Employee Experience

Atlassian has been fully distributed for almost five years. We don’t have all the answers, but we’ve learned a lot about how to keep teams thriving across time zones—and we’re applying those insights every day.  ➡️ Asynchronous work: Async tools are at the core of how we operate. Confluence is our virtual hub where we share stories, celebrate new hires, and collaborate effortlessly. We also use Loom to share videos and give feedback on our own time—avoiding those dreaded “this could have been an email” moments. In fact, we’ve saved nearly half a million meetings using Loom! ➡️ Designing workdays: We’ve learned to structure workdays for focus, collaboration, and meetings (only when absolutely necessary). Teams work across no more than two time zones, ensuring at least four hours of overlap to get things done together. ➡️ Intentional connection: Data shows that real connection happens when teams meet regularly—not sporadically in an office. We provide Intentional Togetherness Gatherings (ITGs), curated experiences, and focused in-person time to collaborate. ➡️ Adapting for different needs: It’s not one-size-fits-all. For example, new hires and grads often benefit from more frequent in-person meetups, so we make sure to offer opportunities for them to connect early on. https://lnkd.in/g2sSbe3v

You don’t deserve a bad manager. Here’s what sets them apart: (but first, get my free Project Education Vault with 130+ infographics and cheat sheets to simplify complex concepts here: https://lnkd.in/e9xftTyU) 1/ 1:1 Meetings → Bad managers cancel or avoid them. → Great managers prioritize them for growth. → Time together builds trust. → Growth happens in conversations. 2/ Trusting Your Time → Bad managers micromanage every detail. → Great managers trust you to deliver. → Autonomy fuels ownership. → Control kills confidence. 3/ Credit for Work → Bad managers take credit or speak for you. → Great managers encourage you to own your wins. → Recognition builds loyalty. → Silence creates resentment. 4/ Communication Style → Bad managers drop vague “Can we talk?” messages. → Great managers set clear context upfront. → Transparency reduces anxiety. → Clarity builds respect. 5/ Visibility to Leadership → Bad managers keep you in the shadows. → Great managers give you opportunities to shine. → Exposure drives growth. → Hidden talent stays stuck. 6/ Feedback Frequency → Bad managers give quarterly or rare feedback. → Great managers offer regular, actionable feedback. → Feedback fuels improvement. → Silence stunts progress. Great managers don’t control—they empower. Which side do you see in your workplace? ♻️ Repost and follow Justin Bateh, PhD for more.

ESOPs don’t always work, but when they do its magical 5000 Swiggy employees made around 9000 crores in the IPO Some would have made 100 cr plus Many many more would have made 10 cr plus Life changing money for most people and will enable risk taking and another 100 plus startups from this set If you are evaluating offers from startups with significant ESOP component, this is how you should evaluate it For an employee to make meaningful money through ESOPs, 2 things must happen: - Growth in company value - Employee friendly ESOP policies that ensures employees make money when company grows a) Growth in Company Value This is where employees need to think like investors Just like investors are particularly wary of what valuation they are coming in, entry valuations should matter for employees too ESOPs are allotted basis the current valuation The likelihood of a 10x growth in your ESOPs if you are joining a startup valued at 100 million $ is much higher compared to joining a startup already valued at 5 billion $ A 75 lakh ESOP allotment in a 1000 cr valued org with chances of a 10x growth could be a better offer than 2 cr ESOP allotment at a 20000 cr valued org with lower chances of future growth The second thing to judge is the business model and the likelihood of the business to grow( very important for Seed/Series A/B startups) b) ESOP Policies The startup ecosystem is full of stories where employees didn’t make money despite the company growing and having multiple liquidity events. Swiggy, Zomato are examples of great ESOP policy. Many companies have extremely shitty ones Here are the things that should matter most while evaluating policies: 1. Vesting Schedule: The standard is 25% vesting after every year. Any schedule which has higher vesting towards the later years is a red flag Vesting should never be performance linked If performance is bad, it is management’s responsibility to fire 2. Vesting on Leaving/Startups Exit: If you exit, you should retain all options that has vested If a startup gets acquired before all your options vest, there should be accelerated vesting 3. ESOP Communication: There should always be written communication( preferably through ESOP portal) Verbal communication for ESOPs is a huge red flag 4. Strike Price: Strike Price should be as low as possible( Re 1 ideally). This maximizes the value creation for the employee 5. Holding/Exercise Period: Converting options to shares is a major tax liability exercise. With limited exercise period, it becomes impossible for employees to exercise as it means paying up to 40% real taxes on notional capital gains in an asset class that is not liquid Ideally, holding period should be infinite for vested options, even after exit This enables employees to wait for liquidity events without incurring upfront taxation to be paid out of own pocket

30m PowerPoint presentations are generated daily. Why is this significant? Your average professional dedicates up to 2 workdays weekly to crafting or attending presentations. This is a costly issue: Slides can hinder efficiency, encourage shallow thinking, and potentially lead to a disengaged team. "Many years back, we banned PowerPoint presentations at Amazon. It's probably the wisest decision we ever made." – Jeff Bezos Here are 8 alternatives to 'Death by Powerpoint': 1 - Compose a Memo At Amazon, meetings begin with participants quietly reading a six-page, narratively-structured document.  The outcome: sharper thinking, improved decisions. 2 - Present a Video In today's world, videos are simple to create using smartphones and AI tools.  The outcome: enhanced creativity, greater engagement. 3 - Implement Ignite Talks Five minutes, 20 slides, automatically advancing every 15 seconds.  The outcome: More succinct and powerful presentations. 4 - Craft a Narrative Using appropriate frameworks, we can develop a story much quicker than building a deck.  The outcome: People are 20 times more likely to retain facts woven into a narrative. 5 - Conduct an Interactive Workshop Engage the audience and allow them to devise solutions in smaller groups.  The outcome: Rather than being passive listeners, they become highly involved and take ownership. 6 - Offer a Live Demonstration Showcase your product or concept. Allow others to experience it.  The outcome: The multi-sensory experience reinforces your message. 7 - Organize a Role-Play How might customers, investors or employees respond? Discover through a role-playing exercise.  The outcome: More enjoyable, fresh insights, less preparation time. 8 - Deliver a TED-style Talk Present your idea in a TED Talk format, emphasizing storytelling and audience connection. The outcome: You convey a compelling message in a memorable manner. ♻️ Please share with your network. 📌 And follow Oliver Aust for more practical tips on leadership communication.

💎 Accessibility For Designers Checklist (PDF: https://lnkd.in/e9Z2G2kF), a practical set of cards on WCAG accessibility guidelines, from accessible color, typography, animations, media, layout and development — to kick-off accessibility conversations early on. Kindly put together by Geri Reid. WCAG for Designers Checklist, by Geri Reid Article: https://lnkd.in/ef8-Yy9E PDF: https://lnkd.in/e9Z2G2kF WCAG 2.2 Guidelines: https://lnkd.in/eYmzrNh7 Accessibility isn’t about compliance. It’s not about ticking off checkboxes. And it’s not about plugging in accessibility overlays or AI engines either. It’s about *designing* with a wide range of people in mind — from the very start, independent of their skills and preferences. In my experience, the most impactful way to embed accessibility in your work is to bring a handful of people with different needs early into design process and usability testing. It’s making these test sessions accessible to the entire team, and showing real impact of design and code on real people using a real product. Teams usually don’t get time to work on features which don’t have a clear business case. But no manager really wants to be seen publicly ignoring their prospect customers. Visualize accessibility to everyone on the team and try to make an argument about potential reach and potential income. Don’t ask for big commitments: embed accessibility in your work by default. Account for accessibility needs in your estimates. Create accessibility tickets and flag accessibility issues. Don’t mistake smiling and nodding for support — establish timelines, roles, specifics, objectives. And most importantly: measure the impact of your work by repeatedly conducting accessibility testing with real people. Build a strong before/after case to show the change that the team has enabled and contributed to, and celebrate small and big accessibility wins. It might not sound like much, but it can start changing the culture faster than you think. Useful resources: Giving A Damn About Accessibility, by Sheri Byrne-Haber (disabled) https://lnkd.in/eCeFutuJ Accessibility For Designers: Where Do I Start?, by Stéphanie Walter https://lnkd.in/ecG5qASY Web Accessibility In Plain Language (Free Book), by Charlie Triplett https://lnkd.in/e2AMAwyt Building Accessibility Research Practices, by Maya Alvarado https://lnkd.in/eq_3zSPJ How To Build A Strong Case For Accessibility, ↳ https://lnkd.in/ehGivAdY, by 🦞 Todd Libby ↳ https://lnkd.in/eC4jehMX, by Yichan Wang #ux #accessibility

Louder for the people at the back 🎤 Many organisations today seem to have shifted from being institutions that develop great talent to those that primarily seek ready-made talent. This trend overlooks the immense value of individuals who, despite lacking experience, possess a great attitude, commitment, and a team-oriented mindset. These qualities often outweigh the drawbacks of hiring experienced individuals with a fixed and toxic mindset. The best organisations attract talent with their best years ahead of them, focusing on potential rather than past achievements. Let’s be clear this is more about mindset and willingness to learn and unlearn as apposed to age. To realise the incredible potential return, organisations must commit to creating an environment where continuous development is possible. This requires a multi-faceted approach: 1. Robust Training Programmes: Employers should invest in comprehensive training programmes that equip employees with the necessary skills for their roles. This includes on-the-job training, mentorship programmes, online courses, and workshops. 2. Redefining Hiring Criteria: Organisations should revise their hiring criteria to focus more on candidates’ potential and willingness to learn rather than solely on prior experience or formal qualifications. Behavioural interviews, aptitude tests, and probationary periods can help assess a candidate's ability to learn and adapt. 3. Partnerships with Educational Institutions: Companies can collaborate with educational institutions to design curricula that align with industry needs. Apprenticeship programmes, internships, and cooperative education can bridge the gap between academic learning and practical job skills. 4. Lifelong Learning Culture: Encouraging a culture of lifelong learning within organisations is crucial. Employers should provide ongoing education opportunities and support for professional development. This includes continuous skills assessment and access to resources for upskilling and reskilling. 5. Inclusive Recruitment Practices: Employers should implement inclusive recruitment practices that remove biases and barriers. Blind recruitment, diversity quotas, and targeted outreach programmes can help ensure that diverse candidates are given a fair chance. By implementing these measures, organisations can develop a workforce that is adaptable, innovative, and resilient, ensuring sustainable success and growth.

Most changes fail, especially if they are complex. But why? The Lippitt-Knoster model explains exactly why you don’t get what you want. Making changes is notoriously difficult, especially if they are substantial and complex. In response, there are many change management approaches and step-by-step instructions for managing change. But, to manage change, it is essential to first understand it. Once we know the key ingredients of a successful change, we know what it takes to make it. Even more importantly, once we know these ingredients, we also know WHY a change fails, so that we can do something about it. According to the Lippitt-Knoster Model for Managing Complex Change, a complete change effort requires the following six ingredients: 👉 Vision: sets the direction and explains why the change is needed 👉 Consensus: creates alignment and commitment for the change 👉 Skills: outlines the skills and expertise needed to realize the change 👉 Incentives: creates the motivation and drive to make the change 👉 Resources: enables the change with the needed time, money and tools 👉Action Plan: clarifies the roadmap and steps for realizing the change All six are needed. Consensus was added later by Knoster and it’s not so clear if both originators agree. Yet, I find it essential for any change to be successful, so you need all six. If you miss one you don’t get the change you want. ❌ Miss Vision and you get Confusion ❌ Miss Consensus and you get Sabotage ❌ Miss Skills and you get Anxiety ❌ Miss Incentives and you get Resistance ❌ Miss Resources and you get Frustration ❌ Miss Action Plan and you get False Starts So, here is what it takes to make a successful (complex) change: Step 1: Vision. Create and share a clear vision of the change and why it is needed. What will the new situation look like? Step 2: Consensus. Engage people across the organization to gather input and align their viewpoints in line with the vision. Step 3: Skills. Identify which skills are needed, provide the necessary training, upskill or attract people with the right skills. Step 4: Incentives. Understand what motivates people and create the right mechanisms for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Step 5: Resources. Reserve enough time and money for making the change and obtain the necessary tools, technologies and other resources. Step 6: Action Plan. Develop a high-level roadmap and detailed action plan that outlines the priorities, order and steps for making the change. === Want to create true and lasting change? Then the Certified Strategy and Implementation Consultant (CSIC) program may be something for you. For more information and registration for the September 2024 cohort of this exciting program, and booking a call with our enrollment advisor, visit our website strategy.inc. 

A Return To Office mandate is a funny thing. A trade-off of lower workforce productivity, morale, retention, engagement, and trust in exchange for...managers feeling more in control. It's more a sign of insecurity and incompetence than sound decision-making. The fact that 80% of executives who have pushed for RTO mandates have later regretted their decision only makes the point further, and yet every few months more leaders line up to pad this statistic. In case your leaders have forgotten, return to office mandates are associated with: 🔻 16% lower intent to stay among the highest-performing employees (Gartner) 🔻 10% less trust, psychological safety, and relationship quality between workers and their managers (Great Place to Work) 🔻 22% of employees from marginalized groups becoming more likely to search for new jobs (Greenhouse) 🔻 No significant change in financial performance while guaranteeing damage to employee satisfaction (Ding and Ma, 2024) The thing is, we KNOW how to do hybrid work well at this point. 🎯 Allow teams to decide on in-person expectations, and hold people accountable to it—high flexibility; high accountability. 🎯 Make in-person time unique and valuable, with brainstorming, events, and culture-building activities—not video calls all day in the office. 🎯 Value outcomes, not appearances, of productivity—reward those who get their work done regardless of where they do it. 🎯 Train inclusive managers, not micromanagers—build in them the skills and confidence to lead with trust rather than fear and insecurity. Leaders that fly in the face of all this data to insist that workers return to office "OR ELSE" communicate one thing: they are the kinds of leaders that place their own egos and comfort above their shareholders and employees alike. Faced with the very real test of how to design the hybrid workforce of the future, these leaders chose to throw a tantrum in their bid to return to the past, and their organizations will suffer for it. The leaders that will thrive in this time? Those that are willing to do the work. Those that are willing to listen to their workforce, skill up to meet new needs, and claim their rewards in the form of the best talent, higher productivity, and the highest level of worker loyalty and trust. Will that be you?

My client fired their entire SDR team on Tuesday By Friday, their pipeline had grown by 60% This sounds impossible It's not After auditing 50 B2B sales organizations over 10 years, I've uncovered the most expensive myth in modern selling: → The belief that MORE activity at the TOP of your funnel will fix conversion problems at the BOTTOM Let me share what actually happened: This mid-market software company was spending $350,000 annually on their 4-person SDR team - 100+ cold calls per rep daily - 17 meetings booked weekly - "Incredible metrics" according to leadership - But their close rate? A devastating 1.2% The VP of Sales was convinced they needed MORE outreach, MORE automation, MORE top-of-funnel I suggested something different: pause all prospecting for 7 days Instead, we had their account executives do something radical - engage with the 215 prospects already in their pipeline who'd gone cold after initial meetings Using a framework we developed: - 65 prospects responded within 24 hours - 41 booked follow-up meetings - 23 re-entered active buying cycles - 6 closed within 14 days (total value: $212K) The shocking revelation? - Their pipeline wasn't empty - It was overflowing with neglected opportunity. This company didn't have a lead generation problem. They had a lead nurturing catastrophe. By reallocating resources from mindless prospecting to strategic engagement, they've now: - Reduced CAC by 60% - Shortened sales cycles by 30% - 2x their close rate The counterintuitive truth: Sometimes the fastest path to growth is to stop chasing new opportunities and start converting the ones you've already earned. What percentage of your marketing and sales budget is focused on prospects who've already shown interest vs those who haven't? That ratio reveals everything about your future growth trajectory P.S. If you need help with your sales, send me a message