In words of Vidit, our Co-founder & CEO,
Our values make us who we are. If any Meeshoite is equipped with core values that we have, they would be able to make any decision in the company. It is our biggest differentiator and has been an enabler of everything we’ve achieved so far.
We’re spilling the beans today. We’re sharing our 2-step playbook on how to design and scale a cultural system that employees live and breathe each day.
You should read this if you are looking to:
- Design a cultural value system for your teams (Part A)
- Scale the importance of cultural values in your teams (Part B)
It’s really no surprise that great culture is the backbone of all great organisations. Companies that invest in great culture, tend to spend less time on re-alignment and governance. In an environment where several well-capitalised companies target the same space, culture is the ultimate competitive advantage - a hook that attracts and retains great talent.
They serve as a path of enlightenment, and also alignment.
Design a cultural value system for your teams
The first step of designing a cultural value system includes:
i) Understanding drivers of your own employee aspirations and growth
ii) Understanding the essence of culture at world-class organizations
For some context, the 9 mantras at Meesho we picked came from a strong voice of our Meeshoites - things they believed they carried to work each day, things that made us great and grow quickly.
We also looked at 50+ examples of value systems in great companies. We picked common patterns and debated if they should be part of our own culture. We then came up with a list of 9 meaningful values that resonated with us the most.
Scaling the importance of cultural values in teams
Scaling included 2 steps -
Awareness → Evangelisation
Awareness
Your employees should know these 3 simple, things about each value -
An example of our core value “Speed over perfection”:
“We value speed over perfection without compromising on quality”
What it means: Have a sense of urgency
What it does NOT mean: Sub-par quality work
What to do to get better: Start with an aggressive deadline, Always ask yourself “How can this be done in HALF the time”
We used multiple forums to drive understanding and awareness, like all-hands, emailers, meetings, masterclasses and newsletters. We also sought questions from our employees before we went down the path of scaling values.
Now this was the tough part. It is easy to spell out values, and hard to implement them in a way that each person knows what is expected of them each time they take a decision or an action.
Evangelisation
The below framework helped us tremendously in evangelising mantras to each Meeshoite (10/10 would recommend).
Rituals
Rituals are woven into our way of working - they are the code in which we conduct ourselves.
Symbols
Our symbols continuously remind us of our cultural identity at work.
Organisational heroes and stories
Our torchbearer heroes constantly share with other Meeshoites what values mean to them, and how to implement them in day-to-day life.
They share tales of how they implemented a particular value and how it helped them, inspiring everyone to identify more ways to live these values:
Language
Not only this, we’ve gone great lengths to create lingo that people can use to express their value-quotient 😄
Feedback loops
Finally, no system works without feedback loops and incentives.
We do regular pulse checks on how these chosen few mantras are being received, and where we should spend more time.
| Mantra | Ritual | Awareness |
|---|---|---|
| User-First | Listen or Die | Medium |
| Problem First mindset | Meetings 101 | High |
Even our hiring process and appraisal systems are feedback loops linked to evaluation on mantras. How an employee is doing on mantras is an important part of the 360 evaluation, and makes each individual bring their best value set to work.
Credits:
- Written & Illustrated by Nikita Dawda (https://twitter.com/nikdraws)
- Design: Shoumita
- Special thanks to Siddharth, Nayamat, Yuvraj, Shashwat, Aastha, Shreya
This is what makes us function with minimal friction, politics and governance! Want to be part of the culture that live these values? Check out our careers site for our openening!
