I am the Director of Growth and Campus Operations at Course Hero leading the team that is dedicated to growing our footprint at universities across North America through an on-campus ambassador program as well as digital and product initiatives.

How big is it?

I currently manage seven community managers in North America and Australia - and we’re hiring!

‍Where are your teammates located?‍

While our headquarters is in the heart of Silicon Valley, many teammates are distributed across the US, Canada and Australia.

‍What does your team do? What are you responsible for?

Our goal is to raise awareness for Course Hero at campuses where we don’t have a strong footprint, yet. Our Campus Reps are hosting virtual and in-person events and are often the first ones engaging with potential users locally. We accompany the ambassador program with digital campaigns like sweepstakes etc.

Communication is key. We communicate synchronously via zoom video calls and asynchronously via Slack. We barely send any emails. As we’re distributed across different time zones, we clarify whether something is urgent or can be reviewed later.

We come together for bi-weekly team lunches that include a teaching moment as always learning is one of our core values. The teaching subjects can be fun like how to make ice cream with a few basic ingredients in under five minutes.

Most of our weekly meetings have an interactive element to ensure everyone is engaged. Aside from these team-building opportunities, we do regular skip-level meetings and ensure the (virtual) door is always open.

Building trust. It is easier to miss non verbal cues, so I regularly check in with my team to see how they’re doing outside of work while being a parent or dealing with local COVID-19 restrictions.

‍Different time zones can also be challenging - when we come together for virtual lunches, we respect that folks in different time zones ate earlier or will eat later.

My team hosts virtual off-sites at the start of each semester including team building activities like virtual cooking classes.

We participated in a virtual escape room during our last offsite. We also enjoy Kahoots and Drawful during social gatherings.

Yes! Our weekly meeting starts with a riddle like Why did the drum take a nap? while we wait for everyone to join. Here’s one of the resources Max on my team came across.

We use kudoboards to celebrate birthdays and work anniversaries and frequently use Spot Bonuses and shoutouts for work accomplishments.

I recently completed a leadership training with Hone focused on creating a culture of belonging. Apart from the great content, I really enjoyed connecting with other leaders across the company.