Empowering Technology Teams: Creating Great Culture and Psychological Safety

Michelle Joliat, currently Senior Vice President of Product and Delivery at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, has placed an emphasis during her career on team and culture building. Leaders have a significant impact on performance and creating an environment that allows people the space and psychological safety to thrive is paramount. Michelle’s leadership strategy was developed across a diverse career spanning science and engineering, management consulting, and fin tech industries and picking up best practices from each. Her strategy focuses on discovering the best, and often overlooked talent, and building a trusting environment where that talent is empowered to experiment and execute. This leadership style results in a diverse set of ideas and practices being implemented to achieve the best possible results. This discussion will focus on why this strategy has been successful and how it can be applied by future leaders.