For your final project you are helping prepare Sharon Slade, the chief human resources officer of Netfli
For your final project you are helping prepare Sharon Slade, the chief human resources officer of Netflix, for a serious performance discussion with Alice Jones, who may be at risk of being terminated. One key component of your preparation is evaluating the organizational culture at Netflix and assisting Sharon Slade in demonstrating the skills that will help get the negotiation process off to a good start. She can accomplish this by taking into account the hygiene factors and intrinsic motivators as discussed in the Herzberg video clips (located in the Module Three Readings and Resources folder).
One description of the espoused Netflix organizational culture is stated in Slide 6 of the slide deck Netflix Culture: Freedom and Responsibility that you viewed in Module One. Slide 6 states: "The actual company values, as opposed to the nice-sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go."
For this discussion post, craft a response which addresses the following question:
Consider the seven aspects of the Netflix culture, which are listed below:
- Values are what we value [Judgment, Communication, Impact, Curiosity, Innovation, Courage, Passion, Honesty, & Selflessness]
- High Performance
- Freedom & Responsibility
- Context, not Control
- Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled
- Pay Top of Market
- Promotions & Development
Indicate whether or not you agree with the seven values, explaining why or why not. Add two intrinsic values that you believe would improve the organizational culture at Netflix. Provide reasons that justify your choice.
Culture
- This is an archive of prior version New version is at: jobs.netflix.com/culture 1
- Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility 2
- We Seek Excellence Our culture focuses on helping us achieve excellence 3
- Seven Aspects of our Culture • Values are what we Value • High Performance • Freedom & Responsibility • Context, not Control • Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled • Pay Top of Market • Promotions & Development 4
- Many companies have nice sounding value statements displayed in the lobby, such as: 5 Integrity Communication Respect Excellence
- Enron, whose leaders went to jail, and which went bankrupt from fraud, had these values displayed in their lobby: Integrity Communication Respect Excellence 6 (These values were not, however, what was really valued at Enron)
- The actual company values, as opposed to the nice-sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go 7
- Actual company values are the behaviors and skills that are valued in fellow employees 8
- At Netflix, we particularly value the following nine behaviors and skills in our colleagues… …meaning we hire and promote people who demonstrate these nine 9
- You make wise decisions (people, technical, business, and creative) despite ambiguity You identify root causes, and get beyond treating symptoms You think strategically, and can articulate what you are, and are not, trying to do You smartly separate what must be done well now, and what can be improved later 10 Judgment
- 11 Communication You listen well, instead of reacting fast, so you can better understand You are concise and articulate in speech and writing You treat people with respect independent of their status or disagreement with you You maintain calm poise in stressful situations
- 12 Impact You accomplish amazing amounts of important work You demonstrate consistently strong performance so colleagues can rely upon you You focus on great results rather than on process You exhibit bias-to-action, and avoid analysis-paralysis
- 13 Curiosity You learn rapidly and eagerly You seek to understand our strategy, market, customers, and suppliers You are broadly knowledgeable about business, technology and entertainment You contribute effectively outside of your specialty
- 14 Innovation You re-conceptualize issues to discover practical solutions to hard problems You challenge prevailing assumptions when warranted, and suggest better approaches You create new ideas that prove useful You keep us nimble by minimizing complexity and finding time to simplify
- 15 Courage You say what you think even if it is controversial You make tough decisions without agonizing You take smart risks You question actions inconsistent with our values
- 16 Passion You inspire others with your thirst for excellence You care intensely about Netflix‘s success You celebrate wins You are tenacious
- 17 Honesty You are known for candor and directness You are non-political when you disagree with others You only say things about fellow employees you will say to their face You are quick to admit mistakes
- 18 Selflessness You seek what is best for Netflix, rather than best for yourself or your group You are ego-less when searching for the best ideas You make time to help colleagues You share information openly and proactively
- Seven Aspects of our Culture • Values are what we Value • High Performance • Freedom & Responsibility • Context, not Control • Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled • Pay Top of Market • Promotions & Development 19
- Imagine if every person at Netflix is someone you respect and learn from… 20
- Great Workplace is Stunning Colleagues Great workplace is not espresso, lush benefits, sushi lunches, grand parties, or nice offices We do some of these things, but only if they are efficient at attracting and retaining stunning colleagues 21
- Like every company, we try to hire well 22
- Unlike many companies, we practice: adequate performance gets a generous severance package 23
- We’re a team, not a family We’re like a pro sports team, not a kid’s recreational team Netflix leaders hire, develop and cut smartly, so we have stars in every position 24
- The Keeper Test Managers Use: Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving, for a similar job at a peer company, would I fight hard to keep at Netflix? 25
- The Keeper Test Managers Use: Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving, for a similar job at a peer company, would I fight hard to keep at Netflix? 26 The other people should get a generous severance now, so we can open a slot to try to find a star for that role
- Honesty Always As a leader, no one in your group should be materially surprised of your views 27
- Honesty Always Candor is not just a leader’s responsibility, and you should periodically ask your manager: “If I told you I were leaving, how hard would you work to change my mind?” 28
- All of Us are Responsible for Ensuring We Live our Values “You question actions inconsistent with our values” is part of the Courage value Akin to the honor code pledge: “I will not lie, nor cheat, nor steal, nor tolerate those who do” 29
- Pro Sports Team Metaphor is Good, but Imperfect Athletic teams have a fixed number of positions, so team members are always competing with each other for one of the precious slots 30
- Corporate Team The more talent we have, the more we can accomplish, so our people assist each other all the time Internal “cutthroat” or “sink or swim” behavior is rare and not tolerated 31
- We Help Each Other To Be Great 32
- Isn’t Loyalty Good? What about Hard Workers? What about Brilliant Jerks? 33
- Loyalty is Good • Loyalty is good as a stabilizer • People who have been stars for us, and hit a bad patch, get a near term pass because we think they are likely to become stars for us again • We want the same: if Netflix hits a temporary bad patch, we want people to stick with us • But unlimited loyalty to a shrinking firm, or to an ineffective employee, is not what we are about 34
- Hard Work – Not Relevant • We don’t measure people by how many hours they work or how much they are in the office • We do care about accomplishing great work • Sustained B-level performance, despite “A for effort”, generates a generous severance package, with respect • Sustained A-level performance, despite minimal effort, is rewarded with more responsibility and great pay 35
- Brilliant Jerks • Some companies tolerate them • For us, cost to effective teamwork is too high • Diverse styles are fine – as long as person embodies the 9 values 36
- Why are we so insistent on high performance? In procedural work, the best are 2x better than the average. In creative/inventive work, the best are 10x better than the average, so huge premium on creating effective teams of the best 37
- Why are we so insistent on high performance? Great Workplace is Stunning Colleagues 38
- Our High Performance Culture Not Right for Everyone • Many people love our culture, and stay a long time – They thrive on excellence and candor and change – They would be disappointed if given a severance package, but lots of mutual warmth and respect • Some people, however, value job security and stability over performance, and don’t like our culture – They feel fearful at Netflix – They are sometimes bitter if let go, and feel that we are political place to work • We’re getting better at attracting only the former, and helping the latter realize we are not right for them 39
- Seven Aspects of our Culture • Values are what we Value • High Performance • Freedom & Responsibility • Context, not Control • Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled • Pay Top of Market • Promotions & Development 40
- The Rare Responsible Person • Self motivating • Self aware • Self disciplined • Self improving • Acts like a leader • Doesn’t wait to be told what to do • Picks up the trash lying on the floor 41
- Responsible People Thrive on Freedom, and are Worthy of Freedom 42
- Our model is to increase employee freedom as we grow, rather than limit it, to continue to attract and nourish innovative people, so we have better chance of sustained success 43
- Most Companies Curtail Freedom as they get Bigger Bigger Employee Freedom 44
- Why Do Most Companies Curtail Freedom and Become Bureaucratic as they Grow? 45
- Desire for Bigger Positive Impact Creates Growth Growth 46
- Growth Increases Complexity Complexity 47
- Growth Also Often Shrinks Talent Density % High Performance Employees Complexity 48
- Chaos Emerges % High Performance Employees Chaos and errors spike here – business has become too complex to run informally with this talent level Complexity 49
- Process Emerges to Stop the Chaos Procedures No one loves process, but feels good compared to the pain of chaos “Time to grow up” becomes the professional management’s mantra 50
- Process-focus Drives More Talent Out % High Performance Employees 51
- Process Brings Seductively Strong Near-Term Outcome • A highly-successful process-driven company – With leading share in its market – Minimal thinking required – Few mistakes made – very efficient – Few curious innovator-mavericks remain – Very optimized processes for its existing market – Efficiency has trumped flexibility 52
- Then the Market Shifts… • Market shifts due to new technology or competitors or business models • Company is unable to adapt quickly – because the employees are extremely good at following the existing processes, and process adherence is the value system • Company generally grinds painfully into irrelevance 53
- Seems Like Three Bad Options 1. Stay creative by staying small, but therefore have less impact 2. Avoid rules as you grow, and suffer chaos 3. Use process as you grow to drive efficient execution of current model, but cripple creativity, flexibility, and ability to thrive when your market eventually changes 54
- A Fourth Option • Avoid Chaos as you grow with Ever More High Performance People – not with Rules – Then you can continue to mostly run informally with self-discipline, and avoid chaos – The run informally part is what enables and attracts creativity 55
- The Key: Increase Talent Density faster than Complexity Grows 56
- Increase Talent Density • Top of market compensation • Attract high-value people through freedom to make big impact • Be demanding about high performance culture 57
- Minimize Complexity Growth • Few big products vs many small ones • Eliminate distracting complexity (barnacles) • Be wary of efficiency optimizations that increase complexity and rigidity 58 Note: sometimes long-term simplicity is achieved only through bursts of complexity to rework current systems
- With the Right People, Instead of a Culture of Process Adherence, We have a Culture of Creativity and Self-Discipline, Freedom and Responsibility 59
- Is Freedom Absolute? Are all rules & processes bad? 60
- Freedom is not absolute Like “free speech” there are some limited exceptions to “freedom at work” 61
- Two Types of Necessary Rules 1. Prevent irrevocable disaster – Financials produced are wrong – Hackers steal our customers’ credit card info 2. Moral, ethical, legal issues – Dishonesty, harassment are intolerable 62
- Mostly, though, Rapid Recovery is the Right Model • Just fix problems quickly – High performers make very few errors • We’re in a creative-inventive market, not a safety-critical market like medicine or nuclear power • You may have heard preventing error is cheaper than fixing it – Yes, in manufacturing or medicine, but… – Not so in creative environments 63
- “Good” versus “Bad” Process • “Good” process helps talented people get more done – Letting others know when you are updating code – Spend within budget each quarter so don’t have to coordinate every spending decision across departments – Regularly scheduled strategy and context meetings • “Bad” process tries to prevent recoverable mistakes – Get pre-approvals for $5k spending – 3 people to sign off on banner ad creative – Permission needed to hang a poster on a wall – Multi-level approval process for projects – Get 10 people to interview each candidate 64
- Rule Creep • “Bad” processes tend to creep in – Preventing errors just sounds so good • We try to get rid of rules when we can, to reinforce the point 65
- Example: Netflix Vacation Policy and Tracking Until 2004 we had the standard model of N days per year 66
- Meanwhile… We’re all working online some nights and weekends, responding to emails at odd hours, spending some afternoons on personal time, and taking good vacations 67
- An employee pointed out… We don’t track hours worked per day or per week, so why are we tracking days of vacation per year? 68
- We realized… We should focus on what people get done, not on how many days worked Just as we don’t have an 9am-5pm workday policy, we don’t need a vacation policy 69
- Netflix Vacation Policy and Tracking “there is no policy or tracking” 70
- Netflix Vacation Policy and Tracking “there is no policy or tracking” There is also no clothing policy at Netflix, but no one comes to work naked Lesson: you don’t need policies for everything 71
- No Vacation Policy Doesn’t Mean No Vacation Netflix leaders set good examples by taking big vacations – and coming back inspired to find big ideas 72
- Another Example of Freedom and Responsibility… 73
- Most companies have complex policies around what you can expense, how you travel, what gifts you can accept, etc. Plus they have whole departments to verify compliance with these policies 74
- Netflix Policies for Expensing, Entertainment, Gifts & Travel: “Act in Netflix’s Best Interest” (5 words long) 75
- “Act in Netflix’s Best Interest” Generally Means… 1. Expense only what you would otherwise not spend, and is worthwhile for work 2. Travel as you would if it were your own money 3. Disclose non-trivial vendor gifts 4. Take from Netflix only when it is inefficient to not take, and inconsequential – “taking” means, for example, printing personal documents at work or making personal calls on work phone: inconsequential and inefficient to avoid 76
- <a rel='nofollow' target='_blank' href='https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664/77-Freedom_and_R
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