3 Ways We Lead At Hootsuite

Listen to to any CEO speak on the topic of culture and they’ll likely say it’s what makes their company unique and successful: culture is an organization’s secret sauce.

Ask that CEO to describe their culture and how it was created, and things can start to get fuzzy.

While experts often cite culture as a critical element to an organization’s success, few people are adept at describing their organizational culture — and even fewer understand how to create and embed culture in a organization.

In theory, hiring people who share your values and beliefs should be enough to embed and maintain a culture. In practice, it’s not that simple. Never mind the fallibility of hiring, the practical application of culture itself is elusive.

One way to create and maintain culture in an organization is to ensure all employees understand and believe in the purpose of the organization. Where are we going and why does it matter?

Organizations use values, credos, rules, and principles to set their purpose, and to signal to people the destination and how to behave on the journey. At Hootsuite, one set of signals we use are the Hootsuite Leadership Principles. There are three principles:

Be a teacher and a learner.

• Never stop learning. Be curious.
• Share your learning. Reciprocity is important.
• Admit you don’t know it all. Lead with humility.

Be a producer of talent, not a consumer.

• Producers work in service to their team.
• Deliver results by helping others to stretch and grow and develop their capabilities.

Lead with challenge and support.

• Hold others accountable for delivering their very best work and challenge them to grow.
• Have high expectations and create a soft landing.
• Demonstrate you have each individual’s best interests at heart.
• Create an environment that allows everybody the opportunity to excel.

Our intention for these principles is to signal to leaders what deserves and requires their attention, and what matters in their role as leaders at Hootsuite.

Of course, as leaders we have different strengths and development areas, and our ability to navigate day-to-day challenges can affect how — and whether — we live these principles. But the Hootsuite Leadership Principles function like a lighthouse, beaming signals as a way of guiding our behaviour.

Each leader will have their own take on the principles but the core remains the same. As we get better at living the leadership principles, we create a consistent and compelling employee experience — and maybe even culture.