Recently in Culture Category

Doing a quick end of year cleanup while preparing for a great 2010 I found this video of a keynote I gave a few months ago in Pensacola, FL for the iTen Wired Summit 2009. A big thank you to Celia Hilton from Hilton Heads Productions for editing this to 5 minutes.

I had the privilege of being invited to talk at LessConf in October and it was one of the best conferences I have been to in a while. The other speakers were amazing and I learned a ton. From thinking differently about design and conventions from the Contrast.ie guys to how Wufoo does support, it was an all-around awesome experience. I had a great time chatting with Mike from FreshBooks and even stole his customer dinner concept. Better than any of the speakers were the attendees and BarCamp the next day. Everyone there was doing interesting things, engaged in the community and super passionate. This is what makes a great conference.

While I am still not sure why the great guys (Allan and Steve) from LessEverything wanted me to talk, they did a great job recording and editing in my slides. Watch the full presentation below.

Here is a short video for your Monday, giving you a peak into the culture at Grasshopper. This was created by some team members last week for a Friday fun blog post.

In between meetings, projects looming on the immediate horizon, and the rushed interactions of modern life, have you stopped to say thank you to the people who make everything happen? Not in a glib or half-hearted way, but really stopped and recognized all they do? If so, did you then express your gratitude in a meaningful way? I started thinking about this because I just finished reading The Carrot Principle on my Kindle (which is actually a pretty nice way to read) and it made me think about how we don't say "thank you" enough and really mean it, even when it can have such a profound impact on how we relate to others, and how they relate to you.

The Carrot Principle did a great job using massive amounts of data from surveys to explain critical points, showing the value of saying thank you, and how to systematize the process of expressing gratitude in a company. I would suggest any entrepreneur read the book, since most of us never look for or expect it when someone says "thanks." But not saying thank you doesn't mean you're a better leader or entrepreneur, and it certainly isn't what motivates your people. Be grateful for the work your employees do--and show it in obvious (calling out someone's awesome work) and not-so-obvious ways (respecting their time by not throwing last minute projects their way). No one wants to feel alienated from their work, and when you don't recognize what people do, they start to feel invisible.

After reading this book, I know that I personally need to do a better job of recognizing and celebrating more successes and saying thank you to people myself. Not only will it change my relationships, but it will also help build a culture of gratitude, which can only lead to more professional respect and a better team. Sure, it sounds cheesy, but the small thanks we share can make a huge impact on the people around us.

You're brain is tired, but your body wants to go. I find this to be the typical sensation following one of our quarterly off-site planning sessions for Grasshopper. I've looked at data, talked for hours, and at the end of it all, it's nice to give your mind a rest and find an outlet for that pent-up physical energy.

See the indoor skydiving video and full post at Grasslands, the Grasshopper blog.

Although a company's culture is mostly an abstract concept, real, physical things such as a company's physical plant and design can play a significant role in shaping its unique culture. The way a space is designed and enhanced can influence productivity, general outlook, and a lot more. There are many companies out there that sell expensive furniture and chairs to make an office better, but really these just help business achieve standardization in terms of the look of the space, but don't give it any heart.

It's no secret that some of the so-called "coolest companies to work for" such as Google, Apple, and Yahoo have spent millions to create fun, interactive work environments. I've even seen some companies do totally insane things, like build a three story slide in their offices.

But what about small companies with smaller budgets? With our limited budget and small space, we've not gone to any extremes (yet) but we have added things that represent us and our culture. From the Nintendo Wii Room with Astroturf on the floor to the Relaxation Room that was built by employees in an unused office, all of these additions add personality and depth to the work environment. They also allow people to put their own "stamp" on their workplace. Since we spend a lot of time in our offices, that's really important.

Maybe some of these extreme workspace makeovers will give you ideas for what you can create at your own company:

• Red Bull, London. Indoor slide, conference room ping pong table, and reception desk that looks like a skateboard ramp.
• Google, Mountain View, California. Volleyball court, swimming pool, and scooters.
• Fog Creek Software, New York 200 gallon fish tank.

What are the common themes in these and many other cool office environments? Lots of glass (perhaps to evoke transparency and authenticity), no cubes or very low cubes, snacks, fridges filled with drinks, and entertainment options. If you've got a large budget, you can also have cafes, real restaurants, and maybe even a convenience store on-site for employees' needs.

What makes your office unique? What cool, interesting, and fun things have you created for your environment? What have you seen at the coolest offices? Also, are these gimmicks or actually a representation of their culture?

This past week I was very interested to read the "leaked" 128-slide Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) culture presentation. It is great to see large companies taking culture seriously and it is obvious this presentation was not leaked since it was embedded on the company's jobs page. Although the presentation is a quick read, it gives you a good idea of the culture they are trying to create at Netflix. What is most surprising is that this is from a public company, many of which never enter into a process of trying to really grow a strong company culture. As an entrepreneur and co-founder of a company that prides itself on providing a flexible and innovative work culture, I was also surprised to see Netflix discuss core values and vacation policy. Their vacation policy is particularly unique: they do not track time off. At Grasshopper, we give 4 weeks' paid time off, which is a lot. Netflix's approach to vacation policy is not just unusual, it raises a couple of questions in my mind, such as: How does the company manage a vacation policy where employees can take off as much time as possible? Does it reduce the usage of time off, and does it reduce the liability when they terminate someone? I'm not asking these questions because I think it's a bad policy, but interested to understand the impact.

After thinking about the vacation policy, I focused on the core values section of the presentation. Netflix gives an excellent introduction to why core values must be authentic, but not all Netflix's core values are not unique to their company, which makes me question whether they're genuine about having real core values. They stayed away from the common mantra of "trust and respect," for the most part, but do have 'honesty' in there as part of the nine values. I would argue that these are ground rules, not core values--they're the bare minimum necessary to even "play the game" and should not be called out as a company's unique core values. To be clear, core values are what differentiate a work culture, define how people fit into the culture and answer the difficult decisions. Why would any good company hire someone that was not honest? You don't list "honesty" as a core value because every good company wants honest employees--this doesn't make Netflix unique. Calling out Enron and others is great, there are many people that have written about making core values mean something and I am sure many would agree 'honesty' is not a unique core value.

Whether you agree with everything in the presentation or not, every entrepreneur, senior manager, and HR person should check out the presentation. There are some great concepts to inspire you and get you thinking about your workplace. It's true, not all will work in every person's work environment, but you should pick and choose which ideas fit and could make your work culture vastly superior to others'.

Netflix Culture Presentation

You may have read about our recent campaign to spread the word about GotVMail's re-branding as Grasshopper, or perhaps you were one of the 5,000 influential people that received a package of chocolate covered grasshoppers. Maybe you even read our case study on our unique marketing campaign. But I guarantee you don't know about the blood, sweat, and tears that were shed to get this campaign off the ground.

One of the things I'm really proud of is that we have the best people working for us at Grasshopper. Just before the launch of our re-branding and our chocolate covered grasshopper marketing campaign, everyone was working ridiculously hard to meet deadlines and deliver the "goods" so to speak. For some people, those "goods" consisted of creating our new website, and for others, it was building our amazing new web administration tool. People worked for days straight, operating on little more than sheer adrenaline in many cases. Our headquarters in Needham began to feel less like our traditional, clean workspace, and more like a lived-in home that just so happened to have dozens of committed employees plugging away at all hours of the night. Whatever the task, there was someone who owned it, and when the day of the official launch rolled around, everyone delivered.

Everyone was able to contribute to the re-branding of Grasshopper, especially when it came to preparing the 25,000 chocolate covered grasshoppers for shipment. Once they were in their glossy white packaging with tags attached, employees and their families joined Siamak and I stuffing the bags into thousands of FedEx envelopes (5,000 in total). Instead of paying some anonymous crew to come in and prepare the packages for shipment, we all got together in our training center and formed a quasi-assembly line, everyone stuffing and sealing those special envelopes. With everyone pitching in, we finished packaging all of the bags of grasshoppers in record time, even with a surprise visit from our local Fox news station.

When people talk about great work culture, the two company names I hear most often are "Zappos" and "Rackspace"--someone might even throw out that big old giant "Google," especially if discussing amazing perks like free child care and laundry facilities for all employees. One name you don't hear? "Facebook." It's one of the most referenced companies of the last five years, a cultural phenomenon, and yet, no one really knows much about the inside of "the mighty book of faces." Until now.

On June 15th, 2009, TechCrunch.com's MG Siegler enticed geeks everywhere with the title, "Behold! The New Facebook Headquarters." What follows is a collection of photos--and one twenty minute video--shot during the Facebook "open house," to which Siegler and others were invited. It's an interesting journey.

By checking out the post and the video, you get a good sense of how the company wants to be perceived by the media, and potential employees, but there's no work culture that's really palpable during this tour, which I suppose is reasonable.

Facebook appears to be creating a Zappos-style work environment in their new digs, which used to be owned by HP. Vaguely reminiscent of an Ikea store, the new Facebook campus has lots of interesting talking points, delivered by a tour guide who looks like he woke up and decided to go for the "emo" look that day:

• The building, which used to belong to HP, was originally wall-to-wall cubicles
• No cubicles now--all open workspaces and new-concept desks "designed for collaboration"
• Facebook likes to "capture intelligence" of coworkers by encouraging conversation between individuals so that others overhear their conversations (how social)
• The conference rooms downstairs are named after condiments and video games
• According to emo tour guide, an important part of Facebook culture are "Gribbsteaks," which he says is Facebook's interpretation of the "dot com era's" razor scooters

A funny moment occurs at 3:19 in the video where the guide compares trying out new things like desk orientation to how Facebook makes changes to their "product." He says, "we do this in the product a lot--we'll roll things out on a small scale, figure out what we actually think about it, and learn by actually getting real data, and then get bigger..." Ahh, yes. Like that whole "we own your content" debacle? Maybe they should apply this revolutionary process to the goal of becoming profitable?

On a more serious note, it does seem like the Facebook crew has put a lot of thought into creating a collaborative and modern work environment. Not really surprising, but we'll have to see if this effort also produces a unique and vibrant work culture like Zappos.

If you've ever had to come up with an idea for a project, or held a brainstorming session only to discover that the storm had been reduced to a light shower, then you understand how important it is to stop and feed your brain. No, I don't mean walking over to your office's kitchen and getting a snack. I mean taking a break and doing something completely opposite of work. Doing this gives you a chance to decompress and can open up unknown reserves of creativity in your mind. The end result? Better ideas, and more productivity.

With the launch of Grasshopper, everyone has been working very, very hard, and putting in long hours. As spring finally emerges, we decided that in order for people to actually decompress they needed a work-sanctioned opportunity to do so. And so "Summer Fridays" were born. From now on each year, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Grasshopper will have Summer Fridays, during which time people can do something together as a group that doesn't involve sitting at a desk and working through a to-do list or going to a meeting. Whether it's going to a baseball game or actually playing one, employees--our people--can decide what they want to do as a group. If a group outing doesn't work for them, they can also use the time for personal obligations. It's their call. After we announced Summer Fridays at Grasshopper, people talked about having basketball games, golf trips, and visits to museums. We look forward to getting families involved as well during the summer so that this isn't just another "work event." Bringing families into the events is crucial.

A lot of companies and organizations might balk at the idea of giving people a paid half day every Friday for a few months, but I think it's pretty smart. It's a way of acknowledging that your people are your most valuable resource, and you want to treat them as such. And that means giving Grasshopper folks a chance to cross-pollinate their brains with the activities and people that make them who they are.

Nintendo Wii sold out quickly when it was first released and its popularity only continued to grow. The interesting thing about the Wii is that it isn't just for video game fiends and the other usual suspects. Whether it's playing the guitar and drums in Rock Band, or working out with Wii Fit, there's something for everyone. And that's good--because Wii is everywhere. There's even a bar/restaurant here in Boston called Achilles Project, where you can play on a Wii while you have a beer (although, one might argue, that could be disastrous for your game).

At GotVMail, we knew couldn't come up with any good reason not to set-up a Wii Room at our headquarters, so we went ahead and mounted a nice LCD screen on an Ergotron cart and put it with the Wii in a dedicated room for people to enjoy.

So, how do you convince your boss (or yourself) to purchase and install Wii in your office? Use one of the arguments I've listed below.

• All work and no play makes for some really agitated employees. Everyone at GotVMail works incredibly hard, but sometimes people need a break. Easy way to blow off some steam? Play a fellow team member in a 10 minute game of tennis! (Of course.) Playing Wii is a good way to free your mind, let go of your frustrations, and think like a kid for a bit (and that's good for everyone's productivity).
• Wii gets employees talking. No matter the size of your company, there will be people who don't interact with each other on a regular basis. Wii brings a lot of people together, and during a few games, gets them talking, too. Wii lets up to four employees play at a time. This is crucial for community building in your workplace.
• We all could use some fun. These days, fun is hard to find. People are struggling. Why not make the workplace a little more upbeat? No, playing Wii won't solve the economic crisis, but it might help some of our bigger problems seem more manageable.

It's great to see people taking a break and having some fun playing the Wii in any of our offices in Boston or Austin. Our most popular games have been Wii Sports and Madden 09 in the quick 5 on 5 mode.

So send this blog post to your boss and get employees playing Wii to relax, socialize, have fun, and be more productive.

I think our pre-school and kindergarten teachers had it right: at a certain point in the day, you just need to close your eyes, and if possible, get some shut-eye. Even in the "adult world" of 9 to 5 work, there's just something about "shutting down" both your computer and your mind for about fifteen minutes per day that just re-starts your brain, and makes you even more productive when you wake up.

But why won't people admit that napping--a practice rooted in childhood--could actually boost productivity in adult environments? After all, the statistics are there to support the benefits of napping: according to the National Sleep Foundation, "[a] study at NASA on sleepy military pilots and astronauts found that a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34% and alertness 100%." Researchers at the Center for Sleep and Consciousness also discovered that sleep's basic function is to "remove the noise" accumulated in the brain from tasks performed each day, allowing the brain to "refresh" itself. The University of Wisconsin's Sleep and Medicine Program also states on their site that sleep is vital for proper brain function: "Some experts believe sleep gives neurons a chance to maintain themselves. Without sleep, neurons may become so overloaded by normal cellular activities that they begin to malfunction." Why not give our brain the help it needs with a fifteen or twenty minute nap each day to recover and consequently, be more productive?

We're a long way from providing an assigned "nap time" for those who work in offices, but I'm doing my part as a business owner and considering the benefits for our employees, all of whom stare at bright computer screens for more than eight hours a day, working on multiple projects. Even if the solution is something as simple as asking people to take fifteen minutes each afternoon to simply shut their eyes and recharge, something has to be done to beat the afternoon "drag" when the brain starts to feel the fatigue of the day. Who knows, we might even have to take one of our empty spaces here at the office and create a dedicated relaxation room...

Anyone who has flown Southwest in the past knows things are done a little bit differently at the airline. In fact, in the book Mavericks At Work, authors William Taylor and Polly Labarre discuss how doing things differently has not only made the airline one of the best out there, but it's also created an undeniably strong work culture. The people they hire believe in Southwest's goal of doing things differently, and the work they do on a daily basis reflects this. Case in point? The rapping Southwest flight attendant in the video below. Instead of simply stating the safety instructions in the typical way, the attendant mixes things up, and arguably gets more people to listen to the safety announcement than if they were spoken in their usual "serious" tone.

Southwest is a great example of how you can standout in an otherwise downward-spiraling industry (no terrible pun intended there) with an amazing culture and core values.

South by Southwest (SXSW), held in Austin, TX, seems to get larger each year, and 2009 was no exception. While I wasn't able to attend, I'll make sure it is on my calendar for early next year.

For people like me who missed the big event, Mike Rohde's sketchnotes are an excellent resource. Rohde takes "visual notes" at all sorts of events, including South by Southwest. It's great for people who don't take notes (but should), for visual thinkers, or for those who may have wanted to take notes during the event, but were otherwise occupied meeting, speaking, or even Twittering about what was happening at the mega networking event.

I'm not as familiar with sketchnotes as much as graphic recording or graphic facilitation, but these notes contribute to the type of visual learning that I love and find most helpful. Here are three pages from Mike Rohde, which show the major points Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, made during a talk at SXSW. Tony has been doing a lot of speaking lately and has done a great job turning the Zappos culture into a true story.

A month ago I posted an example of visualizing core values and how GotVMail has used this technique to make our core values as visible as possible. But then we thought, "Where do we show other important ideas about our company?"

So, after creating the original graphic for the center we decided to expand to include company goals, department goals, and personal goals. Getting these on the same page wasn't enough, though. Originally, we were going to print these "visualized goals" for each team member, for every quarter. We realized the extra paper was unnecessary, however, and and decided it would be more effective to integrate the info into our corporate wiki. With the document now posted on our wiki, updates are easier than ever, and the concepts stay fresh in people's minds as they visit the wiki each day.