There are all kinds of stats out there to validate defining your company’s culture. Take the one that says job turnover at an organization with a high focus on culture is 13%, compared to 48% in companies with a low focus on it. Or there’s the one that says peers and camaraderie are the number one reason employees go the extra mile — not money. But none of that’s why we chose to recently define our culture at LevelEleven.
We chose to define it because we’ve been lucky to develop an organic culture that makes working here pretty special for all of us. And as we grow, we want to hold on to it.
Figuring out how to describe that culture wasn’t entirely easy, especially because we wanted to keep it simple. But it turned out to capture exactly what defines us. Think of a typical scale: You rate things from 1-10, with 10 being best. We’ve found that even the very best people, those you would call “a 10”, can always do a little bit more when you help them get focused on what really matters. Add that up across your entire sales team, and the impact is immediate and significant. Lucky for us, it works as an acronym for our defined culture points, too.
And so here it is — LevelEleven’s “GOTO11”:
Green Thumbs
Everyone has great ideas. The difference makers act on those ideas instead of waiting for someone else, and they’re willing to get “down in the weeds” when they see a new opportunity to improve the company somehow. We need to constantly test new strategies and find new efficiencies, and ideas alone won’t get us there – execution will.
Obvious
This one comes through in all that we do, and our product is a big part of this as well. We prioritize transparent communications — goals are very clear and remain front and center, we’re open about our company’s financials and with any project, big or small, team members collaborate on what’s working or not working. We all know exactly what’s expected of us, and keep our goals and performance in the spotlight to align with those expectations.
Two Ears & One Mouth
I heard this once and never forgot it: “You have two ears and one mouth. Use them in proportion.” You’re not going to get far as a team, or a business, if you don’t listen well. This one’s a reminder for all of us to make sure we’re listening to our customers, team members, prospects, partners and the market in general. Then of course, with active listening comes active questioning — and being humble enough to pay attention to, and care about, what’s being said.
One Life
People use the phrase “work/life balance” like there’s work and then there’s life. We believe it’s just one life. And for our team members at LevelEleven, we want it to be a happy one. That means we don’t have a vacation policy, because when someone’s burnt out we want them to take time off. We know that if things are awry at home, or if you don’t get enough time with your family, or you aren’t exercising enough, it will affect your work. It’s all one life. We’re all hitting the goals we set for ourselves and as a company, but we’re doing it in a healthy, happy way.
11
This sums it all up – striving for just a little bit more. Just make one more call. Stay on that treadmill for just one more minute. Small little “inches” of improvement will add up fast to make us all better.
So that’s it: The LevelEleven culture code. What do you think? How does it compare to yours? We’d love to see your feedback in the comments below.
