At Possible our managers are innovators that inspire team members to create remarkable results. Read more about the role of management at Possible and the systems we use to create efficient, effective work.

1. THE ROLE OF
MANAGEMENT

2. v
HOW
WE
MANAGE

3. We don’t want just ‘managers’. We want
inspiring leaders, passionate coaches,
and tireless supporters. Managers exist
to help individual stars make magic.
- The HubSpot Culture Code
We’re a team, not a family. We hire,
develop and cut smartly so we have
stars in every position.
- Netflix

4. At Possible when you take
away “what” we do,
we are really a human
resources organization.

5. We can only deliver great
healthcare if we can recruit,
hire, orient, manage, and
fire exceptionally well.

6. As in all things that require
continuous improvement,
this guide is aspirational.
And we often fail to
live up to everything
we share here.

7. We also employ this
management guide up to
what we call the “maximally
permissible standard.”

8. In the work we do, sometimes
organization culture doesn’t supersede
the culture of the country we work in,
and sometimes technology isn’t widely
available enough to use the exact same
systems in all areas.

9. But we try to
minimize exceptions.
Because everything
is impossible until it isn’t.

10. The “meta-goal” of
managers is always to get
REMARKABLE RESULTS

11. At Possible, we use these
to guide the roles of managers

12. GOALS OF MANAGEMENT
1. Context, not control
2. Turn friction into learning
3. Refactor
4. Accelerate mastery of workflow
5. Model our for-impact culture code

13. 1
Context, not control

14. If something isn’t going well, it’s
always the job of the manager
to look in the mirror and ask,
“What context did I fail to set?”

15. That’s because we believe
management should set
outstanding context for
talented team members,
not control them.

16. Provide role clarity, make strategy
widely available and understood,
identify key metrics for success, set
goals, and help separate “must-haves”
from “nice-to-haves.”

17. Great talent performs better
when they are given proper
CONTEXT

18. Control should be used
sparingly in emergent
situations or temporarily to
compensate for low
performers (until the
performers are replaced).

19. 2
Turn friction into learning

20. Great managers increase
“discussability” of hard issues team
members are struggling with.

21. They catch problems
when the problems are
just creating friction,
before they explode.
And they encourage team
members to identify direct,
healthy solutions that do not
include gossip or politics.

22. Managers do not sacrifice
quality for social cohesion, and
they see courage as the path
through conflict to learning.

23. 3
Refactor

24. Complexity is easy.
Simplicity is hard.
People ignore complexity.
People enjoy simplicity.
Complexity makes work feel like a burden.
Simplicity makes work feel like progress.

25. It’s the job of all managers
to “refactor” their team
or department continuously.
It’s a software term that
means “change the internal
structure without changing
the external behavior.”*
Think of it as pruning.
* Tip from HubSpot

26. Management is responsible
for reducing complexity through
consistent identification and
removal of bad process, useless
reports, and nonsense rules.

27. Otherwise, complexity and
bureaucracy flourish
and performance suffers.

28. 4
Accelerate mastery of workflow

29. We believe in
EFFICIENCY
as a moral must

30. That means we are obsessed
with using simple tech tools
to trim the time it takes to
do “work about work.”

31. This allows team members to
maximize their talent and have a
life outside of work while still
achieving remarkable results.

32. Think of the manager
as the coach of a
basketball team.

33. If the coach was building a
championship team, he would
ensure his players master the
fundamentals first:
dribbling, passing, shooting,
and continuous improvement
through practice.

34. Fundamentals in our
work are navigation and
fluency in things like
Gmail, Asana, and Dropbox.

35. They evangelize by sharing
ideas for improving how
quickly we can get work
done and maximize potential.
Managers are our
champions of how well
people use these tools.

36. 5
Model our For-Impact Culture Code

37. Managers are inspiring leaders and exhibit
EXPEDITION
BEHAVIOR

38. This means putting
the group’s goals and mission
first, and showing the same
amount of concern for others
as you do yourself.

39. Even when it’s
uncomfortable or
extremely challenging
to do so.
They inspire by living our
For-Impact Culture Code
in daily practice.

40. MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS

41. Asana is the backbone of how we get
work done together across multiple sites
(but equally important within one office).
This is the tool we use to define
“who will do what by when” for every-
thing from single self-assigned tasks to
complex, long-term projects.

42. Small Improvements is the
performance evaluation
tool we use to set 30-day plans for
new team members, conduct one
360 degree review each year, and two
performance evaluations.

43. BambooHR is the Human Resources
Management System we use to
quickly and elegantly access all sorts
of features related to the team and
individual members.

44. We believe in making this a
consistent, short, recurring
conversation over a very
short window of time.
Managers meet with those they
manage for 45 minutes every week.
This is where the goals of
management get accomplished.

45. MANAGEMENT
TECHNIQUES

46. OPEN STRATEGY
Using Asana, everyone can see the
organization’s agreed-upon strategy
for the year.

47. OPEN QUARTERLY DASHBOARD
Using Asana, we produce quarterly reports for
key metrics across all areas of the organization.
This is visible to everyone.

48. AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
We extract the key role responsibilities from
each team member’s contract and compile
them for each department of the organization.
Using Asana, this is fully visible to everyone on
the team and gives people a clear map for
who to approach for certain AoRs.

49. DAILY STANDING MEETING
We hold a 15-minute standing meeting every
morning. It only has 2 goals.
1. To share something good.
2. Convey the one commitment you will fulfill
before going to bed at night.

50. DAILY COMMITMENT
We create a daily commitment that is “big
enough to matter, small enough to ship”
before we go to bed.
Using Asana, that commitment is visible to
the whole team.

51. NO MEETING WEDNESDAY
No external meetings.
No internal meetings.
It’s the day to get out of everyone’s way and
be highly focused on complex work without
distraction. We find that having it in the
middle of the week brings a lot of relief and
balances build up before Wednesday and
execution after.

52. WORKFLOW VIDEO SERIES
For areas of our workflow that benefit from
a quick visual demonstration, we have built a
visual library of short videos showing how to
execute certain things related to our tools.

53. LUNCH AND LIFEHACK
Consistent with the manager’s goal to
“accelerate mastery of workflow,” we
have two lunches a month where team
members present interesting lifehacks
that have helped them in their personal or
professional lives.

54. IDEA SHARING
In Asana there is a space for posting topics
which require feedback. This is where team
members can surface any idea at any time.
This ensures that ideas from all parts of the
organization are seen and documented.

55. RECIPROCITY RING
Also in Asana, there is a space where we
can be a team of givers and make our
teammates’ lives easier.
Any needs, personal or professional, can
be posted here.

56. Thanks to the many exceptional teams and individuals who influence our evolving
for-impact culture. We recommend reading their work for more insights.
asana.com hubspot.com netflix.com
managementcenter.org giveandtake.com

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58. OUR OFFICES
USA
17 W. 17th Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10011
NEPAL
Badelgada, Ridikot-2
Achham, Nepal
GENERAL INQUIRIES
answers@possiblehealth.org
DONATIONS
donations@possiblehealth.org
PRESS
media@possiblehealth.org
CONTACT US