Leaders of Modern Finance – Managing a Virtual Team with Marc Greenberg, hosted by Ben Murray ft. Marc Greenberg

On this episode of the Leaders of Modern Finance podcast, Ben Murray, Founder of The SaaS CFO, is joined by Marc Greenberg, Head of Finance and Facilities at Blend.

A Timely Tech Experience

Marc began his financial career in a relatively traditional way. He got his start in public accounting at Ernst and Young, working on the East Coast and deliberating about his possible future. Back then, he wasn’t yet sure what industry he wanted to be a part of.  The public accounting route offered him exposure to a host of diverse businesses which would help inform his next step.

Marc found himself diving further and further into the tech niche, driving back and forth between Baltimore and Washington, D.C; two hotbeds of tech startup activity at the time. This is how he gained first-hand experience in this blossoming industry. Eventually, he made the decision to fully commit to a career in this new field and moved to California to work out of Ernst and Young’s West Coast office. After the bubble burst on many of the Silicon Valley startups of the ‘90s, Marc migrated to Pixar, which was then an up-and-coming animation studio straddling both the entertainment industry and word of software development.

While at Pixar, Marc went out of his way to learn as much as possibly about the business. Officially he was a financial controller, but he also dabbled in Pixar’s software development and technology innovation. In addition, Marc took an interest in the entertainment side of the organization. He was drawn to Pixar’s approach to storytelling and recognized how compelling a good story could be for an organization. His stint at Pixar lasted nearly two decades before he felt the need to seek out new experiences to further his professional development, which bought him to Blend.

Marc’s experience in the tech industry meant that he was uniquely positioned to help his organization navigate the changing landscape caused by the pandemic. While other businesses were scrambling to pick up the pieces, Marc was already helping to shape a unique approach that Blend still uses today.

An Employee-Centric Virtual Office

Remote work was always a possibility at Blend, even before Covid, but it wasn’t until the pandemic forced the closure of offices around the world that Marc and his team shifted to a virtual office. Still, rather than expect his team to work during normal work hours, Marc created a philosophy of virtual work that put his team and their well-being at the heart of the business.

The most significant element of Marc’s employee-centered remote work philosophy was flexibility. In order to motivate his team to work to their full potential, he gave employees a level of freedom in determining their working environment. Blend continued to lease property that functioned as a main office, so team members could work from there if they wanted. However, office hours were by no means mandatory and working from home was perfectly acceptable. Marc also acquired a company membership at several coworking spaces to give employees a third option. He recognized that a home office wasn’t always conducive to a productive work environment, especially for parents with young children stuck at home during the pandemic. So, between company property and coworking spaces, Marc was able to accommodate each staff member’s physical office needs.

Beyond this, Marc also implemented a flexible approach to team scheduling. Since employees were working in different locations and since the pandemic had radically altered their daily routines, Marc chose to do away with typical working hours. Rather, he chose to focus on project and task-based productivity. As he saw it, so long as the work was completed, it didn’t matter when or where it happened. He still held monthly all-hands calls to facilitate team communication, but he left his staff largely free to determine their own working hours.

This freedom and flexibility prioritized the comfort and well-being of his team and allowed for a healthier work-life balance, which in turn increased staff morale and productivity.

Development from Afar

The hardest part of shifting to a largely virtual office was maintaining healthy relationships between managers and staff. These relationships are important not only for the continued efficiency of company workflows but also for the professional development of employees. The ability to provide and receive continual feedback is essential for career development.

To facilitate these relationships, Marc had to make a concerted effort to give staff and managers one-on-one time together. Pre-pandemic, these interactions were happening daily and organically. In a post-pandemic world, however, time had to be intentionally set aside for managers and mentors to meet with their staff. 

To this end, Marc organized weekly check-ins between himself and his staff, as well as between other managers and their team members. These calls could be brief, sometimes as short as five minutes, but they provided an opportunity for employees to have a voice. They also gave managers a chance to offer feedback of their own as and when it was needed. Additionally, they served to keep the team bonded while being physically separated. These weekly check-ins facilitated consistent communication across all departments, allowing Blend to retain the benefits of working in a physical office while enjoying the flexibility that comes from a virtual work environment.

Focusing on People

The driving force behind Marc’s changes to Blend’s work environment was always the people. Rather than prioritizing his P&L statements or his budgets, Marc prioritized his team’s needs and trusted that the numbers would work out as long as his workers were taken care of.

This people-centric philosophy, coupled with a strong technology background, enabled Marc to guide his organization through the pandemic and come out the other side even stronger. At a time when most businesses were trying to keep their heads above water, Marc created an environment that allowed Blend and its people not only to weather the pandemic but thrive in the face of it.

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