transparency on Direction action and progress then we're Going to have a zoom call to confirm the Direction again and see where we are on Progress and then decide what actions to Take and which means right not only We're going to consume an hour when we If we can move forward asynchronously Would take us all like five seconds but No we're going to take an hour instead Yeah and we all have to be there at the Same time in presence and I think that Um The horrible byproduct of that right now Is all of our capacity is 100 dominated By our calendar right now it's Zoom After Zoom after Zoom after Zoom all day

Long every single day it's nothing Meaningful or powerful in that and it's Forcing this the only way to make one Step forward is to call a meeting right But then it's too many meetings and then You're just oh Exactly there's only readouts there's no Steps forward right and I think Asynchronous is actually about Liberating our time and giving us Control back over the one thing we have To give at work which is time right like And let us allocate that in the most Powerful ways and add our own Pace and in our own hours right like I Want to do it at 5am actually I'm going To make a ton of progress at 5am where It's super quiet and if I just had the Data to understand where we are in these Two things I can make a call right but Nope I gotta wait till 10 because that's When we can all meet I think that's sort Of a hijacking of our autonomy yeah and More importantly it's a hijacking of our Impact Right our calendar controls what we can Impact as opposed to we Make decision control over what we can Impact yeah I feel like it could be a Blessing and a curse having all of the These tools with data and everything so You can see where your team's been and How you can jump in at the time that you Come online or whatever are there any

Your you know mural has a lot of we were Talking about just visual digital Whiteboard situation uh I imagine this Is just occurring to me but I imagine That you would have to Encourage your staff to really be good About like keeping a diary right like Everything they do they kind of have to Update I don't know if that's is that Has that been a challenge that you've Come across at all We don't necessarily keep a diary in Terms of everything that they do they Need to update And you're hearing a little bit of that Right I think there was an article came Out a couple weeks ago around this like Uh obsession with productivity where Workers feel like they're being more Productive but managers feel like They're not being as productive so There's there's a disconnect they're Happening somewhere Um and and really is that I think Managers were taught in all these like Years where they were going into the Office to manage by just walking around And seeing what people were doing but You really need to manage by output or About outcome now so I I think we're trying to replicate what We saw in the office is like are you Responding to slack right away are you People are putting things on their

Computer so they can see if you're Actually like scrolling is that nobody Wants that right the name of the game Nowadays is really flexibility and if You set clear goals clear Direction you Have time to kind of Um check and make sure that things are Going well ultimately what matters is The output and the outcome and with Younger people you want to check a Little bit more often but you don't want To be micromanaging how they're doing Their work because autonomy really is The thing that is making people be very Excited about the work that they're Doing so it's really just What I love about the pandemic there Were so many bad things about it but one Of the things is just called into Question all of these management Practices that we had that were outdated And now they're making you rethink what Is the thing that actually motivates People how do I keep people online how Do I keep them inspired and they're very Different from what we thought they were I just want to remind the audience that In about 10 minutes or so we're going to Start taking audience questions so I Think there's like a QR code somewhere Around here that you can scan and uh or Maybe on your back I don't know but There's a QR code you can scan it and You can ask some questions and I will

Try to get to them uh now Wondering how this affects In terms of hiring in terms of Being competitive I'm curious who has the power is it the Companies or is it the workers because There's these same pay everywhere Schemes that are happening so I'm Wondering do companies need to do those To remain competitive or can they get Away with paying people less money if They live in a small town We haven't said if you live in this ZIP Code you make less than if you live in That zip code and part because who knows Which zip code anybody lives in right Now last month they lived in this one And now they're in that one right so if Everybody is remote it also means Everybody is mobile and free to move What suits them right so we have people Who Had kids this year and like wow it Became super helpful for them to move Closer to one of their one of their Partners parents and they moved there For the year but actually now they want To go back over here right like the sort Of idea that people are stationary That's out the window right right then If you they're not stationary how how Exactly are we going to effectively Manage and how will we ever rationalize A plan that says uh no because you're

Moving you get paid this much because You're stationary and you're here you Get paid this much right right just um Especially if you're a small company I Think the adjudicating it making it fair Explaining it actually managing and Administrating it I think are way more Pain way more squeeze than any juice You're going to get out of that and the Downside of doing it poorly is huge I Think where it becomes interesting too Is when you have a global Workforce and You start seeing too it's just you have The United States you have England Switzerland places are traditionally More expensive cost of living and then You might have other countries that are Traditionally lower costs of living and Now we're starting to see American Companies for example hire people in Cheaper labor locations at the same Salaries as American salaries and it's Creating this interesting disruption Right now where the local companies Can't keep up with the American Companies so it's it's just I feel like Right now we're just going through all Of these experimentations where we're Just going to figure out where things Land uh but it is it is a difficult Decision for companies to decide what They're going to do and whether they're Going to pay by location or just pay Equally because I can see both sides of

Of the equation for sure yeah yeah and Allison we talked about the the Downsides and the upsides of you know Paying or not not necessarily paying People who live abroad but Um you know it's we all have this dream Of being the digital Nomad and going to Bali and working from there and it's Great Until you realize that the time Zone is horrible right so Um yeah can you talk a little bit about That Yeah I think it was kovid was so Interesting that there were all these Big problems like pay in different Countries and locations that became one Of the biggest topics another is Thinking about hiring people globally in A way that we never had opportunity to Before and there's these amazing Companies now that enable you to hire People in all these different places and It's it's really great but I think one Thing not to underestimate is the Complexity of adding each additional Layer whether it's another state or Another country because if you're hiring One person in a country that may seem Okay but over time that person may feel Like they don't have the same access to Things as people in other countries or Um There can also be tax implications for Both the individuals and the companies

And it can be complicated to administer As well from an operational perspective Even if you're working with different Companies that do support it uh I think The the HR admin side shouldn't be Underestimated as you're thinking Through another is time zone so it may Be okay I think time zones may be even More important than the particular Country or location because it's it's It's much more difficult to work with Teams that are on the other side of the World if you only have maybe one or two Hours of overlapping because there's Only a very tight window that you can Engage and while the goal is to minimize Meetings they still happen and they feel The employees in another country may Feel not included if they're not able to Make the All Hands or it's at a weird Time for them so I think be very Intentional about time zones and where You're how you're even setting up your Org structure so that people feel like They can work with people in similar Time zones and Um things like that yeah what companies Do you think could you know get away With this kind of yeah whatever be Completely remote everywhere like what's Do you have to be a certain size a Certain caliber like is it you know the Spotify is on the airbnbs and the Shopifies that can get away with it or

Can smaller You know earlier stage startups also Try for it Yeah I think there's examples now of Companies of all different uh sizes that Have done it Um I think to me it seems like the Default now is you start virtual and Then if there's need over time maybe ADD Office space or they'll start working in A we work and then get a conference room And then if they outgrow that they may Add office space as opposed to the Default I think before was even if you Have a couple people you may get an Office in person and work there five Days a week and now maybe it will work Together two days a week Um I think what's interesting is to look Now at the companies that started Virtual when it wasn't really the Popular cool thing to do like git lab is Famous for this and they went public so I think they're one of the first big Public companies that had this as a Model I think WordPress was another one Automatic that have been incredibly Successful but you can look back and see They were very intentional about how They did it from the beginning at gitlab Everything is written down in their Public handbook that everyone can read And it was They sort of had to build the DNA of the

Company differently from the beginning Yeah I think you have to do it by Design Right don't don't let it happen to you Decide which the model is and then build For the model right right as opposed to Make a choice that's based on who you Hired this week and they want to be Remote so okay that's that and the next You know we were a whole big remote team Think now if we're going to be remote These things need to be true these Things need to be in place we have to be More mindful about these things we don't Have to worry about those things I just Do it by Design yeah yeah now One thing that we had just actually Talked about backstage was Um Was How difficult this is a little gear Switch but how difficult it is to be Immersive to do immersive learning when You're in a zoom call it just doesn't It's harder to probably onboard it's Harder to sometimes you just need to Like sit in a room and do the thing and Learn from each other otherwise you can Be you know separate in your own little Hubbles but so what Um yeah what are you finding there Biggest learning for us over the last Three years was That it's very difficult to really build Expertise in a domain or a subject

Through Zoom learnings And of course Zoom learnings are by drip Because who could take more than an hour Of it at a time right but the way we did Enablement for sales team or for On-ramping engineers or for our services Team or success team before the pandemic Was we do immersion like three days deep It'd be here's some domain expertise Some Concepts and then now go out in Groups of three and and practice it like Try it on chew it around right and so People would step out go into small Groups go outside do their thing like Practice and iterate with each other two Things happened out of that right they The practice and iteration were real Instead of fake so actually got better Right and then of course they built some Social fabric between them and trust and Right that they could use later But the we tried to recreate that in for Especially in 2020 and 2021 it's abject Failure and so in um uh we decided like Enough of that we're actually going to Bring everybody together we're going to Bring the whole company together first One we called homecoming was awesome uh Like wow everybody's cup filled up like Oh people right people they're so good And the just the enablement that went Around that's like you're learning stuff Together during the day you're trying Stuff you're like pushing what you

Understand you're like building how much More you know and then do the Celebration the parties and play at Night Um It's literally the difference between Taking the elevator of the 48th floor or Taking the stairs to the 48th floor like You just get there so much faster and After one of those they said okay that's The new formula like I don't don't care Whether CFO don't like that that's got To be in the budget and we can't afford Not to bring people together and right Now that's all we use our office space For is enablement so my CS team and Services team right now are in our Office in Redwood City they've been There a couple of days they're doing This whole immersion thing uh and we're Advancing The Playbook and this is how We advance The Playbook we bring Everybody together To do immersion learning right right Well you know speaking of immersion So Meta almost almost said Facebook Meta uh is coming out next week I think With the new prep Quest Pro VR headset And uh one of the things they're Advertising it for is for virtual Offices and they say that the avatars Will have like more realistic facial Expressions so thoughts That is not what we need right now

We've tested out some of these events Because the the technology is not quite There but we tested some of our Um offsides in a virtual world where we Had like a place that one had a stage For dancing one had a stage for just Conversation it was kind of cool because You would move your avatar and the Closer you would get to other people's Avatars you could hear their voices Louder you could join conversations but I think what happened is that it's not Real right right and there is something About that Experience that's just Much more 3D and that's what I mean it's Like maybe the technology is not quite There yet I would get bored after about Five or ten minutes and I started seeing The drop off as well from people so who Knows right I I don't know where things Are going to go I don't want to poo poo It because who knows where where things Will go but I don't think we're quite There yet that said kind of going back To this having people learning Yes I don't have to convince my CFO so Much to get people together but you Don't always have the luxury to do it Especially today right where the markets Are kind of crazy one of the things that We have found at mural that's really Helpful is we call it the thoughtful Host so it's really having a facilitator

Somebody who is a professional Facilitator Have these meetings and architect them And run them it just makes a whole world Of a difference because you have Somebody there whose job is really to Make sure that you're feeling included That you're feeling like you don't want To check your email you don't want to Check that slack because you're just Having so much fun and you're getting so Engaged so that's one thing that I do Recommend out of companies right it's Just like if you can't manage to be in Person and you actually need to get Somebody's attention it's that Facilitator that thoughtful host in Something that's designed and Architected can go a really really long Way is that a job now are people doing This is that like oh my gosh yes Incredibly so like the new wedding Planners It's a super easy hack to make an In-person enablement and meeting like Change it up is no classroom seating Like none no tape rows of tables with Chairs like couches coffee tables in Front of it like dining tables like to Mix the whole physical thing up yeah Right and Casual like where there's like How we're sitting but for a lot more People and it changes the whole gig Entirely like the classroom thing is

Like okay And then the couch thing is like Okay I'm receptive yeah you can be more Yourself It's not stuffy right it's not the room Is unstructured and the flow is just a Little bit better it's such an easy hack And as soon as we did the hack the first Time like there will be no more Classroom seating it's nothing compared To the informality of like Gathering as A group as opposed to the structured and Now Thou shalt learn hmm Now I want to get to some of these Audience questions Allison maybe you can Hit the first one What do you think about quiet quitting Super interesting and I think we're in a New age where it's easier to hire people From everywhere but it's also easier for Them to switch jobs if they don't like It so I think uh it's a new reality and That's where we talked a lot about Onboarding and figuring out the employee Experience but I think that's where Companies just need to be really Intentional about how they're engaging With employees all the way through and Making sure it's this like It's this relationship that builds over Time in both the company and the Employer getting really fully out of it So they're not incentivized as much to

Look at other opportunities because I Think it's something that Um Yeah there's rumors of people working Multiple jobs and things like that I Think it does open up all sorts of Different possibilities that didn't Exist before but I think it's it's a new Age where There's just different demands on both Sides yeah yeah I'm actually hearing That a lot of people a lot of like Companies or sorry a lot of yeah workers Are starting up their new companies on The side because they have all this Extra time you know the two hours that You would have spent commuting uh okay This one's for a Daydream how do you Think about strategy Decay and helping Managers feel empowered the expert Translators of the strategy and manage In a remote world Managers in the middle are not expert Translators They're terrible translators and your Engagement surveys tell you that already Right I think I think it's important to have a Formality in the Cadence of your Business right we set long-range Strategy in these intervals we revisit It on these intervals your board meeting Is probably part of it of that Cadence Or that cycle and when we agree on what

The long range is we then Define okay What part of the strategy we want to Execute in the next quarter and then use The same framework for every manager Across the org for them and their teams To agree on okay what are what's their Contribution what impact are they going To make in this quarter one framework For articulating that for defining it Aligning it and measuring it as opposed To I think lots of us do or did in the Past is okay each manager will figure That out they will not yeah right they Will not there's nobody here who thinks Every manager we have is so ridiculously Good such clear thinkers they just Really understand our strategy and where They're going to go they don't probably You promoted them they were individual Contributors their first management job Is at your company and then their first Director job is at your company again if You're not actually giving them a Framework To help their team articulate the impact And the outcomes are going to drive this Quarter and how those contribute to the Company They're not using a framework they're Like probably not even that clear like Let's do stuff let's let's do a lot of Activity Without the translation of that actually Drives the company forward in these ways

Right so provide the structure provide The framework expect everyone to use That in the same way you expect them to Live your values Expect them to use a common framework For how we align on the strategy we're Driving and the impact we want to have Who would who would you entrust that Building that framework to this is top Down I assume obviously but you know Like who often you know what you hear From startups is a lot of the a lot of The CEOs or the founders a lot of Founders end up being CEOs they're not Really management people they're just Brainy Geniuses who have a great idea so Who do you and there's a bunch of ways I Think to go about it and and whatever Framework you come up with revisit that Framework every year too because it Probably needs to evolve and the idea is To have one framework not nine or 19 or 90. but think of it as evolving as your Company changes size and scale right I Think lots of teams talk about okrs it Is a framework for this purpose and There are a ton of literally you can go Get certified to be no care coach so You're a pro in the framework right and Actually bring that back into your Company like oh here's how we should Structure it this is what works I Learned from 10 peer companies and this Framework will work here it doesn't

Matter so much what the framework is Matters actually a bit more that it's The same one across the company if you Have nine Frameworks for mapping Strategy you actually have none Yeah I think the Frameworks is is key Um You know mural is a digital whiteboard But actually we decided to be more than That because we found that in meetings You could just give people a tool and if People don't have the same framework or The same way of doing things it just Doesn't go anywhere so earlier in the Year we acquired a company called Luma That's all about these Frameworks and we Have noticed too that both internally as Well as with our customers once they They take on the same language and they Say okay if we're going to sit down or We're going to do ideation this is the Methodology that we're going to use We're going to sit down and we're going To do prioritization this is the Methodology we're going to use cluster Mapping all these kind of different Things not only does it give you the Same language but it just makes it a lot Easier and everybody's on the same page So it is so important I completely Accelerated yeah it's a completely Accelerator yeah yeah A bit of a gear switch do you offer Alternative options for introverts or

Generally people that don't like large Gatherings and typically are not willing To come to meetings I think The Gathering doesn't actually we did The full company thing and we did that We try to do that every year and then Obviously then there's the quiet people And what we switched to it I in our Current thinking is the more effective Thing is you bring one or two teams Together where the relevance of the Information is super high for everybody Right and the stakes for being there Super high for every participant and They're also super common so the people Are coming together with a hundred Percent of the people they're coming Together with are people they're already Indexed with as opposed to 20 of the People in the Gathering are who they Index with and then the other 80 are Like I don't know who that is I've never Seen that guy I don't know what he does Here right or like I feel super left out because that That's clearly where the cool kids are And I'm over here right so actually Reducing the footprint of who's in the Gathering and it can be all end or all Engine product or as I mentioned their Services and success team are together Because our index is pretty high but Their trust was not so everybody was a

Big stakeholder and being present there As opposed to like neutral It's gonna be in all hands but you know I can watch that on Zoom it doesn't Matter if I go or don't go right right So instead of the all-company thing we Found that the smaller and super Relevant groupings Were an easier path for people to rely On relationships and contexts they Already had which was a different level Of comfort in the setting or in the Session yeah that makes a lot of sense To me uh well I really wish I could get Through a lot of these questions but Unfortunately we are out of time uh Thank you all for joining this has been Really interesting I hope enlightening For others uh and thank you to the Audience thank you