STS Leadership Team Tours Zappos Culture

07 Aug STS Leadership Team Tours Zappos Culture

You may have heard of the popular online shoe and clothing shop, Zappos, but on June 7, 2015, Sr. Leadership was able to experience Zappos behind the scenes.

Zappos is headquartered in the former Las Vegas City Hall on an approximate six-acre campus.  The plaza is surrounded by walkways from which Zappos had walls removed and replaced with minimalist fencing to create a more open feeling.  In the 10-story tower, that makes up the majority of the workspace,  nearly every non-load bearing wall was removed to let more natural light into previously enclosed spaces. Ceilings and walls were removed.  Instead of using large offices, particularly for the executives who were isolated from the front lines, all employees sit in common work areas visible not only to everyday Zappos workers but people on public tours.  Each of the ten floors have “bubble spaces” located in the row of windows that bulge out, and have been customized by people who work there (the 4^th floor theme is the “1980s” complete with Connect 4, Simon Says and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots amongst other nostalgic memorabilia).  These bubble spaces also offer a variety of healthy snacks and drinks.  The 4^th floor bubble room is stocked with juices and granola however, if you’re in the mood for coffee or ice cream, for example, one would have to travel to that designed floor.   The idea is to make the building as conducive as possible to what Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh calls serendipitous collisions, which are unplanned interactions he considers key to a vibrant corporate culture.   The concept of Connecting Employees Through Inconvenience  endorses the theory that creativity and energy come from these unplanned collaborations, and while some companies design offices to be hyper-efficient, the design team for Zappos has actually made their new office intentionally inconvenient, motivating their employees to move around and cross-pollinate with staff they might not otherwise interact with.

The STS Leadership team was introduced to the radical shift Zappos is currently making;  a transition from the legacy management structure to a new form of management— based off of the idea of self- organization and self-management.  The format, known as Holacracy,  is described as a comprehensive practice for structuring, governing, and running the organization.  It replaces the top-down paradigm with a new way of achieving high performance by distributing power with a focus on autonomy and peer-to-peer management

Zappos has been revolutionary in the way they do business; that’s evident in the rapid growth they’ve continuously experienced since it was founded in 1999.   The emphasis, as the company grows and continues to hire new people, is ensuring that they understand and become part of the culture.   So what is the Zappos culture?  As described by CEO Tony Hsieh, the culture embodies many different elements.   It’s about always looking for new ways to WOW everyone you come in contact with.   It’s about building relationships where we treat each other like family.   It’s about teamwork and having fun and not taking yourself too seriously.   It’s about growth, both personal and professional.  It’s about achieving the impossible with fewer resources.   It’s about openness, taking risks and not being afraid to make mistakes.  Most of all, it’s about having faith that if we do the right thing, then in the long run we will succeed and build something great.

For us, like Zappos, our Shared Values are not just posters on the wall.   Successful collaborations and the growth of the company, is built upon our shared values of respect, integrity, commitment to excellence and our commitment to exceptional customer service; a focus on customer service that is both external and internal. 

Written by:

Business Services Manager, Pam Heeps