Earlier this year, we shared Seismic’s updated mission, vision, and values. At the time, we emphasized the importance of not just placing words on a wall, but also finding ways to integrate our culture into our daily work and one of the best ways we fostered culture was through Culture Labs.
Not long after we publicly announced our mission, vision, and values, team members around the world met online and in person to help shape and articulate our company’s culture. All in all, we hosted 16 in-person and virtual culture labs at seven different offices with 500 Seismic employees.
How we created Culture Labs
When we started the project, we realized that culture best manifests itself when it is passed along in stories. We thought about the history of storytelling and the experience of sitting around a fire to share lessons learned or incredible feats. Those feelings, emotions, and learning moments are what we sought to replicate among fellow team members.
We hosted our first culture lab earlier this year in May. At each of our sessions, we started by talking about our mission, “We ignite growth.” We had a leader tell a story about what igniting growth meant for them – whether it was related to their personal growth or how they’ve contributed to growing Seismic.
After our leaders shared their stories, we took a moment to ask our attendees what each of our company values means to them:
- We are inclusive
- We are vulnerable
- We seek to understand
- We strive for excellence
- We champion the customer
- We celebrate success
Then we divided into groups so that our participants could share their own stories. Each group was given questions to spur discussion around each value, what it means to them, and how they demonstrate that value to others. Groups then reported their highlights and stories, creating even more chances to hear and learn from peers. This resulted in a beautiful manifestation of our culture, lived out loud. And in doing so, we began to solidify our values and shape them through the employee experiences that make Seismic unique and special.
We also wanted these conversations to extend beyond Culture Labs. During our monthly all-hands meetings, we carved out time for one individual to share their own story about a Seismic value. I recall one story in particular, about vulnerability, that was incredibly impactful. The story shifted the tone of the meeting and throughout that day, in other meetings, our colleagues continued to discuss the story, as well as what being vulnerable meant to them and how it shows up in the workplace.
That was our goal – to create meaningful experiences that would encourage our employees to take the words in our values and make them their own.
Building an enduring culture of One Seismic
When we introduced culture labs, it was a way to empower our employees to take our values and connect them to their own experiences and play an active role in our journey. Rather than having culture be something that’s driven by a top-down approach, our people and their stories are a driving force to the culture we’re building at Seismic.
From a talent perspective, we wanted to find a way to operationalize culture – in how we make decisions and communicate with one another. This intentional effort really helps solidify our commitment to how we show up and work together internally and externally.
If you’d like to learn more about the Seismic culture, or if you’re interested in helping us innovate, you’re in luck! We’re hiring. If you’d like to see how you can ignite growth with us, check out our latest openings.
