7 Traits of High-Performance Cultures

Culture Code; Creating a Company We Love

“I think as a company, if you can get those two things right — having a clear direction on what you are trying to do and bringing in great people who can execute on the stuff — then you can do pretty well.” — Mark Zuckerberg

When your company is small, culture can be elusive and difficult to understand. As you grow your culture becomes more apparent. It’s really only been the last few years I realised our culture was a living, breathing “thing”, and was something I better pay attention to. It has its own personality and its own mood. It can be full of life and energy or be down and needs some coaching. As cultures evolve naturally, they can go unnoticed for some time because we are so immersed in them. It’s often only when I’m away from the studio for a period of time that I begin to look deeper at our culture from an outside perspective. At the time I focused on it, our culture was actually very good, but I saw that without regular attention it could also fall apart easily.

Making the decision that culture isn’t something that just “happens to us” but something that we drive and create, became an area I wanted to explore further. I first began looking into other company cultures, both big and small, to find similarities and ideas. Google, Facebook, Netflix, Apple and a few others became inspirational in terms of how the built cultures at massive scales. Next, I studied what we did well, and where we were missing some key elements in building a team that loves to work at LIMAH. After much research, I found one thing in common all these companies had – regular workshops and guidelines as to what they considered to be their culture and what they wanted in their culture.

And so began my project “Culture Code; Creating a Company we Love”. The end result is 151 slides in a deck of all the qualities and aspirations we find important at LIMAH. Combining our vision for our culture along with my overall company vision and moonshot allowed me to connect our daily behaviour to the big 10x idea. By researching other great company decks, I was able to compile our own, some from shared content and some of our own original thoughts on culture. We threw in some images of entrepreneurs, films I love, artists and athletes who inspired us along the way as well to bring ideas to life.

Below is an outline along with some of my favourite and the most important slides and thoughts from our culture deck.

Set the Tone

No doubt your team hasn’t been introduced to the idea of a Culture Deck previously, so grab hold of the concept and set the tone for your conversation.

Why is Culture Important?

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

Coined by Peter Drucker, this is an absolute reality! However, while many studies show there is a direct correlation between high-performance cultures and the bottom line, most spend little time thinking, let alone doing anything about culture, even when they’re spending lots of time thinking about their strategy. Any company disconnecting the two are putting themselves at risk.

The Traits We Share

Next, I outlined the 7 traits we share as a team and things we can work on. A little inspirational image and story with each one is a good way to remember the point.

1. Be Optimistic

A team with a positive outlook even in the hard times makes the working of others easy. Edison and his failures tell us its ok to try and fail. Believing in something tends to make it happen. As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” This is a good opportunity to explain I’d rather see people try hard and fail then hide quietly in the corner.

2. Collaborate

Designers tend to stick alone, buried in their computers. Brainstorming and collaborations are mandatory here and just our way of life. Being a multidisciplinary studio, teams that excel on working together is how we are able to execute on massive, complex projects. Our secret weapon is the combined power of our team. The Wright Brothers weren’t the only ones taking on a manned flight in the early 1900s, but they won in the end. Their vision and combined efforts achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled aeroplane flight in 1903.

3. Make Other’s Successful

Support and cheering for one another bring out the best. Apollo Creed’s talent drove Rocky to train hard! Going out of your way to help the team is a normal day. Push one another to be their best.

[after Rocky finishes pounding on the raw meat]

Paulie: You do that to Apollo Creed, they’ll put us in jail for murder.

4. Take Ownership

There is nothing worse as a leader than to hear someone say “that’s not my job”. Taking ownership of tasks and being willing to pitch in on anything is just how we work and that’s the Superman/Superwoman approach. “Not my job” are swear words. Own every task.

5. Be Adaptive

Let’s face it, things don’t always go your way. Sometimes you have to give in and adapt to the daily situations as they unfold. Be flexible to others working styles. Nobody adapts like Bruce Lee — “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

 

6. Laugh a Lot

Nothing worse than working around people who don’t know how to laugh. Lightheartedness is an important trait when you spend all day around your coworkers. While the film “Goodfellas” isn’t exactly lighthearted or a comedy, to me it’s a funny movie and I had to share my favourite scene with the team. If I can squeeze gangster films into my decks I will.

Tommy DeVito: Oh, oh, Anthony. He’s a big boy, he knows what he said. What did ya say? Funny how?
Henry Hill: Jus…
Tommy DeVito: What?
Henry Hill: Just… ya know… you’re funny.
Tommy DeVito: You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little f**ked up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to f**kin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?

Lightening your mood and that of other’s goes a long way. After all, Goodfellas live their culture; or they get whacked.

7. Get Shit Done

Young designers tend to play around too much and haven’t learned to trust their gut when it comes to design decisions. This wastes time. We focus on coaching and teaching principles of spending critical time on the creative in order to explore the ideas when it’s needed. However, once an idea is finalized and explored it’s time for intense focus and intense discipline to get shit done and get it to the client. Muhammad Ali gets in the ring with you for only one reason; to knock you out.

Inspirational Stories

Just like me, my team is inspired and motivated by some of the amazing stories of history, or the challenges of entrepreneurs and artists. These slides were used to communicate the skills and behaviors we appreciate. Meaning we hire and promote based on these and we cultivate them to be part of our culture.

The Responsible Person

Summarizing and reviewing expectations never hurts. Giving up responsibility hurts the team the most, so I wanted to be sure everyone is on the same page. Responsible people thrive on freedom and are worthy of freedom.

Progress Within the Company

Being clear on how to move within the company is critical. In our studio there are only 2 ways; 1) take the lead and initiative, gain mastery as an individual and deliver amazing results OR 2) provide spectacular support to those doing #1. Being the same as you were last year, not progressing, gaining knowledge or responsibility isn’t a role here.

Policies, Policies, Policies

We actually have very few policies. We reserve them only for the most important issues and it’s good if everyone knows what those policies are. For most areas though, policies don’t help, but rather discourage. That’s because high-performance teams don’t need rulebooks to play the game. We don’t have a clothing policy, the team uses judgement when to dress up and when to dress down. Flip flops, sneakers and t-shirts tend to win most days.

Share It, like It, Heart It

Your biggest social network fans are right inside your studio or office. Make sure and remind everyone on the team to follow and engage with all of your content. We are proud of our work and workplace so why not share it? This connects the team outside the studio as well, as we can see into each other personal lives.

Consistent Reminders on the Vision

The Culture Code presentation was another opportunity to remind the team of where we are headed. Often, huge visionary ideas can seem impossible to the team. This slide was just a reminder that we have small steps to get to where we want to go. Working in 3 to 6-month phases of work on the business can help the team see the progress. In another team presentation called “Moonshot”, I laid out our 5-year vision. I’ll cover that in a future article and how explaining in detail the vision and how it benefits us, our clients and the world rallied the team in support of this vision.

This deck has been an important refresher for our team who has been with us the longest while also setting the tone for newbies who join us. Regular review of it such as during All Hands or Quarterly meetings is a great way to keep it top of mind for everyone on the team. If you want to learn more about creating Culture Decks for your team feel free to contact me. I’ll share with your our full pdf to inspire you to create your own.

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I’d love to talk with you and know your thoughts on this article. Can I help you create an exceptional human experience for your customers? Get in touch.

Learn more about our work in experience design, wayfinding and public art at @ limahdesign.com