Organizational Flattening: Intentionally Model Behaviors to Build the Culture You Want (2/2)

As managers inherit larger teams inside flatter organizations, we might immediately point out the challenges. But what about opportunities? Despite the trend, those who seek to lead (in a management capacity or otherwise) have the chance to intentionally build a better culture.

We pulled in former guests Shailvi Wakhlu, Neil Thompson, and Abby Clobridge in a roundtable format to get actionable strategies.

In episode 348, we present actionable strategies for managers and individual contributors to thrive in this new environment. Listen closely to understand the importance of improving one’s communication skills, the unique opportunity and impact of the player coach / team lead, the critical elements of a manager’s role, and advice for job seekers in a tough market.

Original Recording Date: 09-27-2025

Topics – Framing Part 2 of Our Discussion, Opportunity for the Player Coach, Modeling the Benefits of Improved Communication Skills, Management Support of Strong Communicators, Individual Contributors and Communication, Succeeding as a Manager of a Large Team, The Culture of Large Teams, Advice for Job Seekers in a Tough Market, In Closing

1:01 – Framing Part 2 of Our Discussion

• Last week in Episode 347 – Organizational Flattening: Understanding the Trend, Career Challenges, and Opportunities (1/2), we introduced a slightly different format that we’re continuing this week based on an industry trend.
  • The trend of organizational flattening in our industry has been top of mind for us. We’re seeing the continued layoffs in tech often times result in fewer management layers and an increase in the number of people reporting to a single manager.
  • This topic is too big and has too many angles for a single conversation. We wanted to bring together multiple expert perspectives on this issue in a single episode. We’ve reached out to a handful of former guests and sent them specific questions on this topic. Those guests were kind enough to record their answers and send them back to us.
  • Consider this a Nerd Journey roundtable or collection of hot takes from trusted voices. Our goal is to amplify their advice and provide a diverse set of strategies for navigating this landscape.
  • In the first episode (last week), we explored the trend of flatter organizations and the consequences for your career path and team culture. This week in part 2 we will focus on actionable insights for thriving in this environment.
• Here’s the full set of episode links we will share throughout the conversation if you would like to hear more from one of the former guests who participated:
  • Shailvi Wakhlu
    • Episode 210 – A Collection of Ambiguous Experiments with Shailvi Wakhlu (1/2)
    • Episode 211 – Structure the Levels of Contribution with Shailvi Wakhlu (2/2)
    • Self-Advocacy: Your Guide to Getting What You Deserve at Work by Shailvi Wakhlu
    • A special 15% off link for Nerd Journey listeners to Shailvi’s self-advocacy course can be found here.
  • Neil Thompson
    • Episode 193 – Communication for Specialists with Neil Thompson (1/2)
    • Episode 194 – Question Askers and Problem Solvers with Neil Thompson (2/2)
    • Teach the Geek YouTube Channel
  • Abby Clobridge
    • Episode 292 – Library Science: Information Architecture and the Synthesis of Details with Abby Clobridge (1/2)
    • Episode 293 – Enterprise Knowledge Management: A Consultative Approach