What is "Connector Leadership"?
According to Hillary Carpio (Director of ABM at Snowflake), it involves connecting dots across an organization to create a scalable and repeatable infrastructure, so teams can invest in creativity and innovation.
Each month, Stage 2 Capital’s Emerging Leaders Syndicate (ELS) brings in the best go-to-market minds to share their stories during the “Hour of Excellence” webinar. Hillary is the latest "Hour of Excellence" guest, where she elaborated on:
The fundamentals of Connector Leadership:
"[It involves] aligning people across common goals and get people moving in the same direction. We don't spend a lot of time thinking about what other people's goals are. Instead of asking someone 'Can you help me with x?' ask something like, 'What is the goal you're trying to achieve this quarter?' You can then come back with, 'When working together, here's how we can both get there.' "
How to gain cross-functional trust:
"Build your case from the ground up. Look for people who understand what you're working towards, and use that relationship to get a data point. If you can get more advocates, you can begin snowballing your idea, and eventually present it to decision makers."
How to connect processes and make room for innovation:
"A non-business example of this would be removing weeds from your yard. Instead of repeatedly removing the same weeds, you can take a few days to dig up your yard and lay down a weed barrier. From a business standpoint, you can take a few days to streamline the repetitive tasks in your workflow, allowing you to eventually spend your time on something more strategic."
Check out the full conversation with Hillary below:
If you're interested in learning more about Stage 2 Capital’s Emerging Leaders Syndicate, you can connect with one of our active members on LinkedIn, or fill out this form and someone will contact you directly.