Culture is so important to the brand of Comfort Research & Big Joe we wrote a manifesto. Literally. You can order a bound book copy for free.
Why?
The story of the Comfort Research Manifesto goes back a few years. The leadership had done a strategic planning exercise that helped us identify our culture as an important key ingredient to the company’s success. We even wrote a Mission Statement.
We dusted off our hands and put the Mission Statement on a shelf, thinking we were done with our corporate strategy. In a way we were – ultimately the Mission Statement was so complicated it was impractical to use on a daily basis. Moreover, it was missing the most important voice in the organization: our team. So we started over.
This time we began our strategy by consulting the experts on the Comfort Research culture: our employees. They live it every day and know it better than anyone. We asked for their values, ideas, stories and even photos – all of which were used to show our Recipe for Success and create the manifesto.
They embodied our culture in a way outside consultants never could because they live it every day. They have PhD’s in the Comfort Creed (Sit like no one’s watchin’. Relax like you’ve never been hurt. Snore like there’s no one listnin’. Lounge like there’s no tomorrow.)
The Comfort Manifesto doesn’t define the culture – it reflects the culture. The quotes, bios, philosophies, photos, and stories it holds make it a keepsake that can be used to remind us of our best selves. They help us remember our inspiration and to help teach that inspiration to others.
We’re so proud of the Comfort Manifesto that we hand them out to our customers, business partners and vendors. Our culture is so important to us that we want everyone we interact with to know about it so that they know where we’re coming from and so we can free them to embrace it when they work with us.
Making your team the keepers of your culture has numerous benefits. One of the most significant is that it removes the problem of passing culture throughout the organization. It’s already there because it came FROM the organization. There are fancy terms for this process, but we just think it’s common sense: trusting your team means trusting your team with your culture.
Is your organization’s culture manifesto-worthy? Doesn’t your team deserve one that is?
Comments