Story 1:
Let’s create a better place to work
Three founders set out to create a company that operated differently from anywhere that they had worked before. They were passionate about building a data science business that could antidote the damage done by Cambridge Analytica. They believed that to achieve this, they had to build a business that operated on a different set of rules, an organization that was able to use data for good, and make a positive difference in the world. They had clear ideas about what they didn’t want, but like most of us, they weren’t sure what else was possible, or even where to begin.
We joined their quest at the very beginning, helping to create the foundations that we all hoped would guide the organization as it grew up. The journey is still very much in progress, some of what we have done together has stuck, some never quite caught on, but that is the nature of any form of evolving human collaboration. We keep experimenting, we keep failing, we keep moving forward.
What follows is some of our story.
The foundations of an ethical business
Our trio of founders wanted ethics and ethical practice to be at the core of their business. As a new data science company in the wake of the whole Cambridge Analytica / Facebook affair, ethics would serve as both a differentiator and competitive advantage in their field.
But what does “being ethical” actually mean? What are the seeds from which a truly ethical business might grow? We began by exploring these questions and then looking at how the ideas we uncovered might be applied to decision making within the business.
Facilitate the emergence of shared values
Ethics begins with understanding each other’s individual values. What do we all agree on? Were there areas where we don’t agree? What are the grey areas? Just how much money are we willing to give up to stick to our beliefs?
In the workshop we used an index card based process to ensure that everyone was able to participate and to facilitate the journey from creative brainstorming, through emergent structuring and eventual consolidation. At the end of the process we were able to draw up a set of shared principles and values that formed the basis for an ethical framework for future business decisions.
Some more on our work to explore shared ethics
Establish an ethical review process.
One of the purposes of an ethical framework is to evaluate potential clients. The team had some pretty painful moments as a result. It’s hard for a young business to turn down money - but they did. They also learned that ethics is not easy, and very few answers are clear cut. You can’t simply say, “We won’t work for industry X” - this kind of assertion is easily based on prejudice, and is far more about “morality”, while ethics is far more nuanced and involves far deeper thought. As a result, the team has taken on work that they would not have expected to, and thought very hard about other work that may have seemed obviously ethical.
Everything takes more time than you want it to
When we initiated this process, only two of the three founders were working full-time in the business so this activity took place with only two present. When the third joined this work was considered ‘complete’ and little effort was made to bring him up to speed. This resulted in a slightly weakened commitment to keeping these values alive and evolving.
We now believe that it is critical that this form of foundation work involves everyone. Since there will rarely be a time when you can guarantee that everyone will be present, the only way to achieve this is to ensure that it is seen as an ongoing process, scheduled to take place at regular intervals and constantly evolving.
Ethics also takes time. A commitment to ethics is also a commitment to taking the time to ask more questions, to look a bit deeper and to understand the intentions that motivate a client. It’s not easy.
“The skills learnt have helped us to work better as a team internally but also with our clients. We use Org tools and techniques every single day”
Openness and connection
Creating a better place to work asks that everyone in the organization to be open with each other and to have a sense of connection as human beings rather than just work colleagues in a role. What a better workplace needs is humanity and care - two things that not only help everyone feel better, but also enable everyone to work better.
We worked with everyone in the company to introduce the practices required to facilitate more closeness or personal connection within a team. These practices are fairly simple but they can often seem like the kind of activity teams actively avoid. We introduced this work gradually and just kept guiding things forward until they were normal and no longer required us to push for them to happen.
Check-in
This is a process whereby each day starts with the whole team taking time to tell each other how they are feeling. Usually sitting in a circle each person takes a moment to talk whilst everyone else listens. During this time there are no phones and ideally no fidgeting!
Silence
Check-in starts with a period of silence to give everyone a chance to connect with themselves and identify how they are feeling. When the working day starts this isn’t the start of our day so it is important to take a moment to put aside what else is going on and identify how we are feeling in the moment, in the room.
Feelings
The simple check-in purpose of identifying how you are feeling is not always that straightforward. If we are not used to this then it can be challenging to find the appropriate vocabulary and so fall back on ‘good’ or ‘fine’. We laid out a set of index cards with both positive and negative feeling words on them to facilitate finding the right expression of our current state.
Play Dough
To do our best work or create connections it is important to activate both sides of the brain. In work mode we can focus more on logic and reasoning and forget our creativity. At times we introduced play doh to the team. This could be used either as a type of tactile stress ball or to create different shapes or whatever came through the fingers! It’s also important in terms of not taking ourselves so seriously and allowing the childlike, playful aspects of ourselves to appear.
Chime
To start or finish a period of silence we used a chime. This is an elegant and clear way to mark different parts of the day. In addition this works well as a way to interrupt or stop the flow if discussions are going off topic or not all voices are being heard in a discussion.
More about the foundations of a better culture
Something we learned: These new practices can easily become stale
With these practices it is easy to become complacent. Check-in can become soulless and meaningless unless each team member really is paying attention when others are speaking. It is all too easy to have a quick check of the phone, pour the coffee, note down an idea that has come to you etc. When these things happened we realised we needed to identify and call them out straight away because it otherwise degenerates. In the same way, if participants keep their participation to a very superficial level, this also needs to be monitored. If one person consistently is bland or too brief this has the impact of keeping everyone else at arms length and will discourage others from being more open. The inverse is also true in that the more open a team member can be, the more this will encourage others to do the same.
The ability to communicate honestly
There was an awareness in the organization that if they wanted to be able to move fast, learn from mistakes and scale that communication skills were vital. But more than this, they would need to be able to discuss even difficult topics in an open, non-defensive way.
Personal development modules and ‘in action’ coaching
At a basic level, being an effective communicator is about what you say and how you say it. However, equal importance should be given to listening.
We developed a series of personal development modules that we delivered in 25 minute sessions. After each training module we coached the team on implementing the learning into practice so that the new skills could be immediately added to working practices. This balance of focusing on learning a specific new skill and then embedding it in the work meant that there was a bigger impact on behaviour change than with training alone.
Leave space for fermentation and experiential learning
At times I was very eager to teach a new concept or skill that the learning module became packed with new information and there was not enough space to reflect and absorb. It is evident that the best, embedded learning happens when we experience a connection to the material or are provided with the space to reflect and discuss with others.
When there was more ‘empty’ space, I found the team stepped up to engage more fully with the material; it allowed them to be less passive and more active learners. I have to put to one side my anxiety that no one will have anything to say or that there will be awkward silence and trust more that the group (and individuals) will use the time to explore more deeply.
Scale, plan, move fast
The team wanted to be able to manage projects at speed without having to spend time in endless meetings catching up or making decisions. They needed a way to have clarity on who was responsible for what so that bottlenecks in the process were avoided. This also needed to be visible to everyone so that work could progress even when the team was working from different locations.
Ensure the process is fit for the purpose
To make this method of project management a success there needs to be a commitment to using the process and also regular reviews to ensure that it works.
Close attention should be paid to any occasions when it is suggested that a step (or step criteria) be skipped ‘to save’ time. This should be examined to see if something in the step needs tweaking or if more discipline to process adherence needs to be applied.
Implementing the use of process over personality provides more equality in so far as it is the agreed process that is being followed not the opinions of one or two people.
Identify roles
We also identified what ‘role’ would be in charge of each step. In a small company it could be the same person for multiple steps. The important point is that the step is not associated with a person but with a clearly defined role with the associated responsibilities for that step.
Choose software
To make this an online process we choose to use a collaboration tool called trello. This software can easily be set up with the columns representing the identified stages and cards as the projects moving through the process.
Be process led
The first step we took was to design a project management process. It is critical to involve as many people as possible in this stage to ensure a wide range of views.
Using post-it notes, we guided the team through a process of identifying the various stages in the project management process. What is the first step? How do we know when that step is complete? What does the next step need to be able to begin?
The story continues
Our journey to change the nature of work has taken us in so many directions. We’ve learned so much, have so much more to share and are always looking for people help us explore.
