Today’s Highlight - I got a call from a contact of mine who was looking for guidance around a lending product. That call served as a reminder that there are things you can be good at and things that you are innately good at. Lending is the latter for me, because of my time around the topic.
Today’s Biggest Challenge - Ceding that some activities fall to me where I am not in control and have to wait around for others. Other people’s priorities are not always aligned with yours, and that can often mean waiting on them.
Today’s Study Topic - Branding Strategies. We are working on the messaging around my company’s largest project in its 45-year history. Originally we felt that the project didn’t need a branding strategy. But, the more we discuss things the more I am convinced it does need its unique brand.
Now, on to today’s post.
I’m fortunate to have a team full of high performers. The best part about that is they nearly manage themselves. I’m just there to help clear hurdles for them. The challenge with that is that they could virtually all find another job in a heartbeat.
That’s one reason I work so hard to be a good leader. If, or when, they get other opportunities I pray they have to consider if the grass is truly greener somewhere else. I also try to be worthy of leading them because they deserve it.
One of the unique aspects of my team is that we have “bench” positions. These are product management roles that don’t require product management experience. The idea is that we can and will teach someone everything they need to know about the product.
When I’m hiring for those bench roles, I never hire based on their resume. Instead, I look for people with all the good intangible qualities that you can teach someone to have. Things such as grit, creativity, hustle, being coachable, etc.
The idea is that we will hire someone for a bench position, mentor them, and then promote them.
That usually looks something like the following.
Bench position → Be assigned a more experienced mentor → Participate in meetings that are technically “above their pay grade” so they can learn how our leaders think and problem solve → Assign them to a non-customer-facing product or small customer-facing product → Move them up to a larger product role, which typically includes a revenue-producing product.
I think of this model as my team creating a factory that produces skilled PMs.
This model has worked wonders for us. We are batting 100% in that those junior PMs are now fantastic operators as senior PMs.
Your organization may not have the budget to hire junior PMs. If that is the case, here is what I would do. I would focus on hiring lesser experienced PMs, when it makes sense, and pouring into them.
That might mean that their supervisor has to spend more time engaged with them, but the payoff is big. Or, you might have to resort to keeping a list of potential team members that you’d love to have when you have an open role.
I know because I’ve been there. Let me tell you a story.
TPM 1 is one of the best hires I have ever made in my career. Ever.
She came to my team via cold outreach after I posted my first role. She already worked at my company at the time, but she was in an hourly role and had zero product experience. Even her other professional experience was limited.
Still, she was brave enough to email me and ask if we could talk about the role. Her email said that she knew she wasn’t qualified, but that she’d love to hear how to one day get into a similar role.
I can remember knowing ten minutes into our call that I was going to hire TPM1. She blew me away. Because she had all of those intangibles that I talked about and more. She even has a superpower. She can ingest and retain new information faster than anyone I know.
TPM1 spent the better part of 1.5 years working directly alongside me in a go-to-market role. She went on to write many of the most important business cases for new product builds in our company’s history. Eventually, we promoted her from a junior PM role to a full PM role, and I have a senior role in mind on the horizon.
At the same time we were hiring TPM1, we interviewed GTM PM1. She was in a role where she was further along in her career. So, the first time around the bench position I had to offer didn’t make sense. Still, the next time I posted a similar role I got an application from GTM PM1.
She has been going through the same transformation as TPM1, and will soon be taking on a more senior role in my organization.
Think about how attractive your organization would be to job seekers when you become known for taking lesser experienced professionals and turning them into high-performing PMs. This creates a recruiter’s dream.
There is something else that building bench strength does for you and your organization. It allows you to not skip a beat when team members do eventually move on. Should one of my more advanced PMs take another role, I have multiple people waiting in the wings to take their seats.
Or, even better, to kick me out of my seat one day. Soon.