How do you think about building a PMM team -- eg, how do you balance the day-to-day with less pressing -- but still important -- things around processes, career development, building x-functional relationships?

Developing your team and how x-functional teams work together may seem “less pressing”, but while these things do not typically have urgent deadlines, they are extremely important. Here are a few strategies I use to effectively develop the team as well as meeting business goals.

• OKRs for personal development. We use OKRs to set and measure goals. Whatever goal setting/tracking model you use, make room for you and your team to add individual career goals. We typically all have a learning goal each quarter which can range from doing a LinkedIn learning program all the way to starting an exec MBA program.
• Make it a part of high-priority projects. I’m sure you’ve had a team member trying to improve a skill or learn something new. Can you give them that opportunity while also delivering on a business initiative? I had someone on my team who was developing presentation skills and gaining confidence speaking with large teams. We identified a need to have a business review on a new product we had launched. This would kick off our next round of strategic planning and roadmap discussion with x-functional teams…super important. My team member developed the content, did a dry run with peers, and then presented it to the leadership team, which kicked off a great discussion.
• Prioritize it for yourself. As a leader, if you prioritize and make time to develop yourself, build x-functional relationships, etc… your team is more likely to do the same. Definitely lead by example on this one.