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Organizational Culture: Living Without Filters - But With Values
Creating and maintaining our culture becomes even more important, as it does having something that acts as a guide to drive decision-making processes
By:
Ricardo Guerrero
April 6, 2019
Financial crises. Bad investments. Disputes among partners. These are just a few of the many mistakes we’ve seen over the years. And while there are many reasons for failure, one of the most common (and harmful) we’ve seen is a poor, toxic, or even nonexistent organizational culture.
That’s why we’ve made a point of constantly building our own culture. From simple things like a team lunch once a week and FUN —a meeting every Friday where we share and discuss interesting topics that aren’t necessarily related to work—to larger initiatives like an end-of-year retreat on the beaches of Belize (side note: click here to read about that time we were almost kicked out of Belize at the border.) – we’re always trying to improve and strengthen the culture at Fuckup Nights.
And as our headquarters staff grows alongside the global movement, creating and maintaining that culture becomes even more important, as does having a framework to guide decision-making and initiatives.
In our early days, the Fuckup Manifesto served as our guide. It was the cornerstone of the movement and guided the original Global Team. But as anyone who has grown and scaled a business knows—what worked when you had 2–5 people doesn’t necessarily work when you grow to 10–15 people, or 50–75 people, and so on.
The Fuckup Nights for Defining Organizational Values
First, we looked at what some of the biggest and most successful companies are doing: Netflix, Google, and Facebook. But we wondered if their organizational culture was strong simply because they were big and successful—so we set aside any preconceived notions we had about them and designed a process where all voices on our teams could be heard during small group sessions. We organized four sessions with four team members in each, creating a space to bring together the opinions and visions of founders and coworkers spread across Mallorca, Ottawa Mexico City. Different roles and perspectives were key to building a culture that represented and resonated with all of us.
We then asked each member a few questions, including:
Tell me about a meaningful moment you experienced while working here. What happened? Why was that moment meaningful?
If you could choose three words to describe the team at Fuckup, what would they be?
At the end of the day, what is one thing the team at Fuckup will be remembered for?
Fuckuppín receiving our Disruptor Foundation Fellow Award
It was then that we realized the importance of sharing with authenticity. Take our FUN Fridays, for instance, where the team fosters trust and encourages vulnerability. This weekly meeting allows members to feel comfortable and safe enough to open up and share deeply personal experiences, decisions, and moments when they’ve had difficult conversations.
There are also several inside jokes, like the arrival of our bizarre mascot—Fuckuppín—after being purchased at a church fundraiser; or the conspiracy theory about Jason (our dearest Ottawa ) that he only exists in our collective imagination, since no one has ever met him in person.
With all of this in hand, the facilitators (shout-out to Ile and Pepe) created five categories to cover everything they heard throughout the process, and then developed short phrases to describe the Fuckupper way (that is, funny and profound)—the spirit behind how we do things.
Fuckup Nights values
Living Without Filters - We can’t help but be authentic and open.
Have The Difficult Conversation - We take a stand because we are part of something bigger than ourselves.
Be 1% Better Every Day - We believe that fulfillment comes from expanding our capacity to make a difference.
Defeat Your Ego - We strive to be vulnerable and self-aware in order to build a connection.
We continue to grow, hire, and look for ways to keep this movement as human, vulnerable, and authentic as possible.
We know, thanks to plenty of screw-ups, that organizational culture is everything.
Bring the Failure Culture to your company; learn more about The Failure Program here.
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