These are some of the characteristics of the culture of excellence that I want to see in teams I work with. I think great teams that work in any creative field will share these qualities:
- Optimistic aspiration to greatness – individuals and teams seek out excellence on their own.
- Shared vision – people and teams are aligned around the same vision and goals, minimizing conflicts and wasted effort
- Swift and effective conflict resolution – teams minimize waste and maximize speed
- Results count, not effort – people are oriented on what matters
- Best ideas win regardless of source – improvements are accepted without politics
- Interest in improving team performance over time – people work to create an environment that supports personal and team growth
- Creative intimacy – cross-functional teams that work closely together, and include engineering, business, and user experience people for example
- Proactive self-organization – teams decide what to do and do it, and do not wait to be told what to do
- Great decisions are the norm – and meetings are mainly held to make decisions, not pass along information
- Mistakes and learning are celebrated and encouraged – maximizing learning and encouraging growth
- Healthy relationship to authority – people lead and follow as necessary without cynicism
I think #CultureHacking is about creating teams that have these qualities, since teams that have them will be fun, effective, and truly able to contribute new positive innovations to our society. I work in software, so another reason I care about this because I want the cross-functional (business and technical) teams that I work with to be able to rapidly ship great products and services that customers love.
(Thanks to Michele McCarthy and David Socha for their help writing this list.)
This is a really good list. I can’t think of anything else to add.