Take some time with Chip Conley as he explores how to help your employees find purpose and calling in their daily work activities by going to zappified.com/chip or by directing your QR reader at the image given here:
As good as Zappos is at present, staff members and leaders will always tell you that they need to be better. Rebecca Henry Ratner, HR director at Zappos, captures the company’s constant sense of striving and restlessness when she says, “Zappos is a place where every day is a stretch. I never know what’s coming, but I know I’m going to like it. I’m constantly challenged and placed in situations where I have to live outside my comfort zone. In fact, outside my comfort zone is starting to become my comfort zone. Fortunately, Zappos understands that a key to retaining great people is to keep them challenged and learning, and that’s where our Pipeline team comes in.”
While I have titled this chapter “Zappos University,” there isn’t really a university at Zappos. Or is there? While technically the answer to my question would be no, functionally the answer would be yes. Zappos does not have a university per se, but its Pipeline team framework resembles a university more closely than it resembles a traditional corporate training department. Rather than Zapponians having to face mandatory, often boring, typically predictable, and marginally relevant seminar offerings, the Pipeline team has created a vast catalog of dynamic, interactive courses. This curriculum was developed at Zappos to address two overarching business questions: (1) What are the knowledge sets and behaviors needed to produce strong departments and leaders at Zappos? and (2) What should be offered to grow the culture and increase the happiness of Zapponians? In essence, the Zappos Pipeline serves to facilitate personal, team, leadership, and business growth. Given the breadth of objectives for the Zappos Pipeline program, let’s focus our examination of the program’s processes and offerings as they relate to essential knowledge, leadership development, and personal growth.
Over the years, organizations like the Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management have asked employers to rate the knowledge and applied skills of employees whom they have hired straight from high schools, trade schools, and colleges. The findings of these studies, which are often referred to as workforce readiness report cards, often conclude with statements like “significant ‘deficiencies’ exist among entrants at every educational level” or “workforce readiness is one of the key issues facing the country.”
While social debates rage about how to align formal education with the needs of business, the Zappos Pipeline offers its own solutions for short- and long-term objectives at Zappos. Rather than talking about the lack of workforce readiness of its new hires, Zappos has developed a curriculum that ensures workforce success for anyone who is a fit with the Zappos culture and therefore is willing to live the Zappos value of “pursuing growth and learning.” Since success is different in various departments at Zappos, the Pipeline team creates department-specific content to aid in career development. For example, Zapponians who interface extensively with vendors, such as merchandise buyers, will have classes on vendor relationships, whereas employees who work in the Zappos Fulfillment Centers will be provided with courses like “Warehouse Optimization.” In many ways, these curriculum paths can be viewed as departments within Zappos University. These departments have their own specialized curricula that build on core (general education) offerings provided by the Pipeline team. In fact, the ever-growing catalog of classes offered through Zappos Pipeline is divided into three categories: core, leadership, and elective. All employees who have completed their new hire training can attend core-level and elective classes. Leadership-level classes are provided to any Zapponian who has direct reports, or to those who do not have direct reports but have the approval of their supervisor.
Pipeline team members teach most Pipeline courses, with an occasional class being provided by a department’s subject-matter expert. For example, a member of the Zappos finance team typically teaches the “Introduction to Finance” class. Devlyn Torres, supervisor of the Zappos Pipeline team, notes, “Creating our own classes allows us to make them all extremely Zappos family–specific. It also allows us to infuse our core values into each and every class and make sure that the classes help solve real training issues.” The unique nature of the Zappos family–specific offerings can be seen in the small sample of class descriptions from the Nevada Pipeline core curriculum given here.
Reprinted with the permission of Zappos.com, Inc.
An examination of this representative sample of class offerings clearly depicts the multiple levels of core classes provided at Zappos, as well as the diversity of the curriculum. Whether it’s culture enrichment, basic business education, or increasing personal engagement, the Zappos core curriculum reflects content that has broad value to all Zapponians and that affords general skill development needed across all departments. Mark Sanborn, author of The Fred Factor, a book used in the Zappos Core Level 2 course “Fred Factor and FISH,” shares, “It is gratifying to see my work used by Zappos because it shows how an organization with a culture for growth can bring ideas from outside the organization and tailor them for the success of their business. The types of leadership principles I write about have application across time, location, and business setting. Zappos has taken those principles and made them their own to maximize effectiveness. Virtually any business would benefit from taking the same approach.” Mark’s comments illuminate the key to the ingenuity of Zappos training. Look for what people across your business need to learn. Scour the business and personal literature for the best books, articles, concepts, and technologies. Translate that cutting-edge material into engaging, interactive classes that are relevant to your work setting and to your company’s values. You will then enjoy a competitive advantage over companies that do not have that shared foundation of knowledge.
Beyond core classes, the Zappos Pipeline team works with various units, such as merchandising or the Customer Loyalty Team (CLT), to develop department-specific formal training curriculums. Loren Becker, Zappos Pipeline supervisor, suggests, “The success of Pipeline training is the partnership with department leaders to identify the knowledge and behaviors those leaders see as essential in their areas. It is a bit of an odd exercise, but those leaders essentially have to imagine what would happen if all their department leaders were to disappear immediately. Would their department be able to function seamlessly? If not, what are the knowledge sets and behaviors they should be developing, and in what sequence?” Loren notes that the Pipeline team assists department leaders to develop the coursework that helps Zapponians systematically reach the next level in their respective departments. He also emphasizes that completion of coursework alone is not a sufficient basis for advancement at Zappos. As a result, managers work with staff members to create individualized progression plans. Those plans factor in the completion of the formal training and add such things as behaviors and activities that need to be in place for an employee to warrant a promotion.
For those who wish to advance at Zappos, progression plans typically involve a minimum amount of time in a department, completion of required Pipeline classes (both core and department-specific), and a variety of other training, culture, and community elements.
To get a sense of the breadth of department-specific classes that have been and are being built into progression plans, let’s look at the merchandising Pipeline. From the position of merchandising assistant, an entry-level job classification, to that of Zappos buyer, an advanced role in merchandising, there are more than 40 department-specific training classes, such as retail math, assortment planning, and forecasting. Progression plans for merchandising assistants also weave in 20 additional non-department-specific Pipeline offerings to assist staff members in their move toward buyer status. Each promotion along a merchandising employee’s journey at Zappos is contingent not only upon taking defined Pipeline classes, but also upon demonstrating mastery of that knowledge in the performance of that person’s job. Additionally, Zapponians must complete all other aspects of their specific progression plan, such as shadowing other employees, reading additional materials, contributing to the Zappos culture, and performing appropriate volunteer functions. To progress within the company, Zapponians are expected to be actively involved in projects dedicated to strengthening Zappos culture, such as departmentwide or Zappos-wide team-building events. They are also expected to participate in corporate social responsibility projects, such as the Zappos Holiday Gift Drive or LIVESTRONG Day. Alesha Giles, Zappos buyer—Children’s Footwear, says, “Pipeline has helped us clearly define what skills, activities, and behaviors we need to see to know when a person is ready for a new level of job responsibility. It also serves as a road map for talent and leadership development.”
While many organizations talk about developing talent, Zappos has built an ever-improving training platform to transfer corporate knowledge and incrementally enhance career-specific growth. In many ways, Zappos is doing what the former chairman and CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, talked about when he suggested, “An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.”
Legendary NFL football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Contrary to the opinion of many, leaders are not born; they are made. And they are made by hard effort.” At Zappos, leadership development is taken seriously, and the Pipeline team offers opportunities for leaders to do the hard work needed to bring the best out in their people. Before we look at an example of the activity-based work (okay, they also have fun in the classes) of leadership-level training at Zappos, it is helpful to see a sample of class descriptions. The following list reflects the leadership offerings and the levels of classes provided to staff members with supervisory responsibilities at Zappos.
These examples of the Zappos leadership curriculum demonstrate the active involvement of senior leaders such as Tony Hsieh and Fred Mossler. Both of these leaders personally participate in classes such as manager orientation. The course descriptions also strike a balance between education in “soft skills” (such as interpersonal factors and leadership effectiveness) and in “hard skills” (such as financial planning and performance tracking). More important, the descriptions reflect the interactive and experiential nature of the training environment. To get a better feel for how leadership courses are conducted, imagine that you are attending the Zappos leadership class on the book Peak, by Chip Conley. While the book itself focuses on transformation pyramids for employees, customers, and investors, you will be exploring only the employee pyramid and the three levels of that pyramid, namely, money, recognition, and meaning.
Reprinted with the permission of Zappos.com, Inc.
As Chip Conley notes in Peak, “Companies often misjudge the true motivations of their employees, imagining that compensation is their primary aspiration. … Money (or, more broadly the full compensation package) is a base need but also a base motivation for most employees.” Chip talks about the middle level of the pyramid as building loyalty and inspiration through recognition of the talents, goals, and dreams of employees and culminates with a discussion of the highest level of the pyramid. “At the top of the pyramid is a concept that few employers talk about or even think about because it is less tangible than the subject of money. Finding meaning in one’s work—both in what you do daily and in the company’s sense of mission—creates a more inspired employee.”
Take some time with Chip Conley as he explores how to help your employees find purpose and calling in their daily work activities by going to zappified.com/chip or by directing your QR reader at the image given here:
Beyond reading Peak, a Zappos Pipeline trainer would provide you with worksheets and facilitate discussions between you and other managers from different areas of the company. These discussions would allow you and your colleagues to share your challenges, victories, and best practices for helping all staff members experience peak levels of workplace meaning. You would be afforded insights into the role you play in understanding the talents and goals of your staff, and you would look at how to create a line of sight from your staff members’ job functions to your company’s overarching purpose and mission. Essentially, you would be doing a lot more than reading a book: you would be actively discussing and developing ways to take the book’s knowledge and translate it into immediate leadership action. Leadership training at Zappos requires attendees to work on awareness, strategy, and skills. It does so in a way that results in improved departmental leadership, opportunities for playful connections with peers, and growth on both personal and professional levels.
So far, in our exploration of the principle “S T R E T C H,” we have examined the concept of “Zappos University” as it relates to core curriculum, job-specific skills, and leadership development, but what does Zappos do to help individuals with their personal growth? To answer that question, we will first look at a sample of the Pipeline team’s electives; then we will examine how that elective training is linked to both personal and organizational outcomes. Finally, we will examine how Zappos incorporates coaching into personal goal setting.
The list on page 187 furnishes a glimpse of the elective class descriptions geared at professional and personal skills acquisition. In addition to the classes listed, Zappos Pipeline electives include advanced writing skills, multiple classes on creating engaging PowerPoint presentations, time and stress management courses, classes on using spreadsheet software, refresher courses on the CLT orientation training, and much more.
The elective course descriptions exemplify the intersection of personal and professional development resources and offer insights into how to design a curriculum that is a win for the participant and a win for your company. A business writing class produces an important skill for attendees, well beyond the derivable benefits for Zappos. The “WOWing Through Tours” elective provides the requisite knowledge and skills to those staff members who are interested in being scheduled to provide visitor tours. While this tour training is elective, in order to actually be “tour certified,” participants must also take a course from the core offerings menu, “Zappos Family History,” and pass a certification evaluation. Growth and development occur both in the training necessary to become tour certified and in the experiences that later occur when the person actually conducts those tours.
An offering like “Using Your Superpowers” is provided both as a general class for individuals and as a workshop for existing teams. In both cases, the class is based on the book and technologies outlined in Tom Rath’s StrengthsFinder 2.0. Upon arriving in class, participants are given the StrengthsFinder book with a code for scoring an online assessment. After completing the Strengths-Finder tool, attendees score their results to find their top 5 attributes (out of a possible list of 34). Activities vary somewhat depending upon whether the class is being provided as a workshop for a Zappos team or as a general class for Zapponians from across the company. However, in all cases, interactive learning includes placing individuals in groups and asking them to assess their collective talents to determine what type of business their group would be best equipped to run. The class describes the benefits of knowing and working from a strengths-based team perspective. Participants are asked to reflect upon how many of their strengths are being used at work each day and how they can communicate those personality attributes to their teammates in a way that will allow their teams to play more to them. The culmination of the class is the development of an action plan centered on a specific strength of each participant. In essence, what action will each participant undertake the day after training (both at and away from work) to share that key talent or use it more effectively?
Reprinted with the permission of Zappos.com, Inc.
The scope, scale, and exact array of electives offered at Zappos might not work in your company, just as the values at Zappos would not fit in every business setting. What is significant about the Zappos elective offerings is how each course serves both a personal and a business development outcome. If you help your staff members better understand their strengths through the use of a superpowers-type course, you are helping them be better members of their communities, families, and work teams. When you help someone write better e-mails, that training benefits both your business and the individual. As training helps people become more effective in all areas of their lives, employees feel more loyal to the leaders who helped them grow.
In 2007, Matthew Kelly released a book titled The Dream Manager. In it, he told the story of a fictional company that was struggling to combat low morale and high turnover. When traditional approaches like employee rewards and recognition programs failed, the company shifted to a “dream manager” strategy. As dream managers, the company’s leaders explored the personal dreams and aspirations of their employees and helped their people realize those personal dreams. The book draws the conclusion that the realization of personal dreams is a greater motivator for people than salary. Now jump with me, if you will, from Matthew Kelly’s fictional company to the very real, albeit offbeat, Zappos.
Long before Matthew’s book was published, Zappos had its own official dream manager, known at Zappos as “the coach.” The coach helped position professional and personal goal setting as part of the mindset of managers throughout the organization. The original coach, Dr. David Vik, was introduced to Tony Hsieh by Zappos founder Nick Swinmurn. During his years at Zappos, Dr. Vik provided an “Introduction to Coaching Workshop,” then provided optional one-on-one coaching for staff members; those coaching sessions focused on personal growth and development. Dr. Vik had a large “throne” placed in his office, and, in his words, “People would come in and sit in the throne and let me know their ‘deal’—where they were born, information about their family, what happened after high school, and so on. After I got to know them and we created a relationship, members of the Zappos family would declare a 30-day goal for making their lives or the lives of those around them better. It didn’t matter if the goal was related to business or personal; most were personal. I have talked with some companies that started goal setting but made it about the company, and it didn’t work because if the personal life of the employee isn’t right, the company goal doesn’t stand a chance.” Dr. Vik’s throne room was declared “Switzerland,” and all conversations were confidential.
Dr. Vik added, “Once a goal was set, I would follow up after 30 days, and there would be a celebration among the person’s peers, where a ‘Certificate of Achievement’ was presented to the staff member for taking life to the ‘Next Level.’” When asked how a company could justify paying a “coach,” Dr. Vik shared, “Times have changed. In the Industrial Age, the machines were the biggest asset of a company. But in the Information Age, it is the employees. Making sure your employees are doing well and growing in their personal lives creates individual leaders and folks with the right mindset for winning. Those people take that empowerment to their work, and they take the company up with them because it’s just how they roll.”
Dr. Vik left Zappos in 2010 to “roll” out his dream consulting business, the Culture King. But Zappos continues to invest in a designated coach. Augusta Scott, Zappos coach, suggests, “We are maintaining our commitment to helping our people live the best lives possible at and away from work. When I work with people, I am trying to get at what they are trying to accomplish, what they really want, why they want it, and what they are willing to do to accomplish their goals.” At Zappos, leadership understands that when people reach for and achieve goals, they feel the power of personal mastery. Psychologist Albert Bandura refers to this mastery as “self-efficacy.” From Dr. Bandura’s perspective, efficacy is a fundamental component of self-esteem and forms the basis on which people organize and act in all new situations. By helping people find the power to realize their dreams and ambitions, you essentially help them approach future work challenges with an attitude of confidence and optimism.
While I was touring Zappos early in my research process, Jon Wolske, the lead culture guide at Zappos, shared a personal story of the significance of coaching and goal attainment: “I am a musician, but I was blocked as a songwriter. I did a coaching session with Dr. Vik and decided to set a 30-day goal to write just one song. Once that song was written, the next song came, and the next, and before you know it I had enough new original music to produce a CD, which I completed. I am so grateful for Zappos coaching and for a company that genuinely invests in my growth. I am happy with my songwriting progress, and I bring that happiness with me on this tour today and every day. I guess that’s why I needed to tell you.” Zappos essentially has blurred the line between personal and work goals. If a person is growing, Zappos sees that growth as being beneficial to the entirety of the individual’s life. Where some companies discuss work/life balance, Zappos talks about work/life integration. Personal development classes and coaching support the fundamental human truth that if your people aren’t happy and growing, your business will not maintain its success and growth. How firmly have you drawn the line between the personal and business lives of your people?
When you combine the Zappos values of pursuing growth and learning and of embracing and driving change, you have a synergy of forces, with individuals being expected to grow personally and to help Zappos change and grow in the process. Excellence and change acceptance are not enough. Individuals must grow, learn, and drive themselves and the business. Rob Siefker, director of the Customer Loyalty Team, notes, “At Zappos, each day, I have to ask myself, what did I do today to make myself better? And what did I do to improve Zappos? But beyond those questions, I also have to accept responsibility for helping my teammates grow and seek learning. Tony says service should not be limited to a single department, and neither should training or growth.”
An example of this commitment to facilitating the growth and learning of peers came when an employee approached Tony Hsieh and asked if Zappos had a book club. Tony said no, and shortly thereafter that employee started one. As a result of the Zappos emphasis on learning, the Zappos Book Club is the company’s oldest informal group. The club, which is one of the largest clubs at Zappos, has representatives from every Zappos department. Each month the club dives into a new book, alternating between those that are in the Zappos library and fictional works. Like all things Zappos, the book club has a strong social component and mixes learning with fun.
A book club is certainly not unique to Zappos, but its popularity and the broad companywide participation in it are consistent with the priority that the culture places on growth and learning. John Yokoyama, owner of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market and coauthor of my book When Fish Fly, says, “Tell me the results that are showing up in your life, and I will tell you who you are being.” Extrapolating Johnny’s wisdom in the context of Zappos, when something emerges from the grassroots of a business and generates a dynamic community of lifelong learners (like the Zappos Book Club), it tells you that the company “is being” Zappos University and producing people who stretch.
How much are stretch, growth, and learning showing up in your business? What does that tell you about who you are being as a leader?
Chapter 8 Ideas to Run With
Great leaders are discontented, knowledge seeking, and unwilling to fall in love with the way things are or the way things have always been.
Rather than focusing on problems with workforce readiness, create solutions to achieve workforce success.
Evaluate the breadth of your training curriculum in the areas of knowledge, leadership training, and personal and professional development.
No matter how large or small a business is, its leaders must determine what it takes to ensure the business would run smoothly if its top leadership were depleted.
Progression planning involves an understanding of the skills, knowledge, activities, and behaviors needed to move forward in an organization.
Training can be as simple as defining the knowledge needed in your organization, finding and modifying existing resources, and engaging in discussions and action plans based on those resources.
People are less motivated by compensation and more motivated by recognition, a genuine interest in their aspirations, and meaningful work.
Think work/life integration, not work/life balance.
Goal setting and goal accomplishment lead to a sense of self-efficacy that translates into personal and professional benefits.
Great leaders help their people stretch and make a longrange commitment to growth and learning.