How to design and build a healthy company culture | Melissa Daimler | TEDxBocaRaton
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- Forget office perks & superficial gestures-healthy company cultures need intentional design & continuous cultivation. In this TEDx talk, veteran tech leader & "ReCulturing" author Melissa Daimler shares secrets to scaling culture as your company grows. Learn how to define values-based behaviors, embed them into talent processes, & reinforce them daily through team practices. My skills in aligning culture and strategy, scaling organizational processes, and creating innovative solutions have made a measurable impact on employee engagement, performance, and organizational success at WeWork, Twitter, Adobe, and, currently, Udemy.
As Chief Learning Officer (CLO) and VP of Talent & Organizational Development at Udemy, I lead a team revolutionizing learning, talent, and organizational development for 1,500 employees. Our innovative strategies include creating blended learning experiences while experimenting with AI technologies to shape and strengthen those experiences. I also work with our Fortune 500 customers, providing thought leadership with other Heads of Learning, Talent, and Organizational Development. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
You mentioned that culture is how we work with each other, and that's so true. It’s the everyday interactions that define the workplace
I agree when employees know what’s expected and feel a sense of purpose, they stay motivated and engaged.
I think it's so crucial for workplace culture to get the staff right, I worked for the same company for 5 years because it was an easy job and the people were so awesome and then we had this manager who just stopped caring about interviewing people and hired this one girls sister, brother in law and then one of his friends and then 6 months later one of the sisters friends and two of their cousins??? It was so outrageous and just all downhill from there because they formed their own little clique
I am still surprised when I hear stories like this, and I realize that these are still happening in today's workplaces. Good for you for leaving.
Your dad's lessons on the boat do a great job of showing how important it is to pay attention to every detail! It’s true that in business, just like in sailing, everything is connected.
yes, and I tried to emphasize that he always tied it back to his value of safety--similar to what we need to do at our organizations. how do our practices exemplify our values?
I'm honestly surprised by how well her boat analogy translates to workplace dynamics! Lol she really nailed it.
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her point about integrating behaviors into processes like hiring is spot on. We recently started asking culture-fit questions in interviews and it's made a huge difference in finding the right people for our team.
great to hear! In my book, I talk about culture complement or culture add vs. "fit"--similar but different in that you're not trying to "fit someone into your culture", but, rather, figure out how they can add to the kind of culture you're building and reinforcing.
The definition of culture as a system is so enlightening! I like what you said about how it's not just a set of values but what happens in the daily practices.
Melissa I appreciate your perspective on organizational culture. It’s refreshing to see someone acknowledge that it’s more than just perks and parties
thanks, Jon!
Her experience really shines through. You can tell she's been in the trenches dealing with culture issues at fast-growing companies. Makes her advice feel much more credible and actionable.
thank you! I have definitely seen a thing or two on the front lines!
Was cool to hear about the company that wanted more messy first drafts! Such a great example of how different companies prioritize different aspects of a process
I appreciate how you emphasized the need for ongoing adjustment. Culture isn’t static, and it needs to evolve with the organization
thank you. It is, indeed, an ongoing set of practices.
This talk made me realize how much my company is failing at culture. We have values plastered on the walls, but no one really knows what they mean in practice and I've definitely heard people poking fun at them
good opportunity for you to ask, Helen. Let me know how it goes.
I love your analogy of the sailboat and your dad’s culture in it as a great representation of how people can collaborate and support each other. And especially your great point that “everything is connected.”. Great talk!
thank you! ⛵
I love how you compared sailing to organizational culture. It really makes the concept more relatable and easier to understand.
thank you. I'm glad sailing was a metaphor that resonated with you
The part about companies needing to integrate behaviors into their processes was really insightful! I can see why that would be where lots of companies fail
yeah, usually we stop with the list vs. figuring out how to embed them into our daily work.
I like the idea of having diverse brainstorming meetings. I think it's important to encourage a variety of perspectives in order to find solutions and get the best out of our teams.
I agree values need to be actionable in order to actually have an impact. Sometimes they're just too abstract for that
yes!
So provocative and important for all leaders of organizations to think about! You are at the top of your game Melissa and bringing so much value to our perspective on culture.
thank you Susannah for coaching me through this!
I agree it's crucial to give employees clear expectations and a sense of purpose, nothing worse than feeling like what you're doing at work is meaningless.
agreed! thank you
The concept of 'systems thinking' you learned from your dad is so applicable to business. I agree it’s about seeing the bigger picture and how everything is interconnected.
thank you, Kinsley.
start at the top, where leaders lead by example not by rule
I love how she broke culture down into tangible components. It's not just this vague "vibe" anymore, but something we can actually work on systematically. Excited to try implementing some of these ideas!
yes! it's tangible. it can be designed intentionally!
This is a really important topic - and I love how you tell the story using your father's support and lessons as the through line. Thank you!
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The contrast between the two companies with the same value of innovation but different approaches was really interesting! Great examples.
thanks, Glenn.
Such a good call on checking the environment before making decisions. I think team dynamics are constantly changing and you need to take stock of it at all times!
thanks, Valentina!
Loved the parallels between sailing and organizational culture. Both require constant adjustments a holistic view and also to not get too complacent!
As someone who's been through a few toxic work environments, I really appreciate this systematic approach to culture. It's not just about feeling good, it's about intentionally creating the right behaviors and practices. Wish more places understood this!
thanks, Natalya--same.
I really liked her points about being prepared to change course. I've seen so many workplaces double down on processes that just don't work and it always seemed silly to me
thank you, Eric!
A great complimentary speech to the book! This really nails the application of the concepts in ReCulturing! Kudos!
thank you!!
gotta say, I was worried this would be another fluffy talk about "company culture", but she brought some real substance. the three-step approach makes sense. gonna share this with my manager and see if we can try it out.
let me know how it goes!
This talk challenged my thinking about culture... I've always seen it as something organic that just happens, but she makes a good case for intentionally designing it
I completely agree that defining behaviors is just as important as defining values. Without clear behaviors, values are just words on a wall.
thank you. exactly!
The way your dad asked you the same questions each time you sailed really highlights the importance of consistency and preparedness.
thanks! it was his birthday today so thinking of him a lot.
She makes a lot of fantastic points, my old workplace had all that stuff on the walls talking about their mission statement and expected behaviors but the way people worked and interacted with one another and with customers just did not sync up at all
we've all been there (!)
I've never thought of why it would be important to establish and specify what you want your company culture to be. I can see why if you don't it would just grow into something that becomes hard to control or correct later on
exactly! If it's not designed, it will be designed for you.
Very clever to ask candidates about past behavior to gauge if they're a cultural fit. Bit sneaky but very clever!
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Wow so inspiring thank you for this talk and for sharing so openly
thanks, Amy. You're next.
The story of folding the sail to make it last longer is a perfect analogy for maintaining practices that sustain organizational culture... it might seem tedious and pointless in the moment but over time you can really see the difference between something that's been tended to and cared for as opposed to just hastily dealt with
hah! yes, exactly. thank you for getting that. we are always balancing what is "good enough" with what needs to be "great enough"...in my dad's case, that sail had to be "great enough" to maintain it for a long time...just like so many other things, large and small in an organization.
Such good insights on the misconceptions of culture being perks rather than behavior and relationships. Real culture should be built on values, actions and like-mindedness, not partying.
thank you!
As a new manager, this talk was super helpful! I've been trying to figure out how to build strong team culture, and the idea of focusing on specific behaviors gives me a really clear place to start, thank you.
great! let me know how it goes!
Excellent talk, Melissa, and I highly recommend organizations worldwide embrace "ReCulturing"!
thank you, Will!
Thins we have vs things we can do is a really succinct way of putting things.
Not sure I buy into the whole "reculturing" thing, but I do like the emphasis on aligning behaviors with values. Too often companies say one thing and do another. This approach could help with that disconnect.
aligning behaviors to values is the first step but if you don't embed those into the processes and practices, they likely will continue to just be a static list.
the only thing you have to buy into is that culture is a set of actions that needs to be integrated into everything vs. just creating a list of values :) and yes, on alignment with what we say and do....this holds people accountable to that by rewarding and reinforcing the kinds of behaviors we said are important for our company.
So many important insights in this talk. Everything is truly connected, and adaptability and iterating are crucial. And more importantly, all of this takes time and intentionality. I appreciate the examples and lifting up why behaviors matter to culture!
thank you!
The sailing analogies were clever, but I wish she'd given more concrete examples from her work in tech companies. How did she actually implement these ideas at Twitter or WeWork? That would've been super valuable to hear about.
You can read all about that in my book ReCulturing :) I only had 10 minutes so the juicy stuff is in there.
I've been struggling with how to improve our team culture, and the idea of defining specific behaviors for our values is brilliant. Going to start working on that tomorrow!
great, Erika! Let me know how it goes.
Well done! It's wonderful how you incorporated the experiences with your father into the concept. 😊
thanks, Sean! 😍
Sharing this around my office...
let me know what the office thinks :)
I think where so many places get it wrong is that they put out their "mission statements" from head office and just don't realize how far removed that is from the experience of those in the customer facing roles
So you're telling me the ping pong tables aren't cutting it? Great talk on a very important subject. Every company needs this information!
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Solid talk, but I feel like she glossed over the challenges of changing an established culture. In my experience, it's incredibly difficult to shift ingrained behaviors, especially in larger orgs. Would've liked some tips on overcoming resistance.
fair point--I get into this a lot more in my book if you want to check it out--same title: ReCulturing
Loved your talk Melissa!!! So well presented and I love the sailing references!!! Made your talk even more interesting and so on point. Great information!
thanks, best SIL ever. 😍
Great job Melissa!!!❤
thank you!
Her story about the company that had mandatory parties on a Monday is so crazy lol like who honestly thought it was a good idea to start the week that way?
yeah. I lived through it and it was only 2016....
Appreciated the call to tackle these things one at a time. Makes it feel way less daunting
I thought the sailing stuff was a really good analogy for why consistency is so important!!
thank you!
insanely valuable video. Thank you.
thank you!
@@melissa-daimler Thought I'd add more context. I've been using your model to evaluate companies based on culture and culture-fit. As I job search, I'm more interested in the people that work for the company, how they interact with each other, and does the company live up to the values that they preach. This has helped weed out the ones that are all talk, no values. It's also helped me to target the ones that are value-led companies. Turly, thank you.
I feel as though this type of thing didn't even exist until recently. Not in the way you mean at least, where people are actively trying to create healthy, good culture
Context definitely matters in terms of how values are applied. It's not a one size fits all and I think that's where some places maybe get it wrong
every company should see this....
thank you Iam!!
I hadn't thought about how "culture" is about more than just the perks of working for the company. Well I guess it _should_ be about more than that if you want it to be successful lol
yeah. it's such an under-leveraged component of making a company successful, but ONLY if you continue to review values and behaviors consistently.
TERRIFIC talk, Melissa. I loved your opening!
thank you Kristin! wonderful to hear from you and appreciate your support
Great talk!! Congrats to Melissa! 🎉
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Man I wish my last workplace understood these things. It's scary how often places mess this up
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Great talk!
thank you!
I’m curious about how you measure the success of these cultural changes! Is it a really noticeable shift or does it just happen gradually?
great question! You can measure it through performance by calling out the specific behaviors, you can also do it in leadership/management assessments, and engagement surveys. But not just with a question: "Does this person exemplify the values of the company?" You have to list them out as the behaviors and have them assessed quantitatively.
@@melissa-daimler I get that, tnx
It's pretty to cool to think this stuff can be cultivated in the first place. Also makes me wonder where my last workplace went so wrong 😂😂
yeah. there are a lot of opportunities to get this right, especially in today's hybrid worplaces.
Okay am I the only one who loved the sailing metaphors??
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@@melissa-daimler
Interesting perspective, but I'm skeptical about how this would work in practice. Seems like it could lead to micromanaging behaviors. How do you balance a structured approach like this with allowing for individual expression and creativity?
Great question! I think what helps it not be micromanaged is embedding these behaviors into core processes the organization already does anyway-in their interview questions, in the performance management and feedback processes, and in the rewards and recognition process. That way, everyone has a common language-they know what to expect from others and what others expect from them, including their manager. Does that resonate?
I love the way you are spring
It's hard to understand how companies can get it so wrong that they think workplace culture is the same as social culture. Like I can get those in charge wanting everyone to get along but trying to build that up from party culture is just such an oversight.
right? they do, indeed, still get it wrong. thanks for sharing.
I’m not sure how practical it is to expect every organization to follow a strict set of processes. Surely flexibility is also important?
yes, of course. my point is that we are already doing these processes...I know that's not a great word, but we are all hiring, we are all giving feedback, we are all rewarding...the point is integrating these behaviors into the processes that already exist, but only in vague concepts so we never quite know why one person got compensated higher or one person got promoted and not the other if we're not transparent about the behaviors we expect everyone to exemplify.
I've never thought about how hard it would be to correct bad work culture too. Like if a company has been just haphazardly growing without any real guidance or deliberation on it... that must get messy
Congratulations for award.. Shahid Husain
With so many companies going hybrid or fully remote, how do you reinforce these behaviors and practices when people aren't in the same physical space?
great question and makes reculturing even more relevant because it's agnostic to an office. when you codify behaviors you want to see across an organization, those can be done and seen anywhere.
Interesting talk, but I wonder how this applies to different cultural contexts. I work for a global company and what's considered good behavior in one country might not fly in another
agree. When defining behaviors, it's important to not use idioms or culturally relevant words. at one company, we used to say "you need to be in the other person's shoes" and people in other countries could not understand what that meant.
I remember doing one of those product feedback nights for one of our suppliers when I worked retail and it was in this office building that had a full on like putting green and leader board and their fridge was full of beers... It was so crazy to me in terms of how different it was and the guy who worked there was like yeah don't let it fooI you though working here sux lmao
Tequila parties on a Monday 😂😂 yeah way to start the week off right!
:) and then there was Tuesday morning
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I can't believe someone asked her when she was going to have children during an interview. I would be so insulted. Especially if they were bare footed LOL that is wild
yeah. unfortunately, you can't make this stuff up. it really happened.
@@melissa-daimler and still happening, and 2024, some days 1950
Have
The 'Thank God it's Monday' parties just show how misguided attempts at creating culture can backfire so spectacularly 😂
The talk was okay, but felt a bit corporate for my taste. I work at a small start-up and we prefer to keep things more fluid
thanks for the feedback. the goal is to be up front about expectations so there is more freedom in the day to day work.
Very good, but "processies"!?
not a word with a great reputation but these are the kinds of things that are already happening--the interviewing process, the performance feedback process, the onboarding process, the promotion process.
man, that part about the company with mandatory monday parties and tequila shots had me cringing. who honestly things that kind of partying in an office is cool? glad she called out how that's not real culture.
1966) Adana 🏝️ NA imza coşkun yalçın USA ABD ❤😂 Al 🌹💐 para 💸 iç
I don't know, feels like she's overcomplicating things. My company has a great culture and we never did all this "reculturing" stuff. Sometimes you just need good people and good vibes, ya know?
yeah. I hear you. I'm not about overcomplicating anything. I just have seen and experienced that when you just leave it up to "good people and good vibes" people are not clear or consistent on what "good" looks like--which leads to inconsistent hiring practices, questions around performance reviews, and lack of any kind of feedback that helps employees grow.
She lost me with all the sailing stuff tbh. felt like she was trying too hard to make it relate to the work culture stuff and didn’t actually add anything of value
The bit about hiring people who already embody the behaviors you want to see in the company culture makes a lot of sense, just like how you shouldn't get into a relationship with a person who has really different values to you and then hope they change. It's just not going to work out lol
Loved the parallels between sailing and organizational culture. Both require constant adjustments a holistic view and also to not get too complacent!
thank you! glad that sailing metaphor resonated