Recently, Netflix published their internal "freedom & responsibility culture" document on slideshare (which was subsequently picked up by TechCrunch). One of the really interesting points I drew from the 128-page document was the importance of Context -- or, the Why -- of your job.
Why is "The Why" Important?
- "High performance people will do better work if they understand the context." Context gives people a purpose for doing their work. People feel they have an impact on the business and aren't just working for the weekend.
- Context aligns people to reach the right result. This reminds me of one of the lessons taught in Made to Stick about identifying your company's core principle, which helps multiple people coordinate to achieve a common goal.
- Outlining context - as opposed to a process - leaves room for creativity, innovation, and new efficiencies. It is only by trying out new things that we can find new ways to solve problems.
It's a pretty cool document to check out if you have some time.
You can also check out this video/slide presentation Dharmesh Shah did recently for us over at HubSpot.
