Weekly newsletter #78
The best of what I've read this week, about operations, training and education, communication, and more
Hello!
I am working on a blog article about the employee onboarding program I built at my last job. This is a brief break in book chapter work to help get more research survey responses for the next course about employee onboarding. Stay tuned for the next newsletter for the link to read it, and perhaps I can finish a book chapter excerpt, too!
In the meantime, I’d appreciate some feedback on this quiz I made to help choose the right documentation class format for your needs. Now that there are many formats for the class material! There is also a corresponding webpage for SEO and other benefits, which is a bit unwieldy at the moment. But if you dislike quiz forms, it’s available, just scroll past the quiz.
P.S. I originally created this in Typeform but am hoping more than 10 people a month fill it out (that’s the limit when Typeform starts charging $25+/month) so I found a free option.
Onto the resources!
Thanks to this week’s sponsor:
Want To Work There, who focuses on practical, actionable advice for building better workplaces.
Each week this month, I'm featuring one of their incredibly detailed, free resource guides.
This week we're sharing a resource we hope you never need: 11 Ways to Conduct More Empathetic, Respectful Layoffs. There’s no way around it - layoffs suck. But in the event your organization is going through layoffs, here's some helpful guidance on how to lead with empathy.
Last week’s most popular link:
Gagan Biyani shares 5 dumb questions that will make you look smart in meetings
What I've been reading, watching, and listening to:
LinkedIn
Justin Norris asks: Is there value in analyzing all the marketing/sales touchpoints within a single deal? And also writes about chatting with Ashley Faus about using a content playground instead of content mapped to funnel stages
Sara McNamara writes about how to get started in marketing operations (even if you don't have experience)
Stephanie Valenti shares the 3 most common "whys" of leaving a current employer that I have seen over the last 4 weeks
Matthew Volm writes about the two main jobs or responsibilities for leaders, and how if you're only responsible for the sales team, then you're not a CRO
Fiona Simpson writes how no one is on the same page about enablement
Greg Portnoy shares ‘9 things I wish I knew as a first-time partner manager’
Ali Schwanke writes about marketing decision paralysis
Heather Robinette shares 5 tips to help you make the most of your first Ops hire
Paul David Mather shares a job hunter’s checklist for resumes and LinkedIn profiles
Molly Graham writes about how one of the hardest things to do as a manager is to decide to fire someone
Asad Zaman writes about the mistake of hiring a Head of Sales to find Product Market Fit, and that many Sales Leaders haven’t found a good job for 12+ months because of Leader Market Fit
Vanesa Cotlar writes about talking with your manager about how your forever career likely won't be at your current company
Dharmesh Shah writes about Living in the Future: The Secret to Great Startup Ideas
Diana De Jesus writes about a customer saying they don’t know why they were assigned a customer success account manager
Jeff Cypher writes that failed project management implementations are all too common because teams are over-reliant on technology
Marybeth Alexander writes about Why a Knowledge Base is Like a House Foundation
Andy Byrne writes about Clari’s new report on revenue leak
Rosalyn Santa Elena writes about why 76% of sales reps say they need more coaching
Beau Brooks shares 10 lessons from 10 years in the tech startup world
Alina Vandenberghe writes about how they do all the marketing at Chili Piper with just 3 people
Darrell Alfonso writes about how companies can succeed with or without a GTM operations structure
Logan Lyles writes about repurposing your podcast content (with more info in the podcast)
Gagan Biyani shares how he thinks about his job as CEO
Articles, Reports, Guides, Newsletters
CS2 writes about ‘What is Go-To-Market (GTM) Operations?’ and shares a framework
Harvard Business Review (3 free articles a month) writes about Why Cross-Functional Collaboration Stalls, and How to Fix It
Lenny Rachitsky writes takeaways from a podcast with Jessica Lachs (VP of Analytics and Data Science at DoorDash) about building a world-class data org
Julie Zhuo writes about how to change a culture
Gustavo Razzetti writes about How to Build Psychological Safety Without Waiting for the Leader
Kim Scott writes about the perils of power
Ben Stroup writes about setting up your project team for success
Jess Almlie writes about Combatting Stakeholder Silence
John Cutler writes about How to Think About Operations and Enablement
Kanako Tone writes about Bridging the Communication Divide Between Ops Teams and Stakeholders
Andrew Chen writes about building the initial team for seed-stage startups
Podcasts & Webinars
Kyle Lacy and Devin Reed discuss How to Build Your Brand & Pipeline at the Same Time on the Reed Between the Lines podcast — 52 minutes
Garret Caudle and Jakub “Kuba” Grajcar discuss How to Drive Pipeline Through LinkedIn Thought Leadership and a Strong POV on the Agency Journey podcast — 54 minutes
Marc Hans and Bridget Pyne discuss Why Creativity Matters Now More Than Ever on the Beyond the Hub podcast — 34 minutes, and Marc also chats with Growth on Future Proofing Your Business With Creativity —22 minutes
Kassy LaBorie and Jess Almlie discuss Online Training That's Better Than In Person on the L&D Must Change podcast — 39 minutes
Ashley Faus and Dan Dowman discuss practical tips for addressing culture and leadership challenges (and share Atlassian’s internal documentation/playbook!) 📝 — 34 minutes
Lisa Wells recently shared a series of short videos on standard operating procedures (SOP): 📝
Tamara McLemore and Hannah Bates discuss Getting Project Management Right on the HBR On Leadership podcast — 37 minutes
Gray MacKenzie and Jakub “Kuba” Grajcar discuss The 40-Hour Conundrum: Rethinking Time Tracking for Modern Agencies on The Agency Journey podcast — 48 minutes
Will Magnuson, Anna Randall, and Sean Lane discuss pushing back on the stereotypes of the typical Sales leader, particularly when it comes to planning, on the Operations with Sean Lane podcast — 42 minutes
Hana Jacover and Camela Thompson discuss Dealing with Difficult Personalities at Work on The Revenue Marketing Report podcast — 14 minutes
Featured Events or Classes:
On-demand: The Research Report Playbook (course) ($) from Erin Balsa
July 23: How to Own GTM Tech Stack Without Becoming an “Accidental Admin” from RevGenius
November 12-14 in Phoenix, AZ: Playbook 2024 ($) from Trainual
Featured Book:
Featured Remote Jobs:
A Few Ways I Can Help You
On-demand courses:
How and Why to Document Your Business Processes — full course
There is now a MarketingOps. com version! It includes the workbook and some marketing-ops-specific resources
Live courses:
How to Document Your Business Processes — Full course — Oct. 1-22 (new format of one class per week instead of two)
How to write a clear process anyone can follow - One-session workshop - Nov. 12, 8-11AM Pacific
Create a system to keep documentation in use and updated - One-session workshop - Nov. 19, 8-10:30AM Pacific
A new live course on employee onboarding will be available later this year — participate in the research that will shape the course here
Thanks for including me, Jen!