AMA: LinkedIn Vice President of Global Sales Operations, SaaS, Akira Mamizuka on Stakeholder Management

Rev Ops org design needs to consider multiple variables, such as the Sales Org structure and the remit of the Rev Ops team (for example, in some firms, quota setting is owned by Finance). Regardless of these variables, one aspect that is often a hot discussion topic is "span of control" for Rev Ops teams. In general, Rev Ops teams in companies that are past $100M in ARR should aim for a span of control of 1 Manager to 3 Individual Contributors. Higher spans of control hurt the ability for the Ma ...Read More

First of all, I don't believe that tension between functions is a bad thing. Although too much tension is toxic, too little tension leads to complacency. The key is to strike a balance, operating in a state of "healthy tension". In my experience, the most important factor to achieve a state of healthy tension is effective communications. Often, excessive tension emerges as a result of unmet expectations or wrong assumptions. Both can be mitigated through open and honest communication. If expecta ...Read More

The RAPID framework is extremely valuable to drive timely and high-quality decisions. It is used to clarify the role that each function plays in a given decision. It eliminates confusion, unnecessary cycles, and set clear expectations about the role played by each function. The RAPID framework outlines which functions Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input and Decide a certain decision: Recommend: Develops recommendation for a decision. 80% of the work happens here Agree: Ensures the recommendation me ...Read More

In the post-pandemic world, hybrid work and hybrid teams became the norm and not the exception. In multinational corporations, often a portion of a working team will be based in a different office, country, or remote. Tactics that I find helpful to cross-functional alignment with hybrid and remote teams include: Be mindful about time zones: when possible, schedule meetings in times that work for all, and rotate times to make it equitable Leverage technology: working in the cloud makes collaborat ...Read More

This is a common scenario especially when you are talking about global teams, with members from multiple countries and cultures. I will share one example that hopefully brings to life my approach to this type of situation, when there is a gap in communication styles. When I worked in Europe, I realized I often had difficult e-mail exchanges with one of the regional sales leaders. As much as I tried to be clear and precise with my words, they were always met with misunderstanding and resistance. ...Read More