How to Best Navigate the Matrix?

A while back, someone said to “embrace the matrix” and I’m not sure I entirely agree with the choice of word - it felt like it was masking the difficulty and complexity involved.

I often get asked this question and so, here’s what I’ve learned from my experience:

?? Network, Network, Network.

Forming new connections is essential to understanding the matrix and how it may help with navigating career direction later down the track. In larger companies, start with org charts but that’s not enough. Pay attention in meetings; small or large, and reach out to some contacts from there to say ‘Hello’ and learn more about their role, team, etc. In my experience, almost no one I’ve approached from any levels have ever turned down a short call/coffee so, absolutely use that time to network and form new connections.

???? Share Key Insights & Make it Interesting!

Remember, the larger the company it becomes harder for others to know who you are and what you do. In my experience, I often built my roles to be a subject matter expert of what’s key to drive business growth i.e. region-or-product opportunities. The rule here is to master the space and be so damn good at it. Hold events like roadshows, workshops, intro sessions, etc., make it fun and interactive, to drive up word-of-mouth. Openly extend the knowledge to teams regionally and internationally. This way, you’ll start building a profile and others will naturally come to you for partnerships.

?? Join & Engage in one or more Communities.

Joining community groups are great to make new connections, increase learning opportunities and to seek support from. Consider joining skill-related and/or non-work-related groups. In my experience, I actively joined groups I had strong interest in and would also actively engage as regularly as I could. If it was a product-or-growth related question, I actively seek advice and perspective from internal or external groups. You’ll be surprised by how that one response or interaction can form into something else and the rest is history!

?? My biggest tip to navigate the matrix is to try and go for it, especially in areas you’re most passionate about. Remember, to get attention of the business leaders, you must lean into your expertise (i.e. superpowers) and leverage your connections.

Here's a real-life case example: At Adobe, I wanted to showcase a market’s growth opportunity to senior leaders to gain buy-in and investment in resourcing (especially in a region that wasn’t necessarily top of mind). To do this, I leaned heavily on my existing knowledge base and formed a small but nimble vision team consisting of ~4 lead stakeholders in total. We created the pitch deck in ONE WEEK and presented it to a large group of senior leaders globally. How did I bring the leaders together? I literally just reached out direct to them via Slack or email and invited them to the market pitch and to my surprise, about 95% of senior leaders attended and we got into many forms of discussions that led to different things.

? Did we get the investment and buy-in? Yes, to some degree.

? Did it all work perfectly? Absolutely not!

But that's the fun of it all. Through trial and a lot of error, I always reflect on how processes or tactics can be improved in the next round but it always starts with giving it a shot and learning along the way to best navigate the matrix. Good luck, folks!

? In your experience, how do you best navigate the matrix? What have you learned? What tips and advice can you share? I'd love to hear them!