Former VP of software development Kris Szafranski quoted in “The Talent Mandate,” by Andrew Benett, Global President of Havas Worldwide, which is among the largest advertising, digital and communication companies in the world.
p.42-43:
Founded by three programmers in 2003, The Nerdery Interactive Labs is a cutting-edge IT company in Minneapolis. It needs a high percentage of top tech talent, and so it has built a culture around being “the best place for programmers to work.” In this vibrant workplace, perks abound: In addition to being a dog-friendly zone, the company maintains a perpetual chess tournament and boasts a 250-seat rock-band venue, 15 employee clubs, arcade games, Photoshop contests, comic books in the lobby, and Star Trek memorabilia in the conference room. But don’t mistake perks or decor for the really substantial part of what makes The Nerdery a great place to work: its ability to instill a family-like ethos – supportive, friendly, and cohesive.
“Perks are not culture,” says Kris Szafranski, director of organizational change. What really matters is how the company treats people: “You have individual attention here. Someone is looking out for you and working to make you better. A lot of places write code; the difference is in how we treat each other.” He stresses that “perks, we can survive without. The culture, we cannot.” That strong, family-like culture is helping The Nerdery win the talent war for programmers and developers: The company has grown from 38 employees in 2006 (the year Szafranski came on board) to 440 as of mid-2013. And revenues between 2006 and 2012 soared from $2.5 million to $37.1 million.
p.48
“We look for people who are not going to be stopped; they love the work that much.” —Kris Szafranski, director of organizational change, The Nerdery
p.64
In the world of business, it is dismaying how often even the most fundamental information is not shared. According to a broad 2011 survey of U.S. employees, only half of bosses involve their employees actively in decision making, and when decisions are made, only 43 percent bother to explain the thinking that lies behind those decisions. Instead of healthy transparency, this reveals a widespread culture of murky opaqueness. Workers are deliberately being left in the dark.
Not so at the most inspiring, talent-forward places. “We put heavy emphasis on daily check-ins or standups with the team,” so everybody has copious information about what is up, says The Nerdery’s Kris Szafranski. “Every two to four weeks, everyone gets individual attention. We let managers know that this expectation exists. We put a significant amount of time into ‘face time’ … but it has been well worth it.”
At his previous jobs, Szafranski did not have this kind of face time unless he actively sought it out. “It was hands-off, and managers did not seek out dialogue. I did not get it then why open communication is so vital—but now I think it is important, and I have kept it as a key part of this organization. It gives employees insight into what goes on outside of their day-to-day. It demystifies the management layer; otherwise, you cannot see above the layer of your manager. You can ask questions and voice ideas. It becomes a more fulfilling place to be, and we see that in people’s output. Plus, employees tend to collaborate more.”
As information flows freely, every level is empowered. “We encourage all employees to voice ideas and solve problems,” Szafranski says. “We have several departments and roles that only exist because people saw a need and got the support to fill it. Those areas are now keys to our success.”
p.122
Whether the mixing happens on-site or outside the office, it doesn’t always have to be about work. The Nerdery tries hard to get solitary coders to interact and create new solutions together. As Kris Szafranski tells it, the company recognized that pockets of nerds often congregated on their own time to pursue shared interests, and so they decided to get behind that as a company: “We have become more visually supportive of this and now have more than twenty Nerdery clubs—everything from game development to loose-leaf tea to wellness (or WellNerds).”
p.143
And of course not all millennials are agile and adaptive in their thinking, as I have been urging all workers to be. In fact, according to Kris Szafranski at The Nerdery, they may actually be less adaptive than people who are older and more seasoned: “I would say that some of the younger employees are more resistant to change. Mid-career workers have gotten used to changing jobs and having ups and downs. But the young don’t know what they don’t know.” They think things will always be the same as they are now.
p.163
At The Nerdery, ample face-time around the office allows managers to watch for changes in employees, according to Kris Szafranski: “What is their passion shifting to? Managers watch for this, continuing to get to know the person.” The key to retaining good people, he says, is making sure you give them work that fits their personal abilities and goals as these change over time. “If we’re not thinking like that, we’re just relying on them to churn out code.”
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