Essay on
No Rules Rules
by Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer
I heard a lot about the amazing company culture that Netflix has. And even more about how satisfied the employees of Netflix are and how much they give back to the company that gives them so much care.
Reed Hasting is the founder of this culture and he got together with Erin Meyer, a business professor.
Innovative workplace
Innovative workplace is based on talent density, few talented people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives with emphasis on creativity. Another crucial point is about focus on important work and effective collaboration between team members. Reed explains how important it is to keep the people who do their best and are in love with their work. On the other hand, keeping someone who is not trying their best and is for instance negative has an impact on the group and as a result they also stop trying. If there is a group of people who are underperforming it is likely to spread and bring down the whole company.
Voicing opinions and feedback
We hear this all the time. Feedback and voicing of opinions is important. It has become a cliche. Yet I still see a very few people actually practicing that in their teams and companies.When we hear what we can do better, we get better at our job and that ultimately helps the whole organization. According to Reed and Erin the wonders of candor start when team members give truthful feedback to their leaders. Leader has a crucial position in this as he shows other team members that it is safe to give and receive feedback by accepting it with gratitude. What is important to mention is that feedback given in order to get frustration off or hurt someone should not be tolerated. Our feedback has to focus on what the person can do differently.
Unlimited Vacation
Reed discusses that unlimited vacation helps bring top talent and reduces operational cost with keeping up records of who went for holidays when. The most important factor here is that it signals trust from the top management towards employees. They trust them that they will do the right thing and it encourages employees to act responsibly. In reality the amount of holidays people take reflects what they see their boss and team mates doing. That is why it is good to encourage leaders to take a large amount of holidays to start this movement.
No approval from bosses
Employees don't need to seek out their boss's approval, they just need to let the boss know what actions they are about to take. It is highly encouraged for everyone to speak out their disagreements. To not do so is considered as willingly not helping the company.
The keeper test
This is very similar to what I read recently in the book Good to Great about how to make good company a great one. You should ask yourself if your employee is about to leave, would you try to change their mind or would you accept their resignation? If it is the second one, you should fire them and look for someone you'd fight to keep around.
Netflix mantra
Say things about other people that you would only say to their faces. Netflix created an online platform for employees to give feedback to whoever they want. That way they get a 360 degrees feedback that gives employees the side of their bosses and their teammates as well. This happens in live 360 feedback sessions. The leaders give feedback on strengths and weaknesses and the teammates on how you can improve.
Leadership with context
Leadership with control approves and directs. Context leaders give important information and let employees accomplish their work. The question to ask if we need to choose between these two is if we need error prevention or innovation. What is our goal?
No rules rules
There are no set rules and processes in Netflix. They let their employees create their own in order to come up with creative and agile solutions and in order to practice their own agility, so important in today's world.
Reading this book motivated me to seek out at least an internship in Netflix haha. I would love to experience this culture and see how it works in the day to day life of a company. I am also gathering my own set of aspects that I would like to implement in my future work as a leader. Thank you Netflix for adding many more to my list.
