Last summer’s conference for the Society of Human Resource Management featured a keynote address by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. His comments stressed the importance of “Company Culture” in delivering business success. It also just so happened that the conference was being held in Las Vegas, where Zappos is headquartered, and afforded the opportunity for conference goers to tour the quirky online shoe seller’s facilities. What visitors found during their tour sent many business leaders home on mission to change their businesses.
The following are a few items that Hsieh pointed out during his address:
Keep It Original – Zappos is known for innovating tools that assist their employees with delivering exceptional service. Many other business leaders have attempted to copy some of the company’s tools and methods, but the author and CEO warns against that. Many of their ideas are spawned out of their unusual business culture and don’t transfer well to other business climates. Hsieh stressed, before significant changes or new ideas can be implemented in any business organization, leaders must first sit down and define their businesses’ values. Armed with those values, leaders can then set out to build new processes and systems that will deliver new rewards.
Take Risks – Zappos continues to take risks with their business model and methods. Right from the beginning Zappos flips things around by training new employees to view the company as a “customer service business” first and a “shoe seller” second. That thought process bleeds right into another one of their strong beliefs; that call times should not be measured. This is the exact opposite of most traditional call centers and again is an example of a cultural item that would fail in most other businesses.
Create A Cultural Image – Zappos is famous for not having offices (even CEO Hsieh works alongside his employees without an office) and for encouraging the staff to decorate their work space in any crazy fashion they like. The entire company owns this image.
Seek Employees That Fit – This is a key element to Zappos success. As soon as an employee completes his or her 4 week training, the company offers them a $3000 bonus to quit. Yes! They sit down with their newly trained associate and discuss the option of this person not continuing to work for their company. The company’s thought process here is to weed out people who are all about the money. It is the final test to ensure that they are hiring a person who wants to be a part of a great team.
Honestly, we all want to build organizations that attain the successful heights of Zappos but we can’t do it by copying their blue print. No, that path would lead to doom for most businesses. What is valuable from watching Zappos, is the understanding that discovering your organization’s own values is the starting point to designing a successful business culture. It doesn’t have to be as quirky as Zappos, but a little fun never hurt anyone.
