Culture Deck in Time of Crisis

With the continuing health and economic crisis, one of the areas that needs even more attention is the culture of the organization. With layoffs, furloughs, and other dramatic changes, people are hurting, both inside and outside the organization. One of the areas to resort back to, or create fresh, is a culture deck.

The most famous culture deck is from Netflix, having been viewed nearly 20 million times (also, an updated one is available).

Here are notes from the Netflix culture deck:

• Seven aspects of the culture
  • Values are what we Value
  • High Performance
  • Freedom & Responsibility
  • Context, not Control
  • Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled
  • Pay Top of Market
  • Promotions & Development
• Values the following nine behaviors and skills
  • Judgement
  • Communication
  • Impact
  • Curiosity
  • Innovation
  • Courage
  • Passion
  • Honesty
  • Selflessness
• Adequate performance gets a generous severance package (meaning, people that are OK get fired)
• A team, not a family
• The Rare Responsible Person
  • Self motivating
  • Self aware
  • Self disciplined
  • Self improving
  • Acts like a leader
  • Doesn’t wait to be told what to do
  • Picks up trash lying on the floor
• Netflix Vacation Policy and Tracking – there is no policy or tracking
• Netflix Policies for Expensing, Entertainment, Gifts & Travel: Act in Netflix’s best interest
• Managers: When one of your talented people does something dumb, don’t blame them. Instead, ask yourself what context you failed to set.

For another excellent example, check out the HubSpot Culture Code: 

Use this crisis to think through the culture, and what it should be with time. A culture deck is a great way to communicate the ideas.