Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility
by Patty McCord
company’s job isn’t to empower people; it’s to remind people that they walk in the door with power and to create the conditions for them to exercise it. Do that, and you will be astonished by the great work they will do for you. I am not going to claim that tackling the challenges of rapid change is easy in any way or for anyone. The good news is that we found that inculcating a core set of behaviors in people, then giving them the latitude to practice those behaviors—well, actually, demanding that they practice them—makes teams astonishingly energized and proactive. Such teams are the best drivers to get you where you need to go.
company’s job isn’t to empower people; it’s to remind people that they walk in the door with power and to create the conditions for them to exercise it. Do that, and you will be astonished by the great work they will do for you.
What do I mean by organically? I mean their goals and the ways they allocate time and resources, as well as the problems they’re focusing on and approaches to solving them, are constantly adapting to the demands of the business and customer. They are growing, changing organisms. They aren’t rigid structures bound by predetermined mandates about objectives, staff, or budget.
Never underestimate the value of the ideas, and the questions, that employees at all levels may surprise you with.
People are emboldened to speak up when they see that their views will be heard and they can really make a difference.
“Engagement” is a term that, when used in business, I dislike about as just about as much as “empowerment.
"company’s job isn’t to empower people; it’s to remind people that they walk in the door with power and to create the conditions for them to exercise it. Do that, and you will be astonished by the great work they will do for you."
"I am not going to claim that tackling the challenges of rapid change is easy in any way or for anyone. The good news is that we found that inculcating a core set of behaviors in people, then giving them the latitude to practice those behaviors—well, actually, demanding that they practice them—makes teams astonishingly energized and proactive. Such teams are the best drivers to get you where you need to go."
"What do I mean by organically? I mean their goals and the ways they allocate time and resources, as well as the problems they’re focusing on and approaches to solving them, are constantly adapting to the demands of the business and customer. They are growing, changing organisms. They aren’t rigid structures bound by predetermined mandates about objectives, staff, or budget."
"Never underestimate the value of the ideas, and the questions, that employees at all levels may surprise you with."
"“Did you make fun of the engineers?” And I’d say, “Yes, but seriously! They’re complaining that the hot tubs were not hot enough, the towels aren’t fluffy enough, and the pool is too cold.” And he’d reprimand me, “You know our engineers are our most important resource and you have to give them special treatment!” I just wasn’t buying that. As I said before, I’d gotten quite tired of their being treated like gods."
"People are emboldened to speak up when they see that their views will be heard and they can really make a difference."
"I believe the best advice for all working people today is to stay limber, to keep learning new skills and considering new opportunities, regularly taking on new challenges so that work stays fresh and stretches them. At Netflix we encouraged people to take charge of their own growth, availing themselves of the rich opportunities we afforded them to learn from stellar colleagues and managers and making their own way, whether that meant rising within the company or seizing a great opportunity elsewhere."
- →company’s job isn’t to empower people; it’s to remind people that they walk in the door with power and to create the conditions for them to exercise it. Do that, and you will be astonished by the great work they will do for you.
- →Never underestimate the value of the ideas, and the questions, that employees at all levels may surprise you with.
- →“Hey, what do you think of the performance review process over there?” She said, “I hate it! I have a huge team and we’re in the middle of it right now. Why do you think it took three weeks to set up this call? Nobody has time to do anything else. We’ve all just about stopped working on anything else but reviews. It’s an insane amount of time.”
- →Training well and spotting growth potential are vital skills for team leaders. I was always looking for hidden talents in people that would allow us to give them the opportunity to grow, and I encouraged all of our team leaders to do the same. Sometimes these gifts were obvious, but often they weren’t, even to the employees themselves.
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