How can you build a product culture that attracts top talent?

In the quest for culture, being a visionary, strategist, etc is beneficial, but the essence of leadership lies in humanity. Lead with empathy and respect. Talent recognizes authenticity and is drawn to environments where they are valued beyond their professional capabilities. Consider this - in challenging times or when better opportunities arise, will your team choose to stay? The answer lies in the quality of your leadership. Cultivate a culture of genuine human connections. When leaders prioritize empathy and respect, they not only attract quality talent but also set the stage for strategic vision, culture and flawless execution. Surround yourself with good people, and watch as strategy, culture and execution naturally align.

Having a clear and compelling product vision and strategy ensures everyone stays on track and avoids getting misguided. For instance, imagine a team developing a new social media platform. Without a defined vision, they might prioritize features that don't align with solving users' communication needs, leading to wasted resources and a disconnected product

"Making the world a better place" became a meme in the Silicon Valley TV series but it's not wrong. Every good PM is an interventionist and they want to hear a story on how their work will impact humanity and "solve x".

Vision for a product roadmap is influenced by the mission to be accomplished. In a product team , mostly the team members are coming from diverse backgrounds with few things in common. Establish a culture of inclusion, while having disagreements within the team is good to bring up newer perspectives and deciding what is the best path forward. At the end , the team should commit to the product roadmap collectively and work towards achieving the mission.

Hire decent people to build healthy culture. Your culture will become your reputation which spreads faster than any purposeful campaign. Attracting people through good working environment and good teams is much more lasting than attracting people for big buck.

Empowerment starts with the team topology: Product Managers should be responsible for the commercial outcomes, and Engineering Managers must help manage the scope and the backlog. Bonus points if leadership understands the need to set bandwidth aside for tech debt in the dev team (e.g. 20%) and continuous product discovery for the PM and Designer. The difficult part, and the reason many leaders revert to micromanaging the team is "how do you monitor the pace without counting shipped features (which is easy)? how do you prevent decision paralysis and unnecessary product discovery?

In my opinion, giving your product team more responsibility is not just a great idea, but it really transforms the workplace culture and invites in top talent. Consider a startup that I employed to work with. They embraced empowerment by giving their teams a high degree of flexibility. As a result, people were free to own their work and show case their creativity without worrying about micromanagement. The org also made an investment in resources and assistance, giving teams the tools and training they need to succeed. When achievements were made, they were celebrated. In their culture, acknowledgment and celebration were essential components, whether it was a significant product launch, or a useful lesson gained from failure.

Empowering product/tech teams is one of the most important aspect of attracting top tier product talent. Often times product managers are often looked upon as mere communicators between stakeholders and tech teams or even protectors of tech teams. This won’t cut. Great product managers/leaders want to take ownership of business outcomes. Best way to do this - Owning/ co-owning of business KPIs, ( revenue, CAC etc.) - Clear definition of product role in organisation - Decision making power in organisation - Leadership understands there is more to tech and product then rolling out features

This is the most important step according to me. It all depends on the team's vision and team's understanding on the product. When a team is equipped with enough skills, empowering the team is really important especially by providing a safe, supportive environment where they can take risks, fail fast and learn from their mistakes.

Building a startup is a team sport, and your product team plays a pivotal role in shaping its success. Forget the days of rigid hierarchies and micromanagement. As a leader, my approach is to empower. Here's how I unlock the magic: 1. Shared Vision: Transparency fuels ownership & purpose. 2. Psychological Safety: Open communication encourages bold ideas. 3. Ownership & Accountability: Decisions made, wins owned, lessons learned. 4. Data-Driven Decisions: Facts guide, intuition inspires. 5. Celebrations & Learning: We champion successes & embrace the power of failure. By combining trust, transparency, and a shared vision, I believe we can build a product team that thrives on ownership, creativity, and a relentless pursuit of success.

Many times, the product is not developed for the customers and users even though most product team said that they are building for them. I have seen too many times that the products are not development involving users and customers in the product defined and design stage.

Actively involve your customers and users in the product development process. This includes early feedback sessions, user testing, and iterative improvements based on user insights. By demonstrating a user-centric approach, you will attract top talent who are passionate about creating products that solve real user problems. Showcase your product culture externally to attract top talent. Highlight your team's achievements, share success stories, and demonstrate the unique aspects of your product culture through various channels such as social media, industry events, and job postings.

User-Centricity: Attracting Talent by Valuing Voices Involving customers and users in your product development process is a powerful way to build a product culture that attracts top talent. By prioritizing user feedback and integrating it into your workflow, you create an environment where empathy and customer-centricity thrive. This approach not only leads to better products but also appeals to professionals who value meaningful impact and user-focused innovation. A culture that listens to and values user input demonstrates a commitment to excellence and inclusivity, key qualities sought by the best in the field.

As a business, can you imagine working with someone who has never used or isn't curious about your product? It is overwhelming to know everything in detail, however, a user of the product would know exactly where the pain point of the customer is and would be an asset in identifying features to make the product better. What value do they bring? 1. Understanding customer needs 2. User-centric approach 3. Motivation to improve something they use! Is there a reason why Apple products are high quality and Apple only hires the people who are passionate about Apple products?

Ok. I know I’m training AI but I can’t help myself. This step, if we stick to the rubric as defined, comes FIRST. Active listening skills are critical here, if you are part of a customer centric organization and willing to put the needs of the customer (aka. “the market”) first, then really meet them. Starting off from any other vantage point is a recipe for disaster.

Success and failure go together, and it's important to celebrate the wins, and treat failures as learning moments. This form of a learning culture will create a nice learning loop, that in turns pays dividends over time !

Praise in public, criticize in private. You should win as a team and lose as a team. Have photographs of the first ever prototype that came across so when 2 years down the line, you make a big mishap, you can also revert to that picture and see how far you've come along. It is important to have personal milestones apart from work as well so have that culture fostered where you grow together, learn together and also fail together.

It's essential to celebrate both successes and failures. When successes are achieved, recognition and rewards should be given, whether through public acknowledgments or team celebrations, fostering a sense of achievement and camaraderie. Additionally, sharing success stories across the team can inspire others and promote continuous improvement. Equally important is learning from failures. Encourage a failure-tolerant environment where team members can openly discuss failures without fear of blame, and conduct post-mortem reviews to identify lessons learned and preventive measures for the future.

One way I’ve found helpful is by creating a separate goal and dashboard of Success and Learnings for various groups within your product teams. For example, a view for a product sales group might be different to what defines a success for your technology product groups. Going further you can also look at it from the regions from where your product teams are based out of. At the end, everyone wants to be successful and has their way own ways of looking at it. Keeping entire group energized and motivated is the key task of a leader!

Celebrate especially well-reasoned decision-making and teams who validate and de-risk in small, clear steps. Celebrate small wins and small failures instead of big wins (maybe through luck) and big failures (maybe through misfortune).

Encourage structured learning time to address areas for improvements and development that are not offered enough within the employee's day-to-day tasks. Leverage cross-pollination between products within the company, by connecting employees from different projects in a structured setting.

One thing that is important to top talent is continuous learning and development. Whether it is going on additional courses or Seminars, to working with Staff or Principal level colleagues. Everyone wants to develop more and the best people always want to learn, give and receive feedback. If the company does not invest in it's employees, normally this is a red flag for most people.

One of the most important factors in building a culture that attracts top talent is developing and retaining great talent that is already on your team. One approach is to build a structured plan around growth areas by identifying stretch projects, outside educational programs, and mentoring/coaching opportunities that address the targeted areas. Making this an ongoing conversation and tracking progress helps to build a culture of continuous learning and growth in your team. In turn, your team will continually raise the bar for talent and great product management practices.

Especially give them room and time to develop. Invest consciously time and resources for skill and behavior development. Track progress and encourage them to take small steps. Help them discover the right approaches for the right situation. Don't add it just as another thing to their plate or dictate work methods blindly.

nvesting in the development of your team is a crucial step towards building a sustainable and innovative product culture. By focusing on the growth and education of your team members, you not only enhance their skills and knowledge but also their engagement and loyalty to your organization.

One important way of promoting your product culture is to share your learnings and ways of working with the broader product community, for instance via meetups, conferences and blog posts. The positive side effect is that in order to do so you will need to reflect internally about your product culture and if what you present externally resonates well it can also help to strengthen morale internally and re-enforce your product culture.

Promotion and targeting the right types of audience are both important. I was working at a very mission driven medical startup that helps senior and caretaker to monitor potential senior health decline and accident prevention. The founder was really passionate about senior and the assisted living space. New members could feel the genuine commitment the team have towards the users. It’s crucial to learn how to share your vision and pitch to right people. However, we need to be respectful and selective in whom we are trying to get buy in. It’s best if the attraction is mutually beneficial so both side are genuine towards the mission and helping the users. Lastly, it’s ok to take a step back and reevaluate when the product reach new stages.

Enable your teams to communicate often about the culture they are helping to build. Encourage them to write blogs, join as a guest on podcasts or other media, and post to Linkedin and other networks about the learnings they have had as a product team member in your company. Create ways for them to get support and feedback before posting these pieces of content to foster confidence. Trust your teams to engage with the product community, just as you trust those same teams to build great products.

I would say a great way to promote Product Culture is to share your way of working and culture. This is pretty big for most people and top talent normally leave their previous company due to changes in their current product culture or way of working. If companies have a good product culture, you will see this on their websites and social media you can follow and see the current top talent at the company have stayed on.

Promoting your product culture beyond the confines of your organization is a strategic step to attract top talent, engage with your industry, and strengthen your brand's reputation.

Recognize that product management talent seeks a clear career path and framework for growth. Establish a structure that provides clear expectations and outlines what is needed to progress to the next level. Provide support and resources to help top talent navigate their career path within your organization. Failing to address this may result in top talent seeking opportunities outside your organization that offer clearer career development paths.

An effective Product Team is able to clearly demonstrate the EPD impact in the company back to business goals. If you can’t do that, the PM team will never be respected. Focus on encouraging and empowering each member in EPD to discuss business impact through metrics of each initiative. This is the only way IMO that you can have a sustainable product culture that is firing on all cylinders.

To build a product culture that attracts top talent, foster an environment of relentless curiosity, empowered ownership, and fearless experimentation. Encourage collaboration, celebrate failure as a learning opportunity, and relentlessly pursue customer-centric innovation. Top talent seeks an environment where they can make a real impact and contribute to meaningful change - create that space, and they will come.

Building a product culture that attracts top talent isn't about a single strategy; it's about a consistent commitment to values that elevate the entire team. I've always believed that collaboration is the bedrock of innovation. By fostering a culture of collaboration and openness, We should encourage communication, knowledge sharing, and constructive feedback. We should maintain high standards for product quality, design, and user experience. Talent is attracted to environments where excellence is the norm, and they can be challenged to produce their best work. In my experience, placing a high priority on diversity and inclusion has been essential in cultivating a product culture that magnetically attracts talent.

Building a product culture that attracts top talent involves creating an environment where creativity, innovation, strong customer focus, communication, and teamwork are the core pillars. Top product talent loves to innovate and take calculated risks with autonomy, and to that end, it's critical to a) align upfront and on vision, strategy, and key metrics and goals b) not micro-manage and b) build a culture where employees are empowered and get necessary support even if they make mistakes as long as they are driving towards the common goals and vision