How much time is your team wasting by avoiding tough conversations?
Netflix's approach to candor is a key part of its culture, as outlined in Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer's book No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. While there isn't a single definitive list of "four rules" explicitly labeled in the book, several principles and practices emerge consistently in discussions about how Netflix applies candor. Based on the search results and summaries, here are the main elements of Netflix's candor culture:
Radical Candor:Netflix encourages employees to provide direct, honest, and constructive feedback to one another, regardless of rank. This feedback is expected to be delivered with positive intent—to help the recipient improve rather than to criticize for the sake of it. (Source: Medium, Admired Leadership)
Feedback Is a Two-Way Street:Feedback flows in all directions—upward, downward, and laterally. Employees are encouraged to give feedback to their peers, managers, and even senior leadership, including the CEO. This openness fosters transparency and accountability. (Source: Medium, Lean Learnings)
Live 360 Feedback:Netflix uses structured feedback sessions, such as "Live 360 Feedback Dinners," where employees provide uncensored feedback to one another in a group setting. This practice eliminates anonymity and ensures feedback is delivered face-to-face, promoting a culture of trust and openness. (Source: Admired Leadership, Oslo Business Forum)
The 4A Feedback Model:
Feedback at Netflix follows the "4A" model:Aim to Assist: Feedback should be given with the intent to help the recipient improve.
Actionable: Feedback should include specific suggestions for improvement.
Appreciation: Acknowledge and appreciate the recipient's efforts.
Accept or Disregard: The recipient has the choice to accept or disregard the feedback, ensuring it is not forced upon them. (Source: Industry Leaders Magazine)
These principles collectively create a culture where candor is normalized, feedback is frequent and actionable, and employees feel empowered to grow and improve. Netflix's emphasis on candor is a cornerstone of its innovative and high-performing workplace.
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I am Bob Bouthillier...
I have enjoyed a successful career leading innovation teams for 30+ years. With two decades of experience as a CEO, and as a key member of the leadership teams in two other firms, we grew two Startups, to successful exits, one to $880M, the other to $4.5B.
My Passion - Product Development
My passion is developing new products and I led the architecture and the development of 60+ products. I enjoy my role as a judge for startups enrolled in MedTech Innovator, and I have coached more than a dozen other startups as well, in medical product development.
My Key Challenge - The Scavenger Hunt
A key problem I faced was that we were wasting too much time locating information throughout the development process. Whether it was looking for notes about changes and issues or about finding marketing materials, dataroom materials for investors or even user-guides, it was always a huge time-wasting experience and a repeated scavenger-hunt.
My Solution
I solved this problem by building a Wiki that serves as our internal "Wikipedia" for each program. This uses off-the-shelf free platforms and provides a seamless link between your team and all of your existing data sources. It requires no programming skills and can be set up in one day and launched to be useful to your team within one week.
As a result, my teams operate smoothly without the chaos that results from the typical scavenger hunt environment of the workplace.
My Courses
I have several courses to help founders organize their teams for success, and in less than one hour, your teams will be comfortable finding their way and using your Wiki.
Once the scavenger-hunt is over, you may want to explore Agile program management mothods to improve efficiency and increase customer satisfaction.
As a certified ScrumMaster, I teach practical
Agile program management methods for medical product development to teams ranging in size from from small to very large.
While the Agile process rarely shrinks the timelines for projects, it yields much better results by building in many more customer touch-points throughout the iterative development process. This reduces stress, improves visibility and keeps both your team and your customers much happier.
Please visit my course page for more information.
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