post

Footer About

Footer Contribute

Footer Get Involved

Footer Links

Mind the Product

Product Management

How to measure impact in Product Operations

Artificial intelligence (AI)

How to navigate the explosion of AI tools aimed at product managers

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Building Product Teams

Business Strategy

Data Driven Product Management

Digital Transformation

Diversity and Inclusion

Minimum Viable Product

OKRs

Prioritisation

Product Design

Product Research

Product Development Process

Product Ethics

Product Discovery

Product Leadership

Product Management Career

Product Strategy

Stakeholder Management

🌎 <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/world-product-day/" style="color:#FFFFFF;text-decoration:underline;">Happy World Product Day!</a> Be sure to celebrate product, yourself, and your peers today! 🎉

Why self-care is your secret weapon as a product manager

What if pricing was your best feature?

Navigating the workplace as a young product manager

Klarna goes on recruitment drive after ditching AI-first policy

How Stack Overflow is competing with AI – Jody Bailey (CPTO, Stack Overflow)

Louron serves as the Editor at Mind the Product, bringing nearly a decade of experience in editorial positions across business and technology publications. For any editorial inquiries, you can connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Louron Pratt

In this #mtpcon San Francisco keynote, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Diana Stepner</a>, Head of Product, Education at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, shared insights on the importance of psychological safety for remote teams. Watch the video in full, or read on for a recap of her key takeaways. 
<h2>The importance of psychological safety</h2>
Diana opened her keynote by explaining that creating an environment where teams can thrive, learn, and grow is important for businesses and individuals during difficult times.
Why should psychological safety be considered as s priority for teams? Diana explained how it could result in individuals thriving, where people feel safe and empowered. Consequently, thriving employees give an organisation a competitive advantage in today’s dynamic environment. Business leaders must recognise this potential and embrace a culture that empowers product teams.
<h2>Product and imposter syndrome</h2>
As product people, we’re often building something new. Diana explained that we love building things and don’t know where they will end up. However, sometimes the craft makes us question who we are. “It takes courage to go out and explore new avenues to create good products,” she said, “if you try it, then it ends up being worth the effort.”
Around 82% of people have experienced imposter syndrome, said Diana. It isn’t something you outgrow; it is part of who you are. “Embrace fear, uncertainty, and doubt,” said Diana, “You are not alone; many people face it just like you. It can make you better in your roles.” Those who embrace imposter syndrome can have new ideas and unlock new perspectives by feeling unique and humble.
Be honest that you want to learn and seek new ideas from others. It can help you grow and succeed by embracing this feeling.
Product is constantly changing, Diana said. There is an opportunity for organisations to embrace this change and onboard new voices, new opinions, and new thoughts to get a better return on investment.
<h2>Creating an environment where people feel safe</h2>
You want people to feel like they can be themselves at work, but how do you instil that culture? Diana shared how successful teams make and share mistakes. “As product people, we make mistakes. By sharing insight into mistakes, all teams can learn and grow,” she said. Teams that don’t do this go through the same mistakes again and again.
As the world around us continues to evolve, so do customers’ interactions and expectations of the product, Diana said. To continue to meet and exceed customer expectations, product managers must feel comfortable evolving their thinking and approaches. “Even though it may feel like a time to work quietly and get on with things, it’s still the time to embrace that uncertainty that we’re all facing”, she explained.
Use the Psychological safety quadrant to figure out with your team how safe they feel today, a year ago, and where they want to be across comfort, performance, apathy, and anxiety. You can then take action to help the team move forward.
<img decoding="async" src="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/5475252b-53b4-4303-8a49-2c7a8f68eeac_Screenshot202023-06-2820at2017.03.32.jpg" alt="" />
Putting these thoughts into practice, Diana said first to have a role and responsibility clarity. Additionally, embrace learning, especially in a product role. Finally, don’t criticise mistakes. Reward and thank people for taking a risk and gaining learning. “It’s harder to thank people in a remote space, but we all have multiple Slack channels where we can make that recognition happen,”
Finally, don’t forget yourself, Diana said. Create a space where you can shine as well. “You don’t have to be everything to everyone. You can celebrate your small successes by yourself,”
Putting it all together, you want people to feel like they’re contributing to the team. Use retrospectives to identify improvements, Diana said. Just like you would use a retro at the end of a sprint, use the same function with your team. Use this to identify what you could be doing differently, encourage growth, and create a safe space for everyone.
<h3>Want to turn the learning from this talk into action?</h3>
Our exciting #mtpcon San Francisco 2023 <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/resources/mtpcon-san-francisco-2023-keynote-kit-sign-up/">Keynote Kit</a> brings you all of the insights from our San Francisco keynote talks plus additional helpful discussion points and thought starters so you can easily translate the insights into actions – perfect for making effective improvements to your role, team, and product. Plus, get an email notification when each talk is published! <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/resources/mtpcon-san-francisco-2023-keynote-kit-sign-up/">Sign up now</a>.
&nbsp;

core/freeform

Making product magic with cross-functional collaboration by Ebi Atawodi

10 years Wiser: Lessons learned from scaling Wise by Nilan Peiris

Breaking down misconceptions to create healthier teams by Adrian Howard

Creating courageous product teams with Yi-Wei Ang

Mastering perspective – zoom in, zoom out as a product leader by Navya Rehani Gupta

Building healthy and high performing teams with West Monroe

The importance of psychological safety for remote teams by Diana Stepner

Common transformation pitfalls by Marty Cagan

Building a digital product organisation, brick by brick by Nils Michaelis

Product, dance, and pockets of brilliance by Pippa Topp

ProductTank Stuttgart

ProductTank Bratislava

ProductTank Stockholm

ProductTank Bonn

ProductTank Milano

ProductTank Madrid

ProductTank Columbus

ProductTank Sofia

ProductTank Belfast

ProductTank Toronto

ProductTank Bangkok

ProductTank Kraków

ProductTank Barcelona

ProductTank Montréal

ProductTank Chicago

ProductTank Seattle

ProductTank Linköping

ProductTank Rotterdam

ProductTank Cardiff

ProductTank San Francisco

ProductTank Auckland

ProductTank Newcastle Upon Tyne

ProductTank Abu Dhabi

ProductTank Lausanne

ProductTank Ljubljana

ProductTank Valencia

ProductTank Luxembourg

Product Management Foundations BST

Product Management Foundations ET

ProductTank Edinburgh

ProductTank Des Moines

ProductTank Philadelphia

ProductTank Reston

ProductTank Dubai

ProductTank Prague

ProductTank Reading

ProductTank Jacksonville

ProductTank Rio de Janeiro

ProductTank Atlanta

ProductTank Los Angeles

ProductTank Bielefeld

ProductTank Köln

Communication & Alignment BST

Communication & Alignment ET

ProductTank Paris

ProductTank Frankfurt

ProductTank Milton Keynes

ProductTank Norwich

ProductTank Pittsburgh

ProductTank Manchester

ProductTank Exeter

ProductTank Malmö