Tony Hsieh chronicles his tumultuous journey to becoming CEO of Zappos in his book “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.” Tony, a Taiwanese American, grew up in the Bay area of California where as a child he quickly showed a knack for business by organizing numerous financial opportunities around his neighborhood. Then Tony attended Harvard University, where he studied computer science and met his future business partner Alfred Lin.
Upon his graduation from Harvard, he moved back west and began LinkExchange in 1996, a tech start-up that was involved with internet advertisements. Two years later, he was able to sell LinkExchange to Microsoft for 265 million. Shortly after, in 1999 he started a venture capitalist group called Venture Frogs, where he was introduced to the company that would eventually become Zappos. Tony initially invested in Zappos with finances from Venture Frogs, but after the “dot com” bubble burst, he was left with a tough decision. Zappos, still in the building phase of their business, was not yet profitable and required another investment or it would be forced to shut down. Tony was originally just an investor and adviser to Zappos, but just two months after making his initial Venture Frogs investment, he became the CEO and invested nearly all of his personal finances into Zappos. Eventually his decision paid off once Zappos saw continued growth, becoming a company valued at 1.2 billion dollars in 2009.
What is very unique about Zappos is how Tony’s leadership style impacted the company culture. He fixated on creating a culture that united employees around bringing customers the best service possible. By concentrating on customer service, Tony was able to “WOW” his customers and build a loyal customer/fan base. Also, his decision to provide his employees with above average benefits, team building activities, and numerous training opportunities resulted in a company with highly engaged employees. Zappos’ unique idiosyncrasies, like their culture book, core values, and utter transparency, provide examples of why Zappos’ employees are so engaged.
But building a culture as supportive and cohesive as Zappos’ doesn’t require your organization to develop a culture book; each company is unique. However, there are five tips guaranteed to increase employee engagement based on the book “Delivering Happiness” and Zappos’ engaging culture:
1. Evaluate and Develop a set of Core Values
- Your employees will not understand what a company’s core values are unless they are explicitly stated, whether it’s in a mission statement, a list a values, or simply adherence to a slogan. To engage your employees, it is vital for them to understand what the company stands for.
2. Treat All People with Empathy
It is very important for any company to promote empathy among their employees so that the work place can be a supportive and unified entity. Showing those around you that you understand where they are coming from shows them that you care, which goes a long way when problem solving, promoting employee engagement, and in general building great relationships.
It is very important for any company to promote empathy among their employees so that the work place can be a supportive and unified entity. Showing those around you that you understand where they are coming from shows them that you care, which goes a long way when problem solving, promoting employee engagement, and in general building great relationships.3. Show Employees that You Care about their Personal Development
- It is very important for companies who want to promote employee engagement to show that they support personal development. This can be exemplified by training programs, company-wide health initiatives, or having an onsite library. Employees want to feel like they are taken care of and cared about, and they will return in kind.
4. Hire Selectively
- Zappos began hiring individuals who they not only felt could complete the work, but also individuals whose personalities fit in their company culture. To Zappos’ hiring managers, a match to their culture was even more important than hiring someone who was the most qualified for the job. They understood that if they selected individuals who were known to be very qualified short term, but long term would not fit the company culture, then that hire was a bad decision.
5. Get Feedback
- It has been said that “what gets measured gets improved.” This is certainly the case with employee engagement because if your organization doesn’t understand where it stands, then how can it begin to understand where it wants to go. Nowadays, many companies use employee surveys to get a quantitative measure on employee engagement. A hidden benefit to asking for feedback from employees and counter-parts is that feedback allows your organization to understand its deficits and strengths so it can improve upon them.
Resources such as HRO Partners can provide the best practice human resources solutions such as executive coaching, employee engagement surveys, and leadership training to meet all of your HR needs. Please don’t not hesitate to contact us at 901-737-0123 or by email at info@hro-partners.com.