Designing Culture Workshop

Designing Culture ©2013 1

Welcome!


Look inside Look around Look outside Define vision Create practices


Values + practices


“”Designing Culture ©2013 4

Culture is generated from ongoing contributions and

discoveries from both studio owners and employees.

David Sherwin

Success by Design: The Essential Business Reference for Designers


Culture is a key driver of innovation & creativity.


What if there was as much intentionality around culture as design?


Look inside. Own your impact


What do you bring to your culture?


E X E R C I S E 6 M I N U T E S

Speed date

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Pair up. Each of you has 1 minute to answer the question that comes up on the screen. When I yell, “Switch!”, rotate to a new person and answer the next question that comes up on the screen. Note: Answer all questions in relation to your work life, not your personal life.


What makes you different? (at work)


What do you fight for? (at work)


How do you support the success of others? (at work)


Did anything interesting come up?


What kind of impact do you want to have?


E X E R C I S E 1 0 M I N U T E S

Start. Stop. Continue.

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Think about an upcoming milestone that is important to you. Write down the ideal end state (outcome). Brainstorm one thing you could start, stop, and continue doing to influence the outcome. Mad Lib it: I will (action) _________ in order to (outcome) _________ so that (why) _________.

exercise from Gamestorming


Anyone want to share?


Look around. Assess your culture


exercise from Tina Seelig, What I Wish I Knew When I was 20 image from Tiliza31337, Flickr


Vu ja de


image from danielfoster437, Flickr


What do you do to see things anew? (vu ja de!)


Be a flipologist.



Be an ethnographer of your organization

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Imagine you’re visiting your company for the first time. What do you notice about communication, socializing, reward systems, conflict, inspiration? Write your observations in the columns on your worksheet.



Questions to ask yourself:

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Communication: How are news, information, directives, and plans shared between individuals, within teams, and throughout the organization? Are they formal or informal? Ad hoc or planned? How effective are they? Socializing: In what ways do organic and structured socializing unfold? Who initiates it? Where does it happen? How often? Does it feel authentic to participants? Reward systems: How are staff and management acknowledged and incentivized? How were these systems created? How visible are they? How effective? Conflict: What does conflict look like, and how is it typically handled? Are conflicts typically resolved? How do people know, if so? Inspiration: Does brainstorming happen organically, in a structured way, or both? Privately or publicly? Where? With what frequency? Who instigates it? Who feels entitled to contribute?



Be an ethnographer of your organization

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ID themes. What stands out?


What did you discover?


Take a break.


Look outside. Seek Inspiration


Image from Olgierd Pstrykotworca, Flickr


Image from Olgierd Pstrykotworca, Flickr

Reinforce staff value. Inspire from within.


“We're looking for crazy ideas. We use kids to find those ideas, because they know how to talk without their thinking getting in the way.”

Founder, Markus Mettler

PracFce from Robert SuJon, Weird Ideas that Work


“We're looking for crazy ideas. We use kids to find those ideas, because they know how to talk without their thinking getting in the way.”

Founder, Markus Mettler

PracFce from Robert SuJon, Weird Ideas that Work

Interject variance into your process.


image from Erik Holladay, Detroit Free Press

•  Peter Sims, Little Bets

The Real Whirled


image from Erik Holladay, Detroit Free Press

•  Peter Sims, Little Bets

The Real Whirled Integrate new team members.


What are the ten things we should be doing next?

PracFce from Walter Issacson, Steve Jobsimag


What are the ten things we should be doing next?

PracFce from Walter Issacson, Steve Jobsimag

Focus.


Push your practice.


Image from Odonata98, Flickr


Image from Odonata98, Flickr

Acknowledge peers.


image from Tom Soderlund, Flickr


image from Tom Soderlund, Flickr

Empower + include.


image from Kelly Bone, Flickr


image from Kelly Bone, Flickr

Create community.


Define your vision. Have an ideal dynamic in mind


Principles for this workshop

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It’s about them, not us. Make, don’t tell. Inspire creative confidence.



Pyramid of Principles

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Look at your culture assessment and notes about the practices of other organizations. Using those as fodder, come up with three principles to guide the kind of culture you want to create. Write one principle on each side of your pyramid template. Cut out and assemble.


Would anyone like to share?


Turn vision into action. Design Practices



The idea that would get you fired

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Pick one principle and come up with a new practice that would get you fired.




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Now, bring that idea down to earth. Iterate and come up with a version you can do…and still keep your job. A stretch, but not impossible.




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Trade with someone at your table (Principle + idea that would get you fired + down-to-earth version). Now come up with one new practice for your culture, inspired by their principle and practices.


What did you think up?


If you really want to up the ante…


Create the culture of crea1ng culture


(Insert image of Cover Story example)




Cover Story of the Future

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Imagine your ideal future culture at work. Brainstorm the elements that would make up a Fast Company cover story about your team or organization. Brainstorm: Where you document initial ideas for this exercise. Cover: A phrase that captures the BIG story of your success. Headline: The substance of the story. Sidebar: Interesting facts. Quotes: From someone you’d love to get accolades from. Images: Sketches to support the content.



Inspiration •  David Sherwin, Success by Design: The Essential Business Reference for Designers •  Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, James Macanufo. Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and

Changemakers •  Nicholas Graham, One Hundred Questions: Building a long-term brand in a short-attention span world •  Peter Sims, Little Bets •  Robert Sutton, Weird Ideas that Work: How to Build a Creative Company •  Tina Seelig, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 •  Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs

Slideshare.net/TeresaBrazen


1.  Practice vu ja de 2. Use your Pyramid of Principles 3.  Implement your practice

Extra Credit: Run a Designing Culture Workshop

Next Steps


1.  Practice vu ja de 2. Use your Pyramid of Principles 3.  Implement your practice

Extra Credit: Run a Designing Culture Workshop

Next Steps Design Leadership training at Cooper: www.cooper.com/training Teresa Brazen @TeresaBrazen [email protected] TeresaBrazen.com

Designing Culture Workshop

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