Four years ago, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings posted a slide deck about their culture. It was originally created as an internal document, but he shared it, and it’s now been viewed several million times. The deck (and Netfilx’s culture) actually get their own chapter in my ebook on culture. I remember being really blown away by it when I first saw it. It was so clear and so honest, and instead of being all mom and apple pie in talking about corporate “values,” it said, “Here are the behaviors that we really value, and if you can’t do them consistently, we’ll arrange for a generous severance package.”
In the ebook, though, I put out a warning about culture slide decks, because I’d already seen another one gain some popularity (from Hubspot). And while the Hubspot one also looked pretty good, I felt like I needed to make clear that culture is not about slide decks. I mean, if you can put one together that accurately reflects your culture, that’s fine. And hey, if it’s so awesome that you can spread the word via Slideshare, then more power to you. But if you create a slide deck in order to convince people that’s your culture, then there’s a problem.
So I’m not sure if I should be worried or excited that Slideshare actually created a #CultureCode campaign. You can go here and see a good number of culture slide decks. Check them out and let me know what you think. I haven’t looked at them all yet. I glanced at three of them, though, and I saw what I think is going to be a pattern. One (Buffer) was clearly modeled after Netflix. The slides are simple (bullet points even!), and it takes the values and breaks them down into clear, behavioral terms. As you might have guessed, I like that one. Another (Zemoga) looked a little more polished (which made me nervous). It has a short list of values that I think are pretty clear, but the descriptions stay at a high level. It looks like a slide version of the posters on the wall. You can’t disagree with what they say, but it doesn’t really help guide you in doing your job. And the third (Lockton) was basically a produced video talking about how awesome it is there. That’s my least favorite. I’m not saying it was inaccurate, but it looked like it was created by corporate PR. And sorry, but I don’t trust corporate PR–particularly when it comes to telling me what the culture is.
And one final point. Although I liked some decks better than others, it’s important to remember that I still have NO IDEA what the cultures are like at any of those companies (or Netflix, for that matter). That’s why I am not sure these slide decks need to get the intention of people who genuinely want to build a strong culture. The slide deck will always be one single data point, so don’t over-inflate its importance. The important part is building a strong culture. If you do that right, then the slide decks will probably just take care of themselves.
“But if you create a slide deck in order to convince people that’s your culture, then there’s a problem.”
Jamie, I sense your slight unease with the rise in these packaged culture codes. Or perhaps I’m projecting my unease. I once joined an organization that had a culture code and was saddened to see how it was violated by senior management. It reinforced my view that these codes are typically one person’s aspiration (often the CEO…particularly if its a startup) rather than truly descriptive of the organization’s cultures (yes, that’s plural on purpose).
I would rather companies call the qualities contained within these decks Guiding Principles rather than Codes of Culture. The latter conveys a prescriptive and constrictive nature to something that is far messier, evolutionary, and organic. The Principles can be used to guide employees, vendors, customers, etc. toward cultural norms. But just because you put Openness and Accountability on paper doesn’t mean these values actually live and breathe in the thoughts and behaviors of people.
Well, I think the “code” part is designed to imply that these ideas are enforced at the organization, which, as you said, can be really frustrating if they aren’t. But you’re accurate in suggesting that these slide decks will never represent the cultures entirely, and that’s okay. We shouldn’t kid ourselves into thinking cultures can be “coded” in a precise, linear way.