Managing Grumpy: Embracing Diversity to Build Stronger Teams

An organization performs best when it is made up of a diverse group of people, opinions and ideas from a variety of locations and backgrounds. As a manager, your job is to balance this diversity to support and grow a strong team poised for individual and organizational success. Learning how to best motivate a group of disparate and distinct people with unique talents best prepares you to overcome unforeseen situations and obstacles as you scale your operations organization.

At Fastly, we’ve built a world-class team of ops experts from many backgrounds and timezones around the world, amidst immense growth and with operational pressure. This talk will cover strategies for overcoming individual and organizational management challenges in a globally diverse environment. We’ll discuss strategies for moving your team toward a shared positive future amidst friction in a fast paced 24x7 operational environment. We’ll explore different people management challenges and discuss methods to work through the grumpiest admin. This talk will leave you thinking of new methods for focusing your efforts on total team strength and looking where you want to go instead of where you’re afraid of heading.