Zappos Insights

Signal Snowboards - Revolutionizing the Business One Board at a Time

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:00:26 GMT

02/16/2012

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting the Signal Snowboard team when they came for a tour of Zappos. I was truly amazed by their laid back but professional attitude. Signal Snowboards started up in 2004 over a bottle of wine and an idea to recreate the traditional snowboard company. Dave Lee and Marc Wierenga co-founded the company with the idea that it would be more about art and passion, rather than just cranking out boards to turn a profit.

Similar to the way that we give tours at the Zappos offices, Signal has come up with a creative way to connect with their fans and the public to give insight on what happens at their office. Back in June of 2010 Signal launched a web show called Every Third Thursday. The webesiodes showcase the team’s creativity when it comes to snowboard manufacturing. Try to picture American Chopper, but with snowboards. The crew comes up with collaborative ideas to incorporate their passion for snowboarding with their other life passions. Everything from the idea for the design, to testing the board on the snow is filmed to show people every part of the process. To give you an idea how gnarly some of the snowboards they have created are, take a look at this fully operational Duff McKagan signature Fender Bass Board:

The team took one of Duff’s bass guitars and blended it into a snowboard. The board is fully operational on the snow, as well as plugged into an amp. It is the only snowboard that can truly be shredded with your hands as well as your feet.

So why is creating awesome collaborative snowboards important to business? The answer is all about connecting people with the company. Signal could very well be successful just stamping out product line boards, but they have taken it a step further. They have created an environment where people want to know what they are doing because what they are doing is so cool. Signal has proven that they can reach huge audiences by creating something that was not only fun for them, but so engaging for the people that are watching that it keeps them coming back. When the team designed a tribute board for Steve Jobs dubbed the “iShred”, the Every Third Thursday episode received close to a quarter million views. That’s a pretty good R.O.I when you consider that the investment is the guys having fun, especially when they were going to do it anyway.

Signal has proven that social engagement can help your company grow, but there is another lesson that can be learned. That lesson is the importance of having a vision. There was a vision at the bottom of that bottle of wine, and they have been bringing that vision to life by doing things that they felt would not only make their employees happy to work for them, but create happiness for the people that follow what they are doing. Not bad for a couple of shredders with a crazy idea, and the motivation to do it.

To keep up with the latest and greatest from Signal, check them out on your favorite media channels:

Website - www.signalsnowboards.com

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/signalsnow

Twitter - http://twitter.com/SignalSnowboard

Finally, always know when a new episode of Every Third Thursday is up by subscribing to our YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/SignalSnowboard

Make The Most Out of Your 9-5

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:03:43 GMT

01/24/2012

As a manager, does a good day look like a lot of faces glued to glowing monitors? Do you run a high-performing team? Is that performance driven by the fear of a strict boss, or by a connected and motivated team that works together to get the job done? Is your team working as much and as wisely as they can?

I think it is safe to guess that the average office worker would say that they are pretty busy at work, and they stay busy all day long. Now, if you ask them to be honest, or took the time to actually track their days, you might find that the truth is shockingly different.

A Microsoft Survey from March 15, 2005 found that "Most people actually use 60% or less of available work time. When more than 38,000 people in 200 countries were queried about individual productivity, it showed that even though they were physically at work five days a week, they were only productively using three days.”

Another source (Steve Pavlina, of stevepavlina.com, who describes himself as a “personal development expert”) states that we actually work only about 1.5 hours a day. “The average full-time worker doesn’t even start doing real work until 11:00 a.m.,” he writes, “and begins to wind down around 3:30 p.m.” Steve keeps incremental logs of how he spends each working day, and strongly urges others to do the same

So why is ‘working’ time is so low when we are at the office for 8 full hours? Some might say it is because of slacking off, surfing the internet or other daily distractions. Others point to the change in the needs of the workforce. “A continuous 8 hour work day is a relic of the past. It makes sense for physical labor and manufacturing work, but with information workers it doesn’t account for the mental energy cycle. The ability of a factory worker to think analytically is irrelevant, he’s either cranking widgets or he isn’t.

In the case of the modern information worker, nearly all tasks involve creative or strategic thinking. The way someone answers an email or interprets a piece of information can differ drastically depending on his or her energy level. Nobody does their best work 5:30 in the afternoon after they’ve been sucking down coffee all day to stay awake.” (from - http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/why-the-9-to-5-office-worker-will-become-a-thing-of-the-past/)

The Article continues “You can’t force an information worker to be highly productive when the energy isn’t there. Workers can try their hardest, but the work just won’t have that creative edge. The low ratio of highly productive hours to total hours worked is the result of the continuous 8 hour work day.

When workers reach the low energy part of the cycle, they can’t recharge with a non-work activity. The only option is office purgatory. You can’t be highly productive because you’re mentally fatigued, but you can’t recharge because the 8 hour work day requires the appearance of constant productivity. The result is millions of unproductive workers trapped at their desks when they’d rather be doing something else.”

With a strong focus on working with leaner teams, the work environment may become more of a stressor and that will only lead to frustration and reduced productivity. Fun in the workplace, such as team building activities and allowing people to be ‘a little weird’ and express their own personalities are just a few ways that we work to fight against that frustration at the Zappos Family.

So how should a leader make sure his or her team is working harder and getting things done? Alexander Kjerulf (Chief Happiness Officer at Positivesharing.com) believes that ‘working harder’ means getting less done. “In an industrial environment, you can most often work harder and get more done. An increase in effort means an increase in productivity.

For knowledge workers, the opposite is true. You can’t force creativity, eloquence, good writing, clear thinking or fast learning – in fact, working harder tends to create the opposite effect and you achieve much less.

Three things you can do about this:

Take the pressure off yourself and your team. Even if you make a mistake or don’t make a deadline the world probably isn’t going to end. Less pressure means higher productivity.
Schedule a work load equivalent to only 80% of your work week. Trust me, you won’t be wasting your remaining 20% – but you will be more relaxed and more creative.
In the words of Fred Gratzon: “If it feels like work, you’re doing it wrong”. If you find that most of what you do is a struggle, this is a sure sign that you are not at your most creative and productive.”

As for the pressures of performing in today’s work environment, another study (Society for Human Resource Management, Spring 2009) shows that we are harder on ourselves about getting our work done after the business day has ended. Their study concluded that "70% of employees work beyond scheduled time and on weekends; more than half cited "self-imposed pressure" as the reason.

This information is very interesting to me, especially since the design of the new Zappos Family office/campus is taking a very ‘open work-space’ style. Zach Ware of the Zappos Downtown Team says “The City Hall workspace will be designed to inspire and accelerate collaboration and serendipitous interactions between employees. As a design challenge we consider the workspace to include primary workspaces, collaboration areas, the outdoors and the larger community. If we're successful we'll create an adaptable and collaborative workspace that allows employees to be mobile.” In my opinion the new space will allow us to adapt our use of the environment to match and/or enhance our creativity and productivity!

Unless you are a task-master who has mastered the art of time management, there seems to be a need to change how and when we work. Perhaps by finding our rhythm of productivity we can change our own lives for the better, and get more done while we’re at it!

Outside Team Building Strengthens Teams Within

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:35:18 GMT

11/29/2011

How team building outside of work strengthens the team inside of the office.

One of my favorite core values here at the Zappos Family is “Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit”. For me, this applies not only to how I interact with my coworkers while in the office, but also to the relationships that I have with them outside of it. I’ve had the good fortune to work on multiple teams so far in my Zappos Family career and I’ve learned that the strongest bonding takes place away from the four walls in which we work. Because of the strong bonds we make as a team, we are more productive and efficient.

Equally as important as productivity and efficiency is happiness! There are a few different frameworks for happiness, and within one of them is the concept of connectedness. Employees, for the most part, want to feel connected to one another in the workplace. When employees are connected it will amplify their own personal happiness, which has a direct reflection on the company’s overall goal of delivering wow through service. A teambuilding activity outside of work that has nothing to do with work is a way to bring people together and uncover likenesses that may have never been known before.

My favorite team building experience here at Zappos was a trip to a farm that was infested with worms!! Okay, I promise it’s not how it sounds; a group of seven of us joined Tony and a few others for a 2 day adventure that began at our Zappos Family headquarters in the Delivering Happiness bus and ended at the Sonoma Valley Worm Farm in Sonoma, California. If you’ve had a chance to read Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness, you’ll know he has a soft spot for worms! It was wonderful getting to spend quality time with my teammates on an overnight trip! We took off on a Friday evening and had a jam packed Saturday. We stopped and did some sightseeing around San Francisco, including taking a picture in front of the original Zappos office on 1000 Van Ness (see picture below). We then took a tour of the Worm Farm, sipped on wine made from worms (yes, actual worms!), attended an outdoor music festival, and crashed a birthday party!

Because we got to spend time with each other in a casual and open environment, we came back to the office as a team with more open communication. We were able to tackle goals and projects as a unit since we built such a strong bond with one another. Overall, coworkers noticed that there was a positive and happy spirit to our entire team. People in the work place have different personalities. Outside of the office teambuilding can create an appreciation for those differences among the team.

It’s important to remember that team building does not have to be extravagant or costly; the crucial part of the experience is to create a setting to break down barriers of communication and build relationships with one another. Here are some effective tips to consider when planning your future team building event:

Include everyone! Oftentimes team members are unable to attend team outings due to family obligations. A solution is to allow family members and guests to also attend such events.
Choose a location that allows for plenty of communication and socializing.
Add some form of recognition into the event and recognize team members for a job well done.
Create excitement in anticipation of your event! Have a countdown in the office to build enthusiasm.

How can you promote connectedness within your team? How do you encourage your team to embrace the different personalities on the team?

Company Culture + Exceptional Service = Magic

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:37:05 GMT

11/22/2011

Having a strong company culture is great, but the best culture in the world doesn't matter if you do not take care of your customers.

Last year during the holidays, I was responding to customer service emails, and Tony (Zappos.com CEO) was taking calls at the desk next to me. Being the twitter lover that Tony is, he tweeted that he would be on the phones that afternoon, and if you called in you might get him on the line. As I was typing away Tony’s phone rang and he answered, “Thank you for calling Zappos.com, my name is Tony, how can I help you?” The next thing I heard was Tony letting out a little giggle and saying “yeah it’s me”. Tony goes to turn up the volume on the phone and accidentally hits the release button hanging up on the lady that called in. Tony turns to me, and says “uh, I just hung up on this lady.” I laughed and said, “Well call her back, dude.” Tony calls her back and says “Hey, it’s me, Tony, sorry I just hung up on you….” They both had a good laugh and Tony proceeded helping her with whatever she needed help with. But not only will I never forget that day, but that customer will never forget the day that the CEO of Zappos.com hung up on her, and called back apologizing .

I talk to a lot of people in and out of the office about company culture, and the cause and effect of creating happiness in the workplace. I also have many conversations about customer service, and how creating story worthy experiences is how to get customers to not like, but love your company. It dawned on me the other day that I seldom have conversations on how it takes both culture and exceptional service to create something truly special.

Here at the Zappos Family we could have the best company culture in the world, but if our customer service sucked, nobody would care about our culture. On the flip side, if we had amazing customer service without the culture, the employees would not truly believe in the service they were providing.

When you are able to combine both culture and service that is when you have something really special. The Zappos Family team members understand this concept because no matter what internal company they work for, everyone considers themselves a customer service representative. A method that we use to keep that thought fresh in our minds is the Holiday Helper program. In the month of December every single employee is required to take customer service phone calls. This is also true of our executive team. Tony our CEO, Chris our CFO, and Fred our No Title, all take customer service phone calls. Not only does it keep the customer service alive in all of us, but it is a way for us to build a positive team and family spirit. This is just one example of how our service and culture complement each other.

For me as a team member, knowing that my CEO, who is in the media talking about our exceptional customer service, is one of the people that make it happen is huge.

Having a strong company culture that is focused on providing the best service in the world is a combination that is capable of anything.

Hagie Manufacturing: Community Catalyst Award 2011

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:53:19 GMT

11/16/2011

Hagie Manufacturing wins the Community Catalyst Award for 2011 after they made significant cultural changes within their organization after attending the Zappos Insights bootcamp. This goes to show change is possible and people will notice. Congratulations Hagie, we are so proud!

Hagie Manufacturing based in Clarion, IA has made tremendous strides in enhancing company culture. From popcorn machines to casual dress to an presidential innovation louge, nothing is too good for their employees. As a result of these small changes, not only are the employee happier but the community is grateful for their support.

Hagie now gives presentations to other companies talking about culture and safety culture and I hear they are rockin' the house.

Thank you Hagie for being an amazing example of innovation and community support.

Excerpt from an email from Clint Middleton, Culture Coach, Hagie Manufacturing

"I am proud to announce to everyone in the team that Hagie Manufacturing was awarded the “Community Catalyst Award.”

The award states: Making a Difference, awarded to Hagie Manufacturing for your loyal dedication and unwavering commitment. Thank you for your outstanding contributions toward our goals, and for making our organization stand above the rest. Community Catalyst Award – 2011

It is great to be given this knowing that to receive this award we had to be first nominated and then voted on by all the members of the PFG. (The business owners in Clarion)

We often talk about how we have changed so much recently, putting the focus on our Customers, the Employees, and staying Innovative. It is great to receive an award like this, from a community, letting us know we are appreciated for what we do for Clarion. We do a lot for Clarion because we are located here, but we also do a lot for many of the communities around here. Every place you live, we know you are making an impact. It may not be to the scale as what happens in Clarion, but because of You, because of what we do at Hagie, many communities are impacted.

Keep up the great work team, people are noticing."

To learn more about the changes Hagie has created in their organization, check out their Culture Lab feature.

Interview with Joseph Michelli author of The Zappos Experience

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:11:26 GMT

11/15/2011

Joseph Michelli sits down with Zappos Insights' Robert Richman to talk about his new book The Zappos Experience 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW.

At first glance, The Zappos Experience seems very similiar to Tony's book Delivering Happiness, but in this interview, Joseph explains that his book is written more through the eyes of the Zappos Family employees, where Tony's book is more of the history and how the Zappos Family got to where it is today.

Zappos Family Library List

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:25:26 GMT

11/02/2011

No more school, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks....well we kept some books. Take a look at some of the favorite titles made available to the Zappos Family free of charge.

Boost Productivity, Alignment, Happiness, and Your Bottom Line through Education

Business Strategy

· 4-Hour Work Week - Timothy Ferris

· Peak - Chip Conley

· Super Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt

· The Ultimate Question - Fred Reichheld

· Good to Great -Jim Collins

· Believe Me - Michael Margolis

· The Dip - Seth Godin

· Triumph of the City - Edward Glaeser

· The Zappos Experience - Joseph A Michelli

· Method Method - Eric Ryan & Adam Lowry

Employee Engagement & Leadership

· Drive - Daniel H. Pink

· Switch - Chip Heath & Dan Heath

· Fred Factor - Mark Sanborn

· The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

· Tribal Leadership - Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright

· No Asshole Rule -Robert I. Sutton

Happiness Studies

· Happier - Tal Ben-Shahar

· Happiness Hypothesis - Jonathan Haidt

· Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert

· Flourish - Martin Seligman

· Emotional Equations - Chip Conley

Marketing

· Crush It - Gary Vaynerchuck

· Made to Stick - Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Personal Development

· 212 Degrees - Sam Parker

· 3 Laws of Performance - Steve Zaffron, Dave Logan

· Fish - Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen, Ken Blanchard

· Comedy Writing Secrets - Mel Helitzer & Mark Shatz

· Get Off Your ‘But’ - Sean Stephenson

· Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

· What Got You Here Won’t Get You There - Marshall Goldsmith

· Who Moved My Cheese - Spencer Johnson

· You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader -Mark Sanborn

Breaking Down Walls.....Literally

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:55:28 GMT

10/04/2011

See how the Insights team has been Building a Positive Team and Family Spirit by redesigning our office space.

If any of you had made a visit to the Zappos Family offices and remember walking through the Zappos Insights area, then you remember a dark, dim room with a few rows of large desks, high walls, and team members spread out. It was a great environment to focus on your work, and complete tasks with very little distractions. The dim lights, lava lamp, and constant hum of the Miller Genuine Draft neon guitar sign glowing above my desk made it very Zen like. Many people would consider this a superb working environment, which it was, but at the Zappos Family, building relationships with fellow team members is a top priority.

Four teams make up Zappos Insights, Inc. Our office space was constructed in a way that made it difficult for all of us to work together as one. Even though each one of us has a different role, we are all working toward one common goal, that goal being, to share what we at the Zappos Family have learned about engaging employees and wowing customers.

So with our core values in mind, the Insights team decided to make a change. We were going to tear down the walls that were blocking us from interacting with each other. We created a floor plan with the intent to allow all of us to see each other, speak face to face, and of course shoot finger rockets at one another. There is a new community space in the middle of the room where a big wall once stood. This community space will be used for morning meetings, storage of awesome swag, and a place where if you need to get away from your desk, plop down in a bean bag and chill out.

Our new design has made it much easier for all of us to work, and communicate with each other. But it isn’t just communication alone that makes great relationships; it’s also how you treat people. Effective communication requires more than just email and phone calls; it requires interaction. Personal interaction along with openness and honesty make for the best relationships, and breaking down the walls gave us the opportunity to interact with each other more and grow as a team.

Is there anything in the setup of the organization that is creating a barrier for communication? What can you do to break it down, and interact more as a team?

Creative WOWing Experiences

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:23:44 GMT

06/11/2010

We had a member of Zappos Insights ask: Although it sometimes only takes something simple, what's the most outrageous,unconventional,or creative example of something a Zappos CLT member has done to WOW a customer?

For this question we shared personal stories and reached out the Zappos CLT Resource Desk Team (Rdesk). Rdesk handles the unusually unusual and over complicated customer situations.

From Amelia:

Longing for Umbrellas

That is a great question. And honestly, the stories are endless. Personally, when I worked for Zappos CLT, I once spent a couple hours trying to find 100 navy umbrellas for a person who was in Las Vegas for an event. Unfortunately, even on the rainiest of days here, there is just no need for that many umbrellas in Las Vegas and they don't exist in that quantity. Instead, I found several places that could do last minute tents.

Zappos CLT Understands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Also there are a few Zappos.com customers who are very particular about their items. There will be instructions on their account that asks for every item to be inspected for accuracy, but it cannot have been previously sent to any customers, and the fulfillment center staff is asked not to touch the shoes beyond opening the shoe box to look at them. This happens for every order the customer places.

Responses from Jim, Zappos CLT Resource Desk Lead and other Rdesk members:

That's a great question! We try to go above and beyond for our customers every day. Our biggest goal at Zappos CLT is to really connect with out customers in a way that most companies don't. We have hundreds of amazing and heartwarming stories, but there are a few ""outrageous"" situations that come to mind!

Making Up For Our Mistakes

One of the most outrageous stories that I can remember happened about 3 years ago. One of our international customers was in the US for a business trip and placed an order to be delivered while he was in the States. Unfortunately, his order was not delivered on the expected date. He was, understandably, upset and he really wanted his shoes. He decided to stay an extra day and wait for his package to arrive. He ended up missing his flight out and had to pay a fee to reschedule with the airline. Because his order wasn't delivered as promised, we paid for the difference in his airfare, the shoes that he ordered, and issued a very generous coupon towards a future purchase! I've heard about a customer that drove about 600 miles to our KY outlet store looking for something in particular. He had spoken to one of our representatives before heading out. When he arrived, the item he was looking for was nowhere to be found. As compensation, we gave him a dollars off coupon equivalent to the exact miles that he drove.

Sometimes Mistakes Are Good Deeds in Disguise

We had another customer (who was in the military) receive an Xbox at his APO address in error. As a thank you for his service, we allowed him to keep it, free of charge, and as a bonus, some reps got together and donated some old games to send out to him as well!

Here are some other stories from the Rdesk team:

The most unique story I heard was about the rep who hired a bike courier to pick up shoes at a boutique store and deliver them to a customer to replace the shoes they got from us. One rep was on a phone call with a customer. The customer was asking specific questions about a shoe that the rep had recently purchased and received that day. Rep asked the customer if she could place her on hold while she went to the car and got the shoes. Rep returned to the call wearing the shoes and gave the customer her personal opinion about the shoe. A representative had a customer who had a house fire and he was able to get clothes and games to her family so they would have something in the mean time. These are just a few of the things that go on here on a daily basis =)."

See The Zappos Family Culture In Action with 4th Quarter 2010's All Hands Meeting

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:57:47 GMT

10/20/2010

The Zappos Family closed down the offices and headed off site for this quarter's All Hand Meeting.

The Zappos Family closed down the offices and headed off site for this quarter's All Hand Meeting. Here are just a few of things addressed:

• Fred, Alfred, Chris, and Tony (FACT) answered questions from the Zappos Family on everything from 401K to how FACT would save the human race in an apocalyptic type of scenario.
• Vanessa, a senior trainer on the Pipeline team shared a video she created with "happy moments" from all the Zappos Family.
• Tony caught the team up with where he was at on his Delivering Happiness tour.
• We created origami boxes after Robert Lang, an origami artist, told us about the incredible consequences of origami that most of us had never considered before: like being able to fold up a massive telescope lens so it could make it into space safely.
• Finally, there was a wonderful goodbye toast and celebration for Alfred Lin Watch the culture in action in the video above and comment below with any questions you might have.