Your company culture is the lifeblood of your business and brand. Talent is attracted to a great culture, and a great culture lets your talent thrive.Incredibly resourceful companies understand this. They put in the extra effort necessary to create a prosperous culture they’ll love so each person within the company sees the purpose and value of their hard work.Attracting top-notch talent, and creating universal core values, requires an imaginative approach that’s less ritualistic and more organic.Steve Jobs once said a great company culture is built around focused teams that collaborate:
“We are organized like a start-up. One person is in charge of iPhone OS software. One person is in charge of Mac hardware. One person is in charge of iPhone hardware engineering. Another person is in charge of world-wide marketing. We're great at figuring out how to divide things up into these great teams that we have, and all work on the same thing, touch bases frequently, and bring it all together into a product. We do that really well.”
People are dramatically changing how they live and work
As the age demographic of your workplace begins shifting more and more toward millennials, adaptive companies have to change their stance on company culture to suit the values of these workers. The traditional focus on pension, tenure, and stability has shifted toward an emphasis on purpose, growth, and change. It’s fair to say that in the past company culture was defined by a good boss—but, now, it’s defined by excellent, top-notch, colleagues.You can’t have a great company without embracing this evolution.
Show the world your recipe for great company culture
How do you showcase your company’s awe-inspiring culture?Let’s take a look at six formidable companies that learned how to cook up influential company culture models. These smart videos give great insights into how their famous recipes work!
1) Zappos – The Zappos Family: How They Work
Zappos is in the news again and this time the story is about their delicate restructuring process. Yes, that’s correct, they’re trying a new management style: get rid of management. CEO Tony Hsieh has gone to great lengths to discuss his ideas and experiences in building a great company culture. He also has a book on the subject, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Why the Zappos Family is an important example is summed up nicely by Fred Mossler (“No Title”): “I think that we’ve always felt that competitors could copy our selection, they can copy our shipping—but one thing that could never be copied was our company culture.”Fred and Tony understand that an epic company culture comes from the ground up. For Tony, you aren't talking about work-life separation or work-life balance—instead you should focus on work-life integration. “At the end of the day it’s just life.”Zappo’s number one priority, main business strategy, is company culture. Taking time to hire for cultural fits means everyone plays an essential role in contributing to, and scaling, the culture.
2) HubSpot – Inside HubSpot
Perhaps the greatest insight from HubSpot is their acknowledgement that customers can see and relate to their culture.HubSpot knows exactly how to build something big with purpose. Work-life is tied to a knowledge economy—giving them a pleasant work environment based on some of the following happiness values: unlimited vacation, flexible hours, free food, and games.Their “No Door Policy,” along with changing seating arrangements regularly, creates a diverse social dynamic where people collaborate and get work done.
3) Shopify – Life at Shopify
Shopify may have taken Steve Job’s advice to heart: they’ve continued to act as a start-up (even as their company grows) by splitting up into smaller teams: Support, Mobile, Applied Analytics, Gurus, Design Gurus, Developer Advocates, Labs, Marketing & Public Relations, and many more.The physical open space of the office parallels the openness of the social and creative atmosphere. Everyone feels comfortable with their freedom to embrace creativity.
4) Apple – Corporate Culture Apple example
How do you make people feel like they are part of something greater than themselves where meaning is ubiquitous?Apple makes it look easy. What’s their secret? They understand how to balance expertise with curiosity and adaptability.They don’t shy away from challenges—they let their small teams, through cross collaboration, solve complex problems. In their efforts to make a smaller battery that lasts longer numerous teams got involved to make new technology. Everyone should borrow that page from their playbook.
5) Rackspace – A Day in the Life of Rackspace: Get your Awesome On!
This video doesn’t have a narrative—but does it really need one? Rackspace is like a big lively family. They seem to understand that “fanatical customer service” requires a lot of energy. So they’ve created a carousel of fun!Rackspace is currently taking a drastically different approach then Zappos—they rely on leadership to define and transmit their values. Should influence be entirely independent of hierarchy? It depends on how you want your culture to spread and grow.
6) Google – Women at Google: Asia/Pacific
Patty McCord left Netflix in 2013, but her famous “culture deck” slideshow is still fresh in our minds. In a Harvard Business Review Article she said this: “It’s a waste of time to articulate ideas about values and culture if you don’t model and reward behavior that aligns with those goals.” Google never wastes time and they take gender equality seriously. Open to diversity, they provide essential scholarships and resource groups for women to develop their careers.Something that’s not touched on enough is that company culture should mirror a company’s users or customer base. Yolanda Magnolini, director of global diversity talent explains, “There’s no way we can deliver on that mission if our workforce doesn’t reflect the diversity of our users—and women are an important part of that equation.”
Recap
People want to join a company they believe in. A company culture video showcases your big dream while also revealing wonderful techniques for others to embrace:“Let’s make the company we always dreamed of. Let’s create a company that will be a great place to be from.”—Reed Hastings & Patty McCord (NETFLIX)The key upshots of company culture videos
- Company culture attracts top talentYour brand is your culture
- Representing and problem-solving for your customer is easy with a great culture
- A great company culture means people deliver their best work
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