The American internet giant Amazon is not exactly known as a warm, caring company for its employees. The culture is competitive and unforgiving. Everything is dominated by stone cold numbers and hard settlements. And yet the corporate culture encourages people to treat each other candidly.
Openness and honesty are the norm. at Amazon. You should never hide behind others and political games are not allowed. People are meant to be bold with one another. That they address and contradict each other. That they report mistakes, and then do everything they can to learn from them. Knowledge is naturally shared with each other and new ideas are suggested without being asked. Frank conversations are the foundation on which the company's success is built.
Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is personally responsible for this. "Tell me even more candidly," it says on the nameplate of his study. Contrary to fellow directors, Bezos does not feel the need to surround himself with yes-men. He is looking for people with different opinions and alternative solutions. There is only one precondition: you must be able to substantiate everything you say factually, so do not make any claims because you believe or feel it.
"Tell me even more candidly," says the nameplate of Bezos' office
The following anecdote shows how this works in practice. During a meeting with his top management, Bezos proudly announces that the turnover of the site is skyrocketing according to the new data system. Marilyn, as manager responsible for controlling sales in the warehouse and invited to the meeting once, cannot believe her ears. The figures are at least two to three times too high. While those present enjoy the increase in sales, Marylin speaks unperturbed.
"Jeff, those numbers don't add up," she says.
"But they come straight from the database," Bezos replies.
"Yet they don't add up," Marylin insists.
Whether she can substantiate her position? Marylin pulls out some warehouse data lists from her bag and reads them aloud. For a moment it is very quiet in the conference room. Until everyone gets into thinking mode about what's going on. Ultimately, it turns out that the data system analyzed the content of the virtual shopping carts and not the actual purchases. That quite a few customers dumped more stuff in their shopping cart than they actually bought was something the programmers missed. By putting things on edge, Marylin made sure the error was quickly corrected.
It seems like the most natural thing in the world: you notice that something is wrong, bring it to light and then try to correct the error. You also do that in the presence of the highest boss. How hard can it be? Very difficult, according to research figures. in the United States, 85% of employees say they have difficulty expressing their own point of view and reporting errors unsolicited. Although that percentage is lower in the Netherlands, it is still 69%. The cause: there is no confidence to come out boldly. Even if that means that you can make a difference ...
How candid is the organizational culture in which you work? What is the percentage of people who dare to express their opinion openly?
How would your (highest) manager react if you say he / she is wrong? If you are the (highest) boss, how would you react if this happened to you?
Hans van der Loo & Joriene Beks
Authors "Psychological Safety, that's how you form bold teams"
