Freedom and Feedback
By: Jake Phillips
Tags: Digital, Corporate Culture, Sharing Is Caring, Framework, Engagement

Freedom and Feedback.

Is it really possible to achieve a culture of trust, empowerment and transparency in big business, or will red tape and prescriptive processes always prevail?

Recently I made my first foray into professional articles by sharing a little about why Waitrose & Partners Digital were late to the party and how we’d approached changing perceptions and culture around public comms. I briefly touched on the concept of “Freedom Within a Framework” as a catalyst for success. With that in mind, and in the spirit of transparency, it felt only right to shed some light on exactly what this is and how we’ve chosen to approach it.

Freedom Within a Framework has been a major success story for companies like Netflix, McDonalds, Alaska Airlines and Gucci. It’s all about building clear guidelines which enable empowerment. The concept can be applied to local marketing plans, customer service standards or, in the extreme case of Netflix, providing almost complete autonomy in decision making throughout the company.

“Over the years we learned that if we asked people to rely on logic and common sense instead of on formal policies, most of the time we would get better results, and at lower cost.” – Patty McCord, Chief Talent Officer, Netflix (1998 to 2012). Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2014 Edition

The aim is to provide absolute clarity to individuals on “the why” and then trust in their capabilities when it comes to interpreting “the how”. The theory is that with clear guidelines people are likely to do the right thing for their customers, their business and each other. This eliminates unnecessary overheads and delay without introducing huge risk. Allowing people time and space to breathe and think without huge restrictions or constraints should enable them to innovate in a “safe” way, generally producing better results.

Although there is no universally accepted structure, there is an ever-present focus on transparency and simplicity. Ranjay Gulati (Harvard Business School) suggests building a framework using three core elements; Purpose, Priorities and Principles.

Purpose and priorities set the context behind all decision making. They ensure everyone is clear on “the why”, so that when they are given scope they can make informed decisions and act in the best interest of their company. Principles help with the application of the context. They are intended to act as a helpful guide, validating an approach and supporting people in “the how”, rather than being overly prescriptive.

At Waitrose & Partners Digital, we’re part of the John Lewis Partnership, an employee owned business with over 80,000 co-owner employees (AKA Partners). We have a team of dedicated, talented and diverse people who all have the best interests of the company at heart. With this in mind, Freedom within a Framework felt like it could be the perfect fit for us.

One thing that is undisputed is that a framework needs owners. If we wanted this to land successfully, we needed to find a group of champions from across the department. They needed to be willing to define, launch and (most importantly of all) maintain our framework. Fortunately, the people I asked were all interested from the get go. We set off as a team of eight (2x Design, 2x Engineering, 2x Delivery and 2x Product) excited to enact change.