Welcome to Remote That Works, a weekly newsletter hand-typed by the Valentina Thörner, the Empress of Remote herself. Proudly non-AI, and proudly all-opinions-my-own. If you’d like my pragmatic advisory for yourself or your team - make sure to subscribe.
In a matrix organization team members report to multiple leaders. In a product organization that can be a product manager (or project manager) and their line manager (e.g. the Head of IT or Head of Design). In theory this structure helps to break up silos by bringing together people who work on the same project or product.
In practice that means that the individual contributor (IC) reports to their manager (e.g the Head of Design) while their daily work is guided by the Product Lead. This person now has two 1o1s with two different people - and in a distributed world, this can actually be a great solution to make sure no one gets “forgotten”.
On the flipside, one of the biggest drawbacks of matrix setup is mixing up paths of accountability. Humans usually tend to hack the system, any system, so the more complex the system becomes, the more humans tend to develop a certain type of tunnel vision towards what makes the most sense for their personal situation (a.k.a. “what’s in for me”.
Decoupling “performance” from “belonging”
In a distributed environment, this division between “daily work” and “member of the organization” can be a huge advantage. As long as the product or project manager and the line manager are aligned, this type of organization can supercharge IC’s development.
Meetings and 1o1s with the product manager most likely focus on current work, specific blockers, professional development to strengthen the work itself.
Regular (biweekly) 1o1s with the line manager can now focus on broader work (and life) related topics including long term career planning, personal development and creating strong relationships.
These two approaches complement each other really well if both managers compare notes from time to time or inform each other when something unusual has come up. Not in a sense of gossiping behind the ICs back, but as calibration conversation that allows managers to adapt how they support their reports.
Working with your team members, for your team members
At the end of the day, people optimize for what makes most sense for them - across all areas, not just work. That’s why it’s so important for managers to be aligned, not just conversationally, but on paper.
It needs to be crystal clear who’s responsible for what, not just for the managers, but for the team members as will.
Who’s responsible for day to day activities?
Who is responsible for the strategic vision?
Who is responsible to remove blockers in day-to-day work?
Who’m do they need to talk to if there’s a structural blocker?
Which topics do both managers unblock together?
If you are a manager in a matrix organization, sit down with those other managers and define who does what.
Regularly get together and analyze those situations where miscommunication resulted in friction or problem. How could you have been clearer? Where did someone (accidentally or with the best intentions) take over someone elses responsibilities.
Leading in a matrix organization is like one of those regency dances where you constantly change partners. It only works, because everyone has agreed on the exact steps.
So create those steps, and then practice. You will step on each other’s toes. The right response is to apologize, to forgive, and to review the steps again.
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