Kensho Technologies Leadership & Management

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

I think the most important part of having a high-functioning team is ensuring that all of your team members have the space to communicate their thoughts and trust in the other members of their team that their ideas will be treated with respect, which is psychological safety. 

Which forum or ritual keeps priorities and expectations clear?

I think it’s important to be transparent at every level when communicating about goals and expectations. Bringing in individual contributors to the goal-setting process is critical, especially to establish feasibility; our annual and quarterly goal-setting sessions are where we establish this. Communicating progress and roadblocks to our stakeholders is essential for our leadership to make strategic decisions; our weekly sprint update meetings make sure we are all aligned and allow for real-time problem-solving. Taking the time to reflect and refine the process helps us perform better; retros are where we provide the space to gather feedback. I think these three rituals provide a solid base for our day to day operations.

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

People get excited about making an impact and seeing the work that they do make meaningful change. I think strategy is really energizing when there is a clear line between their contributions and how they tie into the company’s holistic vision.

Following from this, at least for software engineers, the metrics that reflect impact are consistently metrics that show user adoption. For a service, this would be traffic or unique customers. For a container or other artifact, this could be something like downloads.

How Drew Berry Fosters Psychological Safety on His Team at Kensho

There are a bunch of factors that contribute to psychological safety, but as a manager, here’s the reinforcement mechanisms I find the most effective:

• Leading by Example: Make sure that you pay attention and give thoughtful consideration when your team is sharing ideas.
• Creating Space: Give the floor to people in team meetings, and ensure that everyone gets the chance to provide feedback.
• Encouraging Mentorship: Coach the senior members of the team to be mentors for the more junior members.