Behind every successful business is a team of amazing people – and behind that team is a company culture which has nurtured and supported them in doing a great job. But creating such a culture isn’t an easy task, and is often tied to striking a perfect balance between fun and productivity.
At our recent May/June Digital Roundtable events, we invited Guy Levine from Return on Digital to talk to our attendees about facing culture challenges head on, developing an engaging yet productive workplace, and of course, getting the work/fun ratio spot on. Read on to find out more…
Finding Value in Values
Guy – CEO and founder of Return on Digital, a Manchester-based agency that specialises in helping other businesses get more from their digital efforts – has worked in the digital sector for nearly a decade, and owned his first business at the age of 17. He’s built teams from scratch, and was all too happy to share the lessons he’s learned along the way with the roundtable.
We were lucky to experience Guy speaking from the heart, illustrating the challenges to culture he and other digital agencies have faced with a good dose of honesty and humour. At the heart of a successful culture, we learned, is a core set of values which team members at all levels must both believe and thrive in.
According to Guy, agency owners truly start to see that their teams and businesses are being held to these values when it costs them money to ensure compliance and integrity. After all, if you’re not going to live by these values, then why should your team? Leading by example, then, is key.
KPIs and Rewarding Great Performance
In addition to the core values – and as mentioned above – a successful company culture also comes about as a result of striking the perfect balance between work and fun; an efficient workplace and an enjoyable atmosphere.
One useful way to monitor your work/fun balance is to put key performance indicators (KPIs) in place to analyse how your team is measuring up against core values and performance targets. But Guy did have a word of caution on KPIs:
“KPIs are weird. Creatives don’t like them, as a rule, but we’ve managed to spin that on its head. My dream is that people can walk into the office and know if they’ve had a good day or a bad day. And every time you meet your numbers, you’re getting closer on your career development path.”
So, how do you get the team engaged with the KPI approach?
Return on Digital use tangible prizes – as opposed to monetary bonuses – to motivate teams to work towards their ‘win line’ and meet their KPIs. This way, the rewards can be tailored to the person, with each team member choosing a prize they really want, rather than spending their bonus on trivialities such as rent or bills.
Measure the Mood
Guy has also learned to say thank you to his team a lot more – after all, everybody feels that little bit more appreciated when their hard work and commitment are acknowledged by management.
One key thing that Guy believes in is the idea of ‘an ‘emotional bank account’ into which you have to make deposits and withdrawals. If you have bad customer feedback, try to curb your harsh words and instead invest in them, because the emotional bank account runs empty quickly. The effect of this is that you feel motivated to make a positive change to counter any future bad feedback – which is a far more productive approach than wallowing in negativity.
Measuring and scoring the team’s mood can also be a highly useful tool. Guy’s team give him a Vibe-Z (pronounced vibes) score every day, which marks his mood in the morning. We’ve all been stuck in the workplace with somebody in a bad mood before, and more often than not that negativity ends up infecting everybody else, creating a toxic atmosphere. The Vibe-Z score ensures that Guy remembers the amazing people awaiting his arrival in the office, so he can keep in mind to arrive with a smile and a positive attitude.
Achieving that sunny attitude can be as simple as listening to a great song, or starting the day with a walk, but it reinforces the need to make a great impression and lead by example – and sets Guy and his team up for the day!
Is we learnt, you can also use software tools like Office Vibe or Tiny Pulse to help you gauge the vibe in the office. They ask anonymous questions to the team every week and collate the results so you know what they’re thinking, and how they’re feeling – giving you the lowdown on what needs to change to cement your dream culture.
All in all, we were treated to a fantastic lesson on building and maintaining culture, and there were plenty of tips to take away for our attendees to try themselves:
- Create (and stick to) core values
- Implement Office Vibe or Tiny Pulse to keep culture in check
- Keep a positive attitude
We’d like to say one final huge thank you to Guy for speaking and enlightening us on company culture – we look forward to hearing back about success stories from our attendees!
Find out more about our regular Digital Roundtable events here and get involved in sharing your ideas and thoughts on building the perfect creative business.
