THE QWERTY CULTURE
"Any Company is a Mechanism, its Culture makes it an Organism."
- Hazel M. Founder & CEO
PEOPLE OVER PROCESS
The thing we most value is working with talented people in highly creative and productive ways. That’s why our core philosophy is people over process, and why we try to bring great people together as a dream team. Of course, any growing business requires some process and structure. But with our people-first approach, we can be more flexible, creative and successful in everything we do.
SEEKING EXCELLENCE TO DRIVE SUCCESS
We do not seek to preserve our culture—we seek to improve it.
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Every new employee helps to shape and evolve the culture so we find new ways to accomplish more together. We are learning faster than ever, because we have more dedicated people with more diverse perspectives working to excel as the dream team.
WHAT IS A DREAM TEAM?
We model ourselves on being a professional sports team, not a family. A family is about unconditional love. A dream team is about pushing yourself to be the best possible teammate, caring intensely about your team, and knowing that you may not be on the team forever.
Dream teams are about performance, not seniority or tenure. It is up to the manager to ensure that every player is amazing at their position, plays effectively with others and is given new opportunities to develop. That’s how we keep winning the championship (entertaining the world). Unlike a sports team, as TQI grows, the number of players also grows. We work to foster players from the development leagues so they can become the stars of tomorrow.
How Do They Work?
Add Value to The Team
The Keepers Test
To strengthen our dream team, our managers use a “keeper test” for each of their people: if a team member was leaving for a similar role at another company, would the manager try to keep them? Those who do not pass the keeper test (i.e. their manager would not fight to keep them) are given a generous severance package so we can find someone even better for that position—making an even better dream team.
Keep In Touch
Take risks but don't be surprised
Managers communicate frequently with each member of their team so surprises are rare. We also encourage employees to check in with their manager at any time by asking, “How hard would you work to change my mind if I were thinking of leaving?”
Dream team members take informed risks, which require courage and encouragement from leaders and peers. We have many successes and failures, which is how we learn and why everyone is evaluated on their whole record (versus simply mistakes or bets that didn’t pay off).
Loyalty is Rewarded
But that doesn't mean nepotism will be
Loyalty is great as a stabilizer. Employees with a strong track record at TQI get leeway if their performance takes a temporary dip, or if they are in a new role. Similarly, we want employees to stick with TQI through any short term dips the company may have. That said, we don’t believe in long-term allegiance to a stagnant company, or to an only-adequately-performing employee.
No Jerks Allowed
Being a Team player is more important than Skill
On our dream team, there are no brilliant jerks as they are detrimental to great teamwork. No House MD. We insist on decent human interactions, no matter how brilliant someone may be.
When highly capable people work together well, they inspire each other to be more creative, more productive and ultimately more successful as a team than they could be individually. Being on a dream team is the thrill of a professional lifetime, and team members are incredibly supportive of each other. This is why "You make time to help colleagues across TQI succeed" is a valued behavior.
Be Effective not Extra
Work Smart not loud
Succeeding on a dream team is about being effective, not just about working hard. Sustained “B” performance, despite an “A” for effort, gets a severance package with respect. Sustained “A” performance, even with a more modest level of effort, gets rewarded. Of course, to be great, most of us have to put in considerable effort. But we don’t measure someone’s contribution by the hours they work.
Not for Everyone
For those who value Excellence
Dream teams are not right for everyone. Some people prefer job security, and choose to work at companies that are more focused on stability and seniority, and less rigorous about performance management. Our model works best for people who value excellence and the opportunities it provides.
FREEDOM
&
RESPONSIBILITY
You Are In Charge
At some companies, people ignore trash on the floor, leaving it for someone else to pick up. We believe in leaning down to pick it up, just like we would at home. We try hard to be a company where everyone feels a sense of responsibility. Picking up the trash is a metaphor for taking care of problems, small and large, and never thinking “that’s someone else’s job.”
It Is Your Company
Our goal is to inspire people more than to manage them. We want our teams to do what is best for TQI. This, in turn, generates a sense of responsibility, accountability and self-discipline that drives us to do great work. Having a sense of ownership helps this behavior come naturally.
You Create Your Process
In some organizations, there is an unhealthy emphasis on process and not much freedom. These organizations didn’t start out that way. Specifically, many organizations had freedom and responsibility when they are small and everyone knew each other. As they grew, however, their business got more complex, and the level of passion and talent goes down.
Change is Inevitable
This kind of organization may be very specialized and well adapted to its business model. However, over 10 to 100 years, the business model inevitably has to change, and most of these companies are unable to adapt. To avoid this, we work hard to maintain employee excellence and keep our business as simple as possible given our growth ambitions.
We want to be a company of self-disciplined, accountable people who discover and fix issues without being told to do so.
VALUED BEHAVIORS
We believe a company’s actual values are shown by whom they hire, reward or let go. Below are the specific behaviors and skills we care about most. If these values describe you, and the people you want to work with, you’re likely to thrive at The QWERTY Ink.
CONTEXT NOT CONTROL
We also believe fewer management layers makes us more agile. Our "context not control" culture works best when leaders manage many direct reports, giving each employee sufficient autonomy to do the best work of their lives.
We believe TQI is most effective and innovative when employees across the company make and own decisions.
Taking Decisions
We strive to develop good decision-making muscles across our company. We pride ourselves on how few, not how many, decisions our senior managers make. That said, we don’t believe in hands-off management. Each leader's role is to coach, set context, give suggestions and feedback, and be highly informed about their team’s work. Rather than micro-managing small decisions, leaders can explore the details of different projects. This information can then be used to set better context for their teams, so more decisions are made well.
Staying Agile
As companies grow, they can become highly formal and inflexible.We avoid this by being highly aligned and loosely coupled. We spend lots of time debating and writing down strategy and context, and then trust each other to execute. The success of a highly aligned, loosely coupled work environment depends on talented individuals working well together, and setting effective context. Ultimately, the end goal is to grow the business for a bigger impact while increasing flexibility and agility. So we seek to stay fast and nimble, even as we grow.
Informed Captains
For every significant decision, we identify an informed captain of the ship who is an expert in their area. They are responsible for listening to other people’s views and then making a judgment call on the right way forward. We avoid decisions by committee, which would slow us down and diffuse responsibility. It is sometimes challenging and always important to agree up front who is the informed captain for a project.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
At TQI, positive and constructive feedback is part of everyday life—not only an annual event. Meaningful feedback can be hard to give or accept. But like any new habit, it gets easier with practice. So we help people learn to give and receive feedback through coaching and modeling the behaviors we want to see across the company.
It takes courage and selflessness to ask someone what you could be doing better, or to ask yourself what feedback you have yet to share with a colleague. Both rely on trust and positive intent, which is why we invest time in developing strong professional relationships.
We know this level of candor can be especially challenging for new hires, people in parts of the world or cultures where direct feedback is uncommon, and if there’s a power imbalance. But it is an important part of getting stronger, as individuals and as a company, because it’s what fuels our dream team.
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If our work culture appeals to you, get in touch with our HR Team today!