A few years ago Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh boldly reshaped his company in a way that the musicians of a string quartet would find familiar. In place of the traditional manager-led structure, he embraced a flat and self-managed organizational model called holacracy. It was a radical step, and Hsieh has gotten a lot of criticism for it—in particular, that employees have become confused amid the rapid pace and complexity of the implementation. As a matter of fact, Zappos simplify by focusing on just three core responsibilities of self-management.
- Everyone is responsible for understanding their role, how it fits with the roles of others on the team, and how that changes.
- Everyone is responsible for both leading and supporting.
- Everyone is responsible for communicating clearly and efficiently.
This week my guest is Jamie Naughton, Chief of Staff at Zappos, the well known online retailer based in Las Vegas.
Today with Jamie we will talk about:
- Why Zappos moved from a traditional management structure to holacracy.
- What holacracy is really about.
- What adjustments/improvements the company made along the way.
- What it’s like to work at Zappos.
- What characteristics they look for in candidates given its unique culture.
- How Zappos bring its community engagement and purpose to life.
Note: you can follow Jamie on LinkedIn, Twitter and Zappos on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
This week's eX Podcast is sponsored by Structural. Structural unleashes the potential of people and teams by giving organizations real-time, mobile access to employee data. Find, engage, and retain talent with the Structural Employee Success Platform. eX Podcast listeners can visit Structural.com/expodcast to get access to the latest employee experience resources, including the Employee Success Playbook featuring 10 research-backed methods to improve business outcomes.
If you want to send me feedback, suggestions for future topics or guests, you can reach me at svincent@exsummit.com or on Twitter @eX_Summit.
Thanks for listening.
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