Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 60 is Shannon Hopkins, RVP, Enterprise Account Management at BetterUp. With over a decade of leadership experience at companies like League, Inc. and Salesforce, Shannon brings a wealth of insight and expertise to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Shannon discuss how to enhance manager effectiveness, support high-performing individuals, and promote overall team well-being.
Listen to the episode here, and get the key takeaways from our conversation below.
Empower your managers to operate at peak performance
The pace of business is fast, and the pressure to achieve more with less is ever-present. Managers often feel this pressure more than anyone, which is why driving execution excellence begins with empowering those on the front lines to perform at their peak.
“One thing organizations miss while chasing the latest tools and processes is the people,” says Shannon. “The people are the individuals who will help you execute on the transformations, goals, and visions your organization has — especially frontline leaders and middle managers.”
Your goal should be to help managers show up as their best selves, feeling motivated and capable of effectively coaching and mentoring those around them. “There’s a lot of context switching that happens throughout the day,” Shannon notes. “Help your managers by investing in meta skills — the hard, technical skills. Ask yourself: How am I teaching people to learn how to navigate challenges, be agile, and problem solve?” These meta skills empower managers to adapt and accelerate, because in business, challenges are constant, and navigating them efficiently is essential.
Support high-performing individuals
According to Shannon, there tend to be two types of people on teams: passengers and pilots. Passengers are those who are more reactive and reliant on guidance, while pilots are the high-performing individuals who bring new ideas, take initiative, and consistently go above and beyond. “Identify who the pilots are on your team, and make sure you’re investing in them by giving them autonomy, special projects, and leadership roles,” Shannon says. “By doing so, pilots feel engaged, motivated, and capable of delivering exceptional results for the team — and they stay!”
However, it’s equally important to focus on developing passengers. These are employees who may start as reactive and dependent but have untapped potential. With intentional coaching and mentorship, passengers can grow into pilots, transforming into confident, proactive, and self-sufficient contributors.
For example, a sales leader might identify an AE who not only meets their quota but consistently brings fresh ideas and seeks opportunities to elevate the team’s performance. Recognizing this AE as a pilot, the leader could assign them a key role in spearheading a new sales initiative or opening a new market segment, giving them ownership over strategy and execution. This empowers the pilot, deepens their engagement, and maximizes their strengths for the benefit of the entire team. Meanwhile, the leader can provide targeted coaching to more reactive team members, guiding them step-by-step to take on more responsibility, build confidence, and improve their performance.
The big takeaway? Invest in pilots and nurture passengers. This way, high-performing individuals drive progress, while more passive individuals develop into confident, capable contributors.
Promote team well-being
When employees feel supported in their mental, emotional, and physical health, they become more productive, creative, and resilient. In high-pressure environments like sales, this well-being serves as a performance multiplier.
“When you’re looking at business and talent outcomes related to things you’re aiming to achieve, whether it’s performance or productivity, you have underlying elements such as mindsets and behaviors that go into it from a human perspective,” explains Shannon.
Promoting team well-being means looking at each person as an individual rather than simply as a resource or a cog in the machine. There will be times when members of your team face challenges at home, feel stressed, or experience burnout. When this happens, their ability to show up fully and effectively is impacted — a reality that many organizations overlook.
To promote well-being, you can take a personalized 1:1 approach by asking gentle, probing questions such as:
- How are you doing? How are you really doing?
- How can I help you?
- What does support from me look like for you right now?
If these conversations feel uncomfortable or difficult, Shannon recommends incorporating them into team settings. “Ask your team how they’re feeling, check in with them, and encourage them to take time for self-care and breaks. Give them an extra few minutes here or there, and practice it yourself as a leader. Take your vacations. Express when you aren’t feeling your best, and take time off to recharge,” says Shannon.
When your team witnesses you being vulnerable, leading by example, and prioritizing your own self-care, they’ll feel more empowered to do the same. This creates a culture where well-being is valued and respected, which can enhance trust, commitment, and overall team performance.
About Shannon
Shannon is the RVP at BetterUp, where she helps some of the world’s largest companies transform their organizations by transforming their people. In the last six years of her career, Shannon has spent her time in the benefits sector, both leading teams at benefits integrators and becoming a licensed benefits advisor. She’s consulted for multiple Fortune 500 and public sector organizations on their benefits strategies. The BetterUp mission resonates deeply for Shannon – after battling a life-threatening illness in 2019, she had a new sense of clarity, purpose and passion in her life and wanted to continue to find ways to help others find theirs at BetterUp Care.
