Pluralsight Leadership & Management

What’s a quotable hallmark of good management on your team — and how is it reinforced?

To empower team members, I try to be as clear as possible about company objectives, project deliverables, daily to-dos and so on. The more team members understand both what they’re being asked and why, the more likely it is that they will deliver impactful outcomes. Successful teams are not micromanaged, but rather are given understandable objectives and plenty of space to deliver. To make this work, I try to hire great people and assume competence until proven otherwise. Part of this is also giving great team members more and more complex tasks, being their biggest cheerleaders and advocating for their career growth and opportunities. Lastly, I think it is critical to “walk the walk.” Good managers do not ask team members to do things they’re unwilling to do, whether that be work hours, specific tasks or anything else.

Which forum or ritual keeps priorities and expectations clear?

Agile project boards and daily sync-ups keep everyone on the same page and focused on the highest value deliverable. I hold regular one-on-ones with all my direct reports and less frequent but still regular one-on-ones with skip-levels. To make these effective, we review a written list of the most recent/pressing to-dos, and I help sort through challenges and obstacles. Lastly — less a ritual than a way of working — I maintain ongoing and constant conversations with my team members across a variety of mediums, such as Slack, email and text. If someone needs something from me, they should always feel comfortable reaching out directly.

What part of the strategy excites people — and what metric shows progress?

We are usually able to get customers in front of the whole company a few times per year, and this sense that our work and our offering is making a big impact on people’s lives and organizations’ outcomes through effective technology education and upskilling helps bring the strategy to life for many at Pluralsight. When it comes to metrics to measure progress of the strategy, we think about this a few different ways. Some are internal metrics oriented toward our team members feeling comfortable and confident in their knowledge of the strategy. Others are standard hallmarks of business performance: how well are we retaining customers, how well are we attracting new customers, etcetera.