Contribution Culture in a Drupal Shop: The Business Of Giving Back is a presentation that was given by Brett Burns & Gabrielle Garon at the 2013 Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit in Vancouver on Oct 6th, 2103.
This session covered building, defining and systemizing a contributing culture in an open source firm.
9. Define
“A culture is the values and practices shared by the members of
the group. Company culture, therefore, is the shared value and
practices of the company’s employees.”
15. Systemize
Building a Contributing Culture
Through programs and systems, create vehicles that mobilize your
mission to contribute
1.Accountability
2.Support
3.Incentivize
17. Systemize
Support
Have the right support systems in place that will enable and empower
team members to contribute.
Mentorship
Encouragement
Financial Support
25. Systemize
Why create a system?
1.If I know that there’s a system in place – what am “I”
going to do?
2.If you set up the system and the team member doesn’t
act accordingly… then maybe they’re not the right fit with
your culture.
26. Systemize
Why create a system?
Without a system in place, there is no vehicle
to help mobilize your contribution culture.
28. Systemize
How do I contribute?
1.Camps
2.Summits
3.DrupalCon
4.Drupal Association
5.Development
6.Themes
7.Distributions
8.Meetups
9.Local Drupal Users Groups
10.Presentations
Who I am, What I do at ImageX – full suite HR from recruitment to employee training & development and more! I got into HR because I really love helping others; very interested in motivation and behaviour and how that all impacts business.
Who: Marketing Coordinator @ ImageX, Drupal Ambassador, Co-Chair, and more! What: What I do @ ImageX Why: Why I do it , personal anecdote
Who I am, What I do at ImageX – full suite HR from recruitment to employee training & development and more! I got into HR because I really love helping others; very interested in motivation and behaviour and how that all impacts business.
Who’s in our audience by show of hands: supervisors, project managers, owners, developers? - Today we’re going to talk about keeping the ‘Open Source Spirit’ alive as your Drupal Shop grows and finding ways to make contributing part of your company culture - The idea that contribution can go beyond modules and code - Why ? As a Drupal firm experiences growth they welcome more and more non-developer employees, so we want to show you today how you can engage these groups with the ‘Open Source’ state of mind - We’re gonna show you how to define your culture, systemize it, and finally celebrate. - We’d like this to be an interactive session! Participate , engage , let’s collaborate and open source some of our ideas and systems together
- Break the ice and break out the buzzwords - We wanted to start off with buzzwords to illustrate the reality that culture is a buzzword, too! - Especially in high tech startups , culture as a buzzword is on overkill
So if culture is the shared practices and values , would we all agree that this is at the root and core of our team? This is “ who ” we are and “ what ” we ’ re made of?
Common metaphor for culture is an iceberg -- I like this metaphor because it so closely illustrates how it’s the values and beliefs at our core ( hidden ) and the culture and shared practices that we see and hear
We’re talking about ideals here and theory and for the most part, this isn’t what’s happening in organizations. So what is happening? Here’s one take: TPS reports:
* Engagement is a total HR buzz word right now but for good cause . *Studies tell us that 71% of our employees are disengaged which results in turnover; turnover costs us 11 billion annually. * Engagement is having your team understand what their role is in the BIG picture, why they do what they do, and most importantly, caring about it. * Bringing it back to the Drupal world , you can engage your team by articulating why what they do matters to the BIG picture and also empowering them to be a part of it * Thats where contribution comes in. When we’re doing things that matter and make us feel good, we’re engaged - plugged in - and we’re empowered, we feel energized * This is an intrinsic motivator tool. Intrinsic being the stuff that lights us up and motivates us thats NOT cash, not a shiny new car. Intrinsic LASTS * Equals retention!
Now that we know now that culture is the practices that show up based on our beliefs and values and , we know that it matters. Next step is to define culture for our own teams and our own businesses. “ Dream It ” -- start at values and vision - start with defining and deciding what kind of culture you want . What do we want our customers, employees, or competitors to say? At DrupalCon this past May we had countless people tell us how “ nice ” we are. “ Build It” -- If we want to mobilize our dream , we need to create the systems and programs to get our people there . Brett’s going to talk about this “ Live it ” * Sounds easy? Most founders live and breathe the vision but it stops there - why? * Trickle down effect . Works both ways with a poisonous culture * Words on a wall aren’t enough ! See it, hear it, be able to recognize it
CONTENT 1 – A sample for the content page
- create objectives: Outline objectives and goals for your team members that will act as a their contributing guide. For example - present at 3 different conferences, contribute 5 blogs and publish to Drupal.org, contribute weekly to key groups on Drupal.org, host 1 webinar - dev days: Hold your development and design teams accountable by scheduling 1 day a month dedicated to contributing back. - reporting: In your daily or weekly reports, make sure you Analytics highlights: New sales leads uncovered: Community contributions: Blog/articles/webinars/presentation planned: Personal learning accomplished:
Mentorship: having the right mentorship in place is really important. Whether you’re a manager or not, be a mentor to others, and seek out a mentor. - How many people here are a mentor or have been a mentee? Encouragement: Make sure the benefits of contribution are known and encourage others and your team to contribute, take them out to events just like this and let them get a sense for the community. And show them different ways they can get involved. Financial Support:
Give your team the opportunity to attend various events and provide them with an annual education budget. For example, at ImageX I’m given $1500 that goes towards my education. Normally team members will use this money to go to DrupalCon or BADCamp. If you’re a manager, give your team members who speak at various conferences an additional allowance for expenses. Offer incentives for your team members who value your culture and find new talent for you. You want to build a team of contribution oriented people so it’s nice to be able to give back to your team for helping you fulfill that mission.
When you contribute, you’re not just helping others. But you’re opening it up for everyone else to help you as well.
One of the best ways to learn something is to just dive right in. Especially with Drupal, one the best ways to learn is to teach someone else, so get involved and try to jump in on a project or help someone else learn. The more and more you get involved and contribute, as an individual and as a business the greater the influence you have in that space.
Your contributions are public. Your peers, clients, potential clients and employees are all listening and learning and are able to admire the skill and thought leadership that you’re contributing.
Developers, designers, site administrators, writers, students, project managers, business owners -- the Drupal community is filled with talented and enthusiastic people, most of whom enjoy working with others like themselves. Contributing is a great way to show your skill level
CONTENT 1 – A sample for the content page
1. Ask the audience 2. Setting up the system can also work to your benefit in building a better team.
CONTENT 1 – A sample for the content page
As a company or organization or an individual you can get involved in many different ways. The ways each different department can contribute also: Individuals: Presentations HR Conferences Specific industry meetups – Marketing meetups and design meetups Our DoPM Geoff sits on a panel of industry vets speaking to the graduating PM Classes of UBC/sauder school of business Gabrielle – guest blogs for networkinginvan.com and the BCHRMA Businesses: Sponsorships Contributions Distributions Association support Dries Day
So, we now we know what culture is, why it matters , and what you should do about it. But how do you keep it alive through trying times, through periods of growth?
Celebrate the little things - Be lavish with your praise and recognize that everything matters , especially in periods of growth and everytime you see something great, se e it, say it
Special nuance methods of celebration matter more - Do something different, tie in your methods of celebration to your culture. Does it make sense? - Create rituals. Things that happen every time, that people can expect every time. Consistency is key.
- What someone does matters but thats not everlasting . HOW they did it can transfer to future challenges, scenarios, and more. - If we high five people on those behaviours - the practiced demonstration of our culture - they’re most likely gonna keep doing it
- Also, make a big deal of contributions - Promoting individual successes our websites and social media - Dual Branding
