Pennylane

As Lead Product Manager at Pennylane, Charlotte Moreau is responsible for the strategy and implementation of the product development team. Her international experience has helped her develop what she believes all good managers need: adaptability and strong interpersonal communication.&nbsp;A culture of radical trustI joined Penny Lane about a year ago. Even though I started as a product manager, after about six months I was offered to start leading one of the product teams, which happened kind of gradually. The company supported me in this transition by giving me a lot of trust and space to experiment from the start. I’ve always felt I could do things my way in terms of project prioritization, rituals, and organizing the team as I wanted to. My boss is also very open-minded, so it was easy to tell him when I wasn’t feeling well or when I wanted to take on new challenges.&nbsp;What made me feel confident enough to step out of my comfort zone is this culture of radical trust. The idea is that from the start, you get to have a lot of responsibilities and we trust you with what you're going to do. Of course, we onboard you and make sure that you have everything you need to succeed, but then it’s up to you to test new things and launch new projects. &nbsp;A competitive environmentSince we are in a very competitive environment, one of the challenges that we face is the speed of development and deployment. That’s why we want people that are really solutions-oriented. Also, the fact that everybody has a product mindset really helps, because early on in the project everybody is already on board and focused on finding a quick solution towards the next step of iteration.We are a very flat organization, so you do not have to ask for lots of permission before testing a new idea or project. I guess that in my leadership style, I try to replicate that as well by making sure that my team has a clear objective, and that they have everything they need to succeed, but also letting them free to experiment and be creative. I also make sure they have a good onboarding experience and interesting topics to work on. Also, that they have visibility and a good tech and design team to work with.&nbsp;Lessons from the pastI do think my past job experience helped me get where I am today. At each step there were different types of hard skills I acquired, such as developing an analytical mindset and critical thinking, but also public speaking and project management. This experience helps me feel a bit more confident and allows me to coach my team and myself.&nbsp;In terms of soft skills, because I got to work in different countries with lots of different people, I think I’ve developed this capacity to adapt my communication style to the person I’m dealing with. I also kind of got used to not being impressed or intimidated by being new in the role, or being the only woman in the room. I believe the best remedy against imposter syndrome is gaining experience, hard skills, and finding that unique spot where you feel most confident.Adaptability is keyAt Pennylane all benefit from management training, where we get to exchange challenges and ideas about our leadership style between managers. It’s kind of like a support group that discusses all sorts of management-related topics. For me, the most interesting part of this training is that we focus on how to adapt your communication style and understand that everybody has their own personality and style. To be a good manager, you need to know how to adapt and understand yourself before you can manage others.&nbsp;It’s about being genuine to yourself. Everybody has their own style — you don't necessarily need to change yours to build trust. It’s not just in direct leadership, but also in indirect leadership, that we have a large impact as product managers. We require trust. Another main challenge of all managers is to identify key qualities in people and create an environment where those can develop.

“Being a good manager is also about being genuine to yourself and others”

charlotte moreau