Can you present your company culture in a slide deck?

By njschock

“Company culture” may be the most overused phrase in business.

I don’t say that because it’s not important. It most certainly is, and I’ll return to that in a minute.

It’s overused because everybody says it but almost nobody does anything about it. Or, if they do, it’s something amorphous that can’t be pinned down.

Too many people equate “doing something about it” with putting vague words like Integrity, Communication, Trust, and Excellence on a wall in the lobby.

They could just as well say “Bowl Full of Jell-O.”

The reality is that culture should be crafted and defined.

There’s a wonderful trend among some of today’s most successful and respected companies. Go to your search engine of choice and punch in “company culture decks” and you’ll see what I mean.

Dozens of companies – probably hundreds or thousands by now – have created slide decks detailing their culture and posted them online.

I love this. Not so much that they’ve created them, but that it gives us insight into the companies that do it right, like Netflix, which kicked off the trend. In fact, Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg called Netflix’s famous company culture presentation “the most important document ever to come out of the Valley.”

I’ve provided a list of examples at the bottom of this email.

There’s a phrase that you’ve probably heard which is, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s just a phrase unless you really take it apart. The companies that do it right understand that it can’t be left to chance. Without a defined, solid culture, even the best strategies will flounder.

What you see in the Netflix deck is the level to which they examined each of their nine values. It’s 125 slides. [LINK: https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664] They go deep in explaining what the value means and how it plays out in their day-to-day work.

And why.

After reading it, you feel like you know what it means to work there.

At FiveFour, we teach the 4D Transformation Method to design remarkable customer experiences.

The first D is “Define the Culture.” It’s not easy and often requires significant exploration with our clients of their core vision, mission and values.

But it’s a fundamental base upon which their success is built. Without a Defined Culture, it’s impossible to Design the Experience and Develop the Team to Deliver Results.

Here’s a guide we like, “How to Design a Perfect Culture Deck.”

How to Design a Perfect Culture Deck