🎙️ Podcast Episode 10 - Trust Builds Teams: Alex Armstead’s Support Ops Strategies for Healthy Teams

Have you ever felt like your support team is maturing faster than your systems could keep up?

In this episode of Live Chat with Jen Weaver, I’m talking with Alex Armstead, Principal Business Operations Manager at Clever (yes, the Clever that powers classrooms for 60% of U.S. schools). Alex has spent the last nine years helping his team grow without burning out, checking out, or losing what made them special in the first place.

To skip the summary and go straight to the source:

🎙️ Listen now

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What we get into this episode:

• The systems behind trust-first leadership (hint: psychological safety isn’t just a new buzzword)

• Career paths that allow IC's to grow without managing other people

• How to actually make anonymous feedback feel safe

This one’s a blueprint for support leaders, ops pros, and anyone wondering how to keep people engaged and growing.

To skip the summary below and go straight to the source:

🎙️ Listen now

🎥 Watch now

The Problem:

You’ve got great people. They’re growing, your team is scaling, and the work is getting more complex. But the systems that support your team? They’re still stuck in “early-stage startup mode.” Career development looks like waiting for a promotion. Feedback gets collected but not acted on. And the only time culture gets addressed is when someone quits.

If you’ve ever looked around and thought, “We’re running too fast to keep this sustainable,” you’re not alone. And you’re not stuck. This week’s guest, Alex Armstead, has been through that evolution firsthand. Over nearly a decade at Clever, they’ve helped the team move from scrappy to strategic, all without losing what made it special in the first place. Here’s how.

The Solution:

Alex shared a step-by-step framework for building a team where people want to stay, grow, and lead—without burning out or hitting invisible ceilings.

1️⃣ Establish a Support Advancement Continuum

Not every individual contributor (IC)  wants to become a manager. That doesn’t mean they should hit a ceiling.

Clever’s framework outlines how team members can grow laterally, take on strategic projects, or represent support cross-functionally without needing a title change. This includes:

• Stretch assignments and strategic projects

• Cross-functional exposure with product and engineering

• Graduating from peer QA into product sponsorship roles

2️⃣ Conduct Bi-Annual Manager Culture Surveys

Before trust can thrive in real-time, you need to understand how people are experiencing leadership. Clever uses Culture Amp to collect anonymous feedback on:

• Manager Effectiveness

• Team Culture

• Strategic Alignment

Data is grouped by tenure, role, and identity (never fewer than four per cohort) to protect anonymity and reveal trends.

3️⃣ Create Action Plans Post-Survey

Collecting feedback isn’t enough. After each survey, Alex’s team forms action committees comprising managers and ICs to review themes, set priorities, and co-create solutions. Each initiative gets a sponsor to move it forward.

4️⃣ Host Monthly Q&A with Leadership

Instead of waiting for hard questions to show up in 1:1s, Clever creates space for them in monthly team-wide Q&As. Team members can submit questions anonymously, vote on others, and hear leadership respond live or in follow-up.

It’s about building transparency into the culture, not just reacting when things go wrong.

5️⃣ Conduct Post-Mortems After Busy Seasons

Clever doesn’t wait for burnout to fix what’s broken. Each subteam runs a postmortem right as the peak tapers off, while the pain is still fresh. They identify friction points, synthesize them across teams, and transform them into focused projects for the next cycle.

The Impact:

Clever’s support org is scaling, but not at the expense of its people. By embedding trust into his operations, Alex and his team have created a culture where:

• ICs know how to grow with or without changing roles

• Managers know how to lead with consistency and care

• Teams feel safe enough to give honest feedback, because they’ve seen what happens when they do

Whether you’re leading a team, mentoring mid-level managers, or just trying to stop reinventing the culture wheel every quarter, this framework is a solid starting point.

💬 We’d love to hear your thoughts! Reply to this email or drop us a comment here.

See you next time!

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