The Monastic Startup. Last week at our Yesware board meeting, we talked about the idea of “the monastic startup.” This was a phrase that Matthew Bellows, Yesware’s CEO, came up with, and it characterizes the culture they are creating at Yesware. It embodies two concepts: This idea sung to me. As I sit here in front of my 30″ monitor, working away in the peacefulness of my office in Boulder, surrounded by 10 of my favorite people (the gang I work with), listening to Lady Gaga, and connected to thousands of others via the computer in front of me, I realize that I long for more “monastic startup” time. When I think about the culture of many of the companies we are an investor in, the definition of the monastic startup rings true. Oblong immediately comes to mind for me.
In my networked world (vs. hierarchical world) a monastic approach works amazingly well. If the phrase “monastic startup” rings true to you, what are the other characteristics that you’d expect to have in this environment? The questions all founders must ask themselves — Cleantech News and Analysis. » The Science of a Happy Startup the awesome culture blog. E – Engagement (flow, the sense of being lost in an activity) R – [Positive] Relationships (strong connections to others) M – Meaning (impact, a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves) A – Accomplishment (achievement of specific goals) Unlike life satisfaction, these five elements can be measured by a combination of objective (directly measured, externally validated) as well as subjective (self-reported) metrics.
So… how can these findings be best applied to build a happy startup? First, I think the shift amongst the Positive Psychology movement away from its singular focus on life satisfaction to multiple measurable objectives under the construct of well-being is an insightful idea. Interestingly, researchers at Penn have found that the age old adage “money doesn’t buy happiness” turns out to be largely wrong. P – Positive Emotions In some ways, this is the most obvious one. E – Engagement Engagement in this context refers to the sense of flow, of being lost in an activity. Business Culture that Inspires Your Consumers - Samir Balwani. January 11th, 2011 by Samir Balwani Often overlooked, business culture can be one of the most effective ways to increase a business’ bottom line.
Exciting, inviting, cultures make consumers feel part of a group and inspire them to share with their friends. Most businesses ignore the idea of culture because it can be a difficult strategy to execute. Small businesses depend tend to mold themselves based on the personality of the owner, whereas most larger brands are too bureaucratic to create a consistent corporate culture. Nonetheless, there are a number of ways to inspire a successful business culture. Let’s begin by first exploring a few noteworthy business cultures and explaining what makes them exceptional. Case Study: Zappos One of the most well known corporate cultures’ is Zappos.
Here’s an example of the appreciation consumers have shown towards Zappos: When I came home this last time, I had an email from Zappos asking about the shoes, since they hadn’t received them. Credit credit.
HR management - Company culture - Techniques. Company culture - Examples. C’est une question d’ambiance… | Creation d'entreprise ! Créer une boite, c’est savoir faire plein de choses : de la strat’, du commercial, de la compta, du commercial, des formalités administratives, du marketing, du commercial, de la finance, pleurer chez son banquier, lever des fonds, gagner des concours, supplier des journalistes de parler de son projet, recruter une équipe du tonnerre, gérer les hauts et les bas – oh, et puis un peu de commercial aussi. Bref, il y a du boulot. Mais il y en a aussi un autre que cette liste déjà bien fournie : celui de mettre l’ambiance, et la bonne, pour permettre à la jeune boîte de continuer à croître rapidement. Et pour une startup, suivant le moment et le niveau de développement, la « bonne » ambiance ne signifie pas toujours la même chose : Step Zéro : une ambiance très ouverte et friendly lors du tout début, avec seulement les associés, où il faut être capable de tout changer du jour au lendemain, et de se dire les choses en face très, très franchement.
Organizing for joy. Traditional corporations, particularly large-scale service and manufacturing businesses, are organized for efficiency. Or consistency. But not joy. McDonalds, Hertz, Dell and others crank it out. They show up. They lower costs. They use a stopwatch to measure output. The problem with this mindset is that as you approach the asymptote of maximum efficiency, there's not a lot of room left for improvement. Worse, the nature of the work is inherently un-remarkable. These organizations have people who will try to patch problems over after the fact, instead of motivated people eager to delight on the spot. The alternative, it seems, is to organize for joy. Does your company culture allow mistakes. A few months ago I wrote down some thoughts about failure, our fear of failure and our ability (inabilty) to embrace it.
The other day I was talking to a founder in our portfolio. They made a mistake inside of their organization and everyone knew it. I was processing this issue with the founder and trying to better understand what happened so I could try to be a sounding board and also get my arms around the issues. After chatting about it for a bit this founder told me that he’s happy the team made the mistake. Yes, the mistake was unfortunate but he wants a company culture where people feel supported to experiment and try out new things even if they don’t work out.
That conversation hit me square between the eyes. It’s too easy and tempting for managers or board members to try and fix any problem that shows up with typical questions like : Why did that happen? But this founders philosophy resonated with me big time. 5 Keys for Promoting Honesty & Transparency in Your Company. Skip Advertisement This ad will close in 15 seconds... Young Entrepreneurs Today's Most Read 9 Proven Ways to Get People to Take You Seriously 4 Intangibles That Drive CEOs What It Takes to Go From Dead Broke to 6 Figures in 6 Months The Mentality of a Successful Career 4 Big Challenges That Startups Face These Siblings Are Cooking Up America's First Meatless Butcher Shop Kim Lachance Shandrow 3 min read News and Articles About Young Entrepreneurs Failure 6 Stories of Super Successes Who Overcame Failure They're perfect examples of why failure should never stop you from following your vision.
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Your team will gain a trust and respect from each other that cannot be obtained from 9 till 5. We develop teams from across the UK and unlike most companies we train teams all year round, indoors and outdoors Results Driven Teambuilding has a different type of focus. We find that a blend of indoor and outdoor activities helps to focus team development, dynamics and psychology Return on investment. Post team building follow up.