Beyond Code: Improving Culture Wherever You Go

A company's culture can make or break the success of the company. We have all heard about tech companies with such toxic culture that employee happiness, diversity, and retention become a problem. I have been in a variety of engineering roles in the past decade, and have noticed that one of the biggest value adds to a company is in transforming the culture in a positive way. In order for your tech company to stand out, and for you to stand out in your career, consider improving your team's/company's culture wherever you go. But, as an individual contributor, how do you achieve this? In this talk, we will discuss how to find problem areas that can be transformed for the better, examples of culture additions, and how to improve your brand along the way. From this talk, you will walk away with practical tips on how to evaluate, get involved in transforming the culture, and how to measure success.

Transcript

1. Beyond Code:
 Improving Culture Wherever You Go Seetha Annamraju @seetha_a
2. 2 Photo by Perry Grone on Unsplash How is your team?
3. Adam Grant 3 https://www.adamgrant.net/
4. 3 types of people 4 Takers
5. 3 types of people 5 Matchers Takers
6. 3 types of people 6 Givers Matchers Takers
7. 7 Givers
8. Hello! 8 @seetha_a
9. In this talk.. ✔What is culture? ✔Why should you care? ✔How do you implement change? 9
10. I. WHAT
11. Organizational Culture shared values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of a business [4] 11
12. II. WHY
13. Shape the culture 13 Your company Your team You
14. Build your personal brand 14
15. Build your personal brand 15 • Approachable • Sharing problems • Seeking advice
16. 16 Excellence
17. 17 Performance Reviews
18. Improve your team’s culture 18
19. Improve your team’s culture 19 • Inclusion/diversity • Remote work culture • Work-life balance
20. 20 Photo by Perry Grone on Unsplash Being human.
21. Build your company’s brand 21
22. III. HOW
23. #1: Look at your company’s values.
24. 24 Customer Obsession
25. 25 Customer Obsession
26. #2: Come from a place of empathy.
27. 27 KreativKolors / Shutterstock Listen.
28. 28 KreativKolors / Shutterstock Be curious. Care genuinely.
29. Efficiency 29 KreativKolors / Shutterstock Empathy
30. 30 Give others a voice.
31. Empathy helps you… ✔ Be a better leader 31
32. Empathy helps you… ✔ Be a better leader ✔ Understand your customers better 32
33. Empathy helps you… ✔ Be a better leader ✔ Understand your customers better ✔ Be a collaborator 33
34. #3: Understand your environment.
35. 35 Talk 1:1 with others
36. “ “The starting point [of originality] is curiosity: pondering why the default exists in the first place.” - Adam Grant 36
37. Learn from the past. 37
38. 38 Photo by Anika Huizinga on Unsplash Bring your whole self to work.
39. Joseph Akoni 39
40. “ “Everyone, including myself, makes mistakes when pronouncing other people’s names” - Joseph Akoni 40
41. 41 How can you bring your whole self to work?
42. #4: Identify areas of improvement.
43. 43 Getting Involved
44. 44 • Set up talks or meetups at your company. Getting Involved
45. 45 • Collaborate with companies that you believe in. https://www.womenwhocode.com/ http://www.code2040.org/ https://www.devcolor.org/ Getting Involved
46. 46 Mentorship for Junior Engineers
47. 47 Understanding Bias
48. 48 Inclusion/ Diversity
49. 49 Communication
50. 50 Team Processes
51. #5: Improve processes.
52. 52 Identify Bottlenecks
53. 53 Hiring Process
54. 54 Productivity
55. 55 Documentation
56. 56 Growth Mindset
57. #6: Start contributing.
58. 58 Photo by Christian Lischka on Unsplash Start small.
59. 59 5 min help
60. 60 5 min help • Make an introduction • Give feedback • Share a skill • Recognize someone
61. 61 Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash Small teams to drive action.
62. 62 Forget about the role you were hired for.
63. #7: Measure.
64. 64 1:1 / Survey
65. *Warning* 65 Not all ideas will pan out.
66. 66 What kind of team do you want to be?
67. References 67 • [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/linkedin-wants-to-end-pronunciation-gaffes- on-names-with-new-audio-feature-11594067349 • [2] https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/michael-hannan-startups-need- think-employees-get-go • [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=YyXRYgjQXX0&feature=emb_rel_end • [4] https://powderkeg.com/the-8-types-of-company-culture-youll-find-in-tech/
68. Beyond Code:
 Improving Culture Wherever You Go Seetha Annamraju @seetha_a