Operating in Stormy Seas: Leadership Insights for Turbulent Times
This session is led by Jeff, a seasoned tech professional with extensive experience in operations, and moderated by Aušrinė, co-founder of Operations Nation.
This event dug deep into the evolution of operations throughout his illustrious career.
Jeff shared practical advice tailored for wartime ops leaders, focusing on achieving more with limited resources. He will talk about:
- The art of making difficult decisions
- How to be proactive in the midst of firefighting
- The critical mindset shift between playing it safe and playing to win
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Our guest speakers:
Jeffrey Szczepanski
Jeff is an experienced Operations leader and Founder and CEO of Reframe Technologies, a company that is creating an entirely new way of working. A seasoned operations leader who knows all about the best and worst of large organisations, he's founded/joined several startups at an early stage as a senior executive, including:
- CTO and Co-founder of Allworx, acquired by PAETEC Holdings
- COO at Stack Overflow, acquired by Prosus for $1.8B
- COO of Sphere, acquired by Twitter
Our moderator:
Aušrinė Keršanskaitė
For the past five years, Aušrinė (Head of Operations at Reframe Technologies and Co-Founder of Operations Nation) has been a driving force behind Operations Nation, a community-powered knowledge hub that connects and empowers hundreds of operations leaders globally.
With over a decade of hands-on experience navigating the unique challenges of early-stage companies, Aušrinė is a seasoned operations leader guiding startups from pre-seed stages to series B.
Event Recording and Slides
You can watch the recording of this event (and our previous events) on our YouTube channel here:
Please note that we did experience some unexpected wifi issues during the session, so you can expect some of the audio to cut out slightly!
Event Summary
Please note that this summary has been written by ChatGPT summarizing the event transcript.
Navigating Tough Decisions: The discussion touched on the challenges of making difficult decisions in a business, especially in times of financial strain. This included considerations about layoffs and salary cuts, and the importance of involving the team in decision-making.
The Importance of Team Involvement: It was emphasized that involving the team in decisions, even in extreme cases, can be valuable. While it doesn't always mean making decisions by consensus, it allows for a collective understanding and buy-in.
Balancing Short-term Reactions and Long-term Planning: The conversation highlighted the need to balance short-term reactions (such as layoffs) with long-term planning. It's important to have a clear plan for coming out of a crisis and not just reacting in the moment.
Maintaining Operational Excellence: Jeff discussed how he focused on maintaining operational excellence, particularly during high-stress situations. This involved a shift in perspective from reacting to long-term planning and ensuring the organization was set up for success.
Avoiding the "Once" Fallacy: It was noted that waiting for a specific event or situation to change before implementing a new strategy can be a fallacy. Instead, it's important to have a clear plan for moving forward, even in the face of uncertainty.
Evaluating and Validating Operational Success: Jeff suggested that success as an operations leader should be measured by how well the organization aligns around operational excellence. Being viewed as a trusted advisor and a go-to resource for problem-solving can be indicators of success.
Reigniting Team Morale after Resource Cuts: The discussion touched on the challenge of boosting team morale after resource cuts. Jeff emphasized the need for transparency, a clear plan, and avoiding overworking the team. Building trust and ensuring everyone understands their role in the recovery process is key.
Proactive Authoring: Throughout the conversation, the concept of "authoring" emerged as a central theme. This involves actively shaping the organization's direction and outcomes, rather than simply reacting to circumstances.
