Creating a Culture of Empowerment: How the open-source philosophy can be applied to management and organizational culture. Drawing on more than 15 years of leadership at Four Kitchens and other creative organizations, Todd Nienkerk will explain why empowerment is the foundation of all successful teams and demonstrate how the open-source philosophy as modeled by the Drupal community can be applied to organizational culture. What is empowerment? Why does it matter? How can an organization create a culture of empowerment? The guiding principles of empowerment: * Build a company you would want to work for. * Give people control over their destiny. * Make trust the center of your culture. How to cultivate empowerment: * Personal brands. You shouldn't be afraid that people will leave. If you’re afraid people will become "too good," then you’re not offering something they want — and you know it. * Go virtual. Allow your team the flexibility to work from home — or anywhere in the world. * Adopt agile methodologies. Allow teams to self-organize around projects and problems. * And much, much more... (This session was delivered at Twin Cities DrupalCamp on June 26, 2015.)

1. Twin Cities DrupalCamp | June 26, 2015
Creating a Culture of
Empowerment
How the open-source philosophy can be applied to
management and organizational culture

2. Todd Ross Nienkerk
Digital Strategist and Partner
Four Kitchens
@toddross
todd@fourkitchens.com

3. Before we get started

4. I want to help people run
better companies by making
teams and leaders happier.

5. Two snacks per day

6. What is culture?
1 32 4 5

7. Source: Dictionary.com
Culture is “the behaviors
and beliefs characteristic
of a social, ethnic, or age
group”

8. Culture affects how you
think and feel about a
group

9. What is the culture of the
United States?
EXPERIMENT

22. How did those images
make you feel?
EXPERIMENT

23. Culture has many layers

24. Human
Language
National
Local
Self
Culture

25. What is empowerment?
3 4 51 2

26. Source: Dictionary.com
Empowerment is “the
giving or delegation of
power or authority”

27. Autonomy to decide what
you will do and how you will
do it

28. Freedom to challenge
without fear of reprisal

29. Power to affect change

30. Ownership of outcomes

31. Autonomy
Freedom
Power
Ownership

32. Empowerment means
controlling your destiny.

33. Why empowerment
matters
41 532

34. Empowerment makes
teams happy

35. Empowerment makes
clients happy

36. Empowerment enables
leadership

37. The guiding principles of
empowerment
1 2 53 4

38. Build a company you would
want to work for

39. Give people control over
their destiny

40. Make trust the center of
your culture

41. How to cultivate
empowerment
1 2 3 54

42. Language is everything

43. Ask for input every day

44. Provide feedback channels
that are accessible, non-
argumentative, and genuine

45. Hire the right people

46. Go virtual

47. Let your team set their own
schedules

48. Invest time and money in
your team’s success

49. Encourage personal brands

50. Adopt agile methodologies

51. Don't tell people how to do
things

52. Set boundaries beyond what
the person currently feels

53. Accept that your team
knows more about your
work than you do

54. Constantly exemplify,
pursue, and praise
empowerment

55. Empowerment changes
everything

56. When empowered, a person
benefits the company, not
the other way around.

57. Building icon by Albert Rojo

58. Building icon by Albert Rojo

59. Empowerment makes
everyone happier and better
at their jobs.

60. Questions?

61. Thank you!
All content in this presentation, except where noted otherwise, is Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licensed and copyright Four Kitchens, LLC.