Corporate giants manage to have an amazing workplace despite their size because they are anchored on the same principles. Though we cannot have the same funding and reach as these corporations, we can stand on their shoulders and analyze how they do things that work for them.
THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE
Even corporate giants today are focusing on becoming innovative. Though some systems have withstood the test of time, the economic and behavioral landscape is dramatically changing. Change does not need to be knee-jerk reactions; each company will have their own pace. Stick to what works for your company, even if it means leaning more to stability. However, you still need to update and evolve your systems. The only way to know if something works is to stop, look, and listen:
Stop or Pause Suspected Faulty Execution. Find a way to adjust plans that are currently being executed. This can mean reverting to the previous SOP, arranging an announcement of a pause in services, an emergency meeting, or delaying a launch. Especially for large companies, focusing on doing things right can take up the forefront of your strategy. Before deciding to stop or pause a possibly faulty move, envision the damage control needed.
Look at Performance. Not just the end product, but also the performance throughout the workflow. You might be able to pinpoint where things started to go wrong. Missed deadlines, unfulfilled expectations, and miscommunication are common symptoms of a flaw in the system or strategy. You might also look into the right strategies for leadership. For example, micromanaging employees can prove to be more detrimental than helpful. Hence, many companies bolster trust as a company value.
Listen to Feedback. What these corporate giants have that most of us don't are cream-of-the-crop expert advisors in every area. This makes it easy for them to survey the situation accurately, and make wise decisions that actually address the problem. These advisors have years of experience, but the key to their success is the feedback they gather from both employees and the target market. They know how to draw it out, and create options from there.
Keep what works and change what doesn't. Using this stop, look, and listen strategy that have worked for many companies and organizations, you can begin to see which people and systems can lead you to success.
CONTEXT-BASED APPROACH
Copy-pasting solutions may or may not work in favor of your company. We draw inspiration around us everyday, but when does it stop giving us the results we want? Have you tried and tested so many possible solutions and it still didn't work? It's a sign that you are not looking at your problem directly. Your solutions are based on external sources, and it can feel like chasing the next popular buzzword for company culture and management.
The one thing that exists in solutions that work is being grounded in context. The first step to fixing a problem is acknowleding it and assessing the situation. However, in this assessment, leaders often overlook the information right under their noses. What we judge to be the problem may be different from the actual problem.
That being said, we can adopt some of the strategies that have driven tech giants to the top.
THE NETFLIX COMPANY CULTURE
To illustrate how a context-based approach works, allow me to show the Context VS Control principle that Netflix uses:
In their article, Mohan (2021) uses Venngage-created flowcharts to show how Netflix prioritizes context over control. We go back to the importance of avoiding micromanagement and iterating strategies based on performance. To further explain the Netflix way, let's take from their updated culture deck:
"Each leader's role is to coach, set context, give suggestions and feedback, and be highly informed about their team’s work. Rather than micro-managing small decisions, leaders can explore the details of different projects. This information can then be used to set better context for their teams, so more decisions are made well. "
Here we see that employees are given enough autonomy to do their work, but are still sufficiently guided. The worry that employees may not perform well if left to their own devices is valid, and is remedied by context-setting and trust. Thus, the hiring process must include an alignment of values to make sure that all employees can be trusted to make small decisions.
GOOGLE'S SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS
Similarly, Google advocates for flexibility at work. Lori Li (2020) of TinyPulse shares that Google makes it a qualification for employees to be eager to collaborate. Once employees share their ideas, Google gives them the autonomy to do whatever they need to deliver. Aside from this, Google provided mobility within the company where employees can change their role and job description until they can be where they can contribute most to the company.
While Netflix focuses on context as guidance, Google employs a similar approach by creating data-backed solutions. Data from surveys inform their employee engagement strategy and how they make their amazing workplace fun.
CONCLUSION
There are different ways one can employ strategies to create an amazing workplace. However, successful companies are anchored to key principles that clarify their direction and inform their strategies and projects. Ironically, this principle is change itself—but for the better. This article has shared ways on how change is done right, and how tech giants Netflix and Google have made it work for them.
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