What does purposeful, culture-driven tech look like?
In This Episode:
In this week's episode Jeff Melnyk Is joined by Itech COO, Alan Cairns. Together they dig into what is happening in the world of tech, what the impact of mass layoffs could look like and what it takes for leaders to create a purposeful + culture-driven organization.
Listen here:
Invitation for Leaders:
Read our blog on what every leader must get right to rebuild trust:
4 promises leaders can make to rebuild trust
The “connection” lens of Within’s employee experience (EX) framework invites leaders to make clear promises to reinforce communication, create belonging and shape the rituals that bring people together in the employee experience. Your employee experience is like your constitution, setting out how the system of your culture works.
An EX promise:
Establishes the expectation for how the employee/employer relationship looks and feels
Is based on the idea of mutual value—the employer creating opportunity for individual employees to thrive and the employees playing an integral role in business growth
Supports the conditions for equity by creating a place where everyone feels valued
Can be measured and backed up with proof that the experience is being lived
When designing your EX we explore focus areas critical to building trust within the culture and collaborating more effectively. These four are relevant for all leaders, especially those in tech, to consider now:
1. HOW WE COMMUNICATE OPENLY
Lack of information fuels mistrust, but giving teams access to the information that they need to do their job increases autonomy. Promises made here demonstrate what quality communication looks like and hold everyone accountable for transparency. At a time when employees will feel information is being withheld from them, especially following rounds of job cuts, timely clear communication is key.
2. HOW WE BELONG HERE
Tech has struggled with diversity, historically having significantly fewer women and people of color than other industries. Feeling like you belong within a culture helps individuals to thrive, and study after study has demonstrated that diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones. New talent will be looking for promises in this area as a foundation of a company’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and to trust that the business looks to include everyone.
3. HOW WE HAVE MEANINGFUL RITUALS
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke recently announced that “meetings are a bug” and that to start 2023 they were “canceling all meetings with more than two people” in order to “give people back their maker time”. Six months ago the company laid off 10% of its workforce. While Lutke’s calendar purge may feel progressive (or most likely a drive for performance and efficiency), “meetings” aren't the problem, bad meetings are. Great meetings can be rituals that not only help get the work done, but are also meaningful to people and essential to building trust and connection.
Promises made here reinforce why people come together in the culture, and the expected commitment for folks to participate. Reinforcing key rituals in the culture is especially important for hybrid workforces who don’t have the opportunity to connect on a regular basis. Rituals demonstrate the time, energy and money that a company is willing to invest to bring their people closer together.
4. HOW WE MAKE DECISIONS AND CREATE AUTONOMY
Loss of control is addressed by empowering people through responsibility and decision making. Often the way decisions are made is not explicitly clear in a culture and people revert to the comfort of hierarchy. 86% of employees feel people at their workplace aren’t heard fairly or equally, and 47% of employees say that voices of underrepresented people in their workplace aren’t being represented.
Involving people in decision making means giving them a voice on the issues that impact them. Making promises around how decisions are made reinforces trust through clarity of power in the business and assurance that everyone’s voice will be listened to.
Here’s some help to get started
Promises for a connected culture are part of redefining your employee experience. You can read about how our partnership worked on ours, and see an example of what promises look like in this peek into our journey.
Your promises are the first step. Living up to them is the real work of creating a strategy that uses culture for growth. We’re currently shaping EX strategies for Stok, Amy’s Kitchen and Corinthia Hotels. Get in touch to find out how we can help you too.
