Reinforcing Culture through Team Practices
Kelsy and I were on a mission. We were doing a skip-level walking meeting through the financial district in San Francisco. Our mission was to pick up the pastel de natas from Holy Nata to celebrate Georgia’s birthday at our upcoming team meeting. This wasn't just any birthday celebration – it's a practice in our team to mark birthdays with each person's preferred treat and style of celebration (most of us lean towards the "act surprised, but secretly love it" approach). This practice has been going strong for over four years, even as we've embraced a hybrid work model.
Most of us in the tech world spend the majority of our days glued to screens. That's why these practices are important. They remind us to connect with each other as humans. Celebrating milestones like birthdays and Udeversaries (work anniversaries) strengthens our team's bond and fosters a sense of community. I mean, who wouldn't be excited about a whole pie for their work anniversary instead of the usual "cookies and shit"? (Just ask John – he was thrilled!)
Team and Organizational Practices
In my book, ReCulturing, I delve into the importance of team and organizational practices for shaping and strengthening company culture. Culture is a system with three interconnected parts: behaviors, processes, and practices. When these align, they create a self-reinforcing cycle that sustains a healthy culture.
Practices encompass everything from how we communicate and collaborate to how we learn, recognize achievements, and connect with one another. Each team should have the autonomy to develop its unique practices, as long as they harmonize with the larger company culture. After all, you wouldn't want your team's weekly meeting to conflict with the all company meeting, right? Team and organizational practices are essential to establish and review regularly.
Evolving Team Practices
Sustaining and evolving practices requires integrating them into our daily work and experiences. I had a chance to talk with Patty McCord, the former head of Talent Development at Netflix and one of the co-authors of the infamous culture deck. In between our laughter (she is really funny!) we discussed the pull to hang on to practices and old ways of working, even if they weren’t exactly working great before. “Beware of the smoke of nostalgia,” she said. Instead of asking, “Remember how it used to be?” think about how great it can be now. She reminded me that the infamous culture deck she co-created at Netflix was not created overnight, or even in a year. It was created over ten years ago, and in fact, the company is still creating it. They are always ReCulturing.
Evolving practices have become even more important with remote work. There are not as many social cues as there were in the physical workplace. Often, some of the most important decisions used to get done in the hallways in between meetings. Companies are now having to adjust more quickly to working remotely with the help of intentionally evolving their practices that reinforce the culture and help to build community. In their 2023 report, O.C. Tanner highlighted that employees with a strong sense of community are 5x more likely to thrive and 11x more likely to be engaged at work.
Connecting is Part of Work
How do we connect at work now? Research shows social fragmentation is reduced through personal celebrations and professional goals. Celebrating milestones like work anniversaries and birthdays (ideally, with your employees’ favorite treat), and updating team goals aligned with organizational purpose, are key opportunities for connection.
Teams are integral to strengthening organizational culture. Goodall writes in her new book I’m reading, The Problem with Change: “Our team is the prism for our experience at work and refracts every element of it…”
After my team recently doubled in size, we adapted our weekly hour-long meetings to biweekly 90-minute sessions. These meetings now include rotating facilitators who lead team activities, fostering deeper connections and understanding of each other. We also conduct in-depth reviews of our core accountability document, ensuring alignment on projects, updates, and potential synergies. Other team practices include:
Every Monday, we have an automatic Slack that goes out to the team and asks what our top three priorities are
Every Friday, we have an automatic Slack that goes out to the team and asks what our biggest win was for the week
We meet 2x/year in person
For those of us in a hub office, we eat lunch together on Thursdays
My leadership team also holds weekly “Thought Leadership Jam Sessions” to dive deep into topics. Recent sessions covered AI and learning, skills-based organizations, and evolving how we think about leader development.
These practices are more than just fun activities; they're strategic tools for designing and reinforcing a healthy and engaged culture. They've allowed me to deepen my connection with my team while ensuring clarity and alignment in our work.
What About Your Team?
What team practices have you found to be effective? How are you adapting them for the remote or hybrid world? And how are you ensuring they align with your company's overall culture? Let's continue the conversation and learn from each other's experiences.
Reflection Questions:
What are some team practices that have been successful in your experience?
How can teams adapt their practices to better suit remote or hybrid work environments?
How can leaders ensure that team practices align with the broader organizational culture?
Here’s what I’m reading:
I’ll share more about what I’m learning from each in future substacks.