Programming Success How UKTV made culture its competitive edge

Transcription

1 Programming Success How UKTV made culture its competitive edge The Culture BUILDERS Organisational culture is fast becoming the holy grail of the corporate landscape. As workplaces continue to evolve, companies are having to think big to create cultures that both attract talent and drive performance. But how big can companies go in the wake of such an acute economic downturn, where humble recovery is the norm and cautious optimism is as good as it gets? Back in 2011, broadcaster UKTV, an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, invested significantly in its biggest cultural revolution yet focused on encouraging and rewarding new thinking. Believing that innovation was the organisation s true form of competitive advantage and that attracting, retaining and developing talented human capital sat at the heart of that, CEO Darren Childs knew that despite the tough economic climate, UKTV s future success depended on creating a place where talent wanted to go and where they would be most liberated to create and innovate. With financial results released last year showing record-breaking yearend revenue and a company outperforming a sector in challenging times, plus beating it s main rivals in the ratings this Christmas, UKTV has successfully created and sustained an organisational culture that in the words of Childs creates conditions from which success may emerge. And emerge it has. So how did they do it? page one of five design and concept The Culture Builders, 2015

2 Rewind the clock back four years when Darren Childs became CEO of UKTV. Although everyone told him everything was hunky dory, he was not convinced and wanted to understand early on how the team felt. Keen to understand the truth about where the company was, UKTV ran the Best Companies Survey. The results came in and UKTV was found wanting. Darren comments: When the Best Companies results came in, I can safely say it was my worst day in the office ever. d asked questions like would you leave tomorrow if you could find a better job, is your leader inspiring, does your leadership team live the values of your firm and does the leader run your organisation on strong moral principles, and received dismal responses. I was so aware that a disengaged, frustrated, unrecognised workforce could never deliver the company s full potential. Not only that, but the media industry was going through its biggest rate of disruption in its history. I wasn t just worried about being able to grow, I was genuinely worried about how we could survive through this period of exponential change. Darren Childs UKTV s journey had started. Believing that culture was key to future success, Darren and his leadership team, including HR Director, Claire Astley became wholly focused on redesigning the DNA of UKTV. Partnering with culture experts, The Culture Builders, the team began at the beginning - why are we in business - as the first step to defining the ambition, values and behaviours that would shape their future success. Claire Astley comments: There s no question that UKTV had lost its way a little. Who we were, why we existed and what the future looked could be different depending on who you spoke to. There was also a lack of big ambition and real excitement about the place. This, as well as the lure of the rapidly growing digital sector, meant that not enough new talent was coming into the business and a lot of the talent we did have was looking elsewhere. What Believe How Behave BUSINESS AMBITION SAVERS TO INVESTORS The Culture Builders - June 2015 What Use Working with The Culture Builders Belief and Behaviours model, UKTV started by getting out and listening to what people really believed in. They also examined and captured what successful people at UKTV were doing. Employees were asked what their moments of pride would be the point in the future which would make them most proud to work at UKTV and they said: being bigger than Channel 5, winning a BAFTA and being front page news. page two of five

3 Believing that an organisation always needs to consider three pillars of culture - what we believe, how we behave and what we use (the tools, systems, processes) and that too much time and money is usually invested into the tools we use pillar, UKTV prioritised getting to the heart of the issue - who are we as an organisation, what are we trying to achieve? Believing also that strong beliefs should shape the decisions that were made in the business and the behaviours people displayed every day, the business worked tirelessly to create a clear ambition that fired people up and constantly linked action back to that ambition to drive shared ownership, passion and belief. This insight work created the foundation Darren Childs was looking for to build an ideas culture in which people were motivated, encouraged and incentivised to come forward with ideas which rather than just being talked about, were turned into action. A culture where people could fully explore their creative potential and where talent could thrive. UKTV s next chapter was one that many organisations never make it to - turning business values into actual sustained behaviours (as opposed to just words on mugs). This started with innovative leadership development involving The Culture Builder s faculty of top performers from other walks of life, to ensure the right behaviours were role modelled at the top of the organisation. The values and behaviours were integrated into both individual objectives and the bonus structure so that performance became about not only what employees did but how they did it. Recruitment, retention and induction processes were also redesigned to attract the right people for a cultural fit. Claire Astley Claire Astley comments: When interviewing potential new colleagues, we focus on our culture and values just as much as the candidate s skills and experience. Generating ideas is one of our core behaviours, so when we see it, we reward it! This is why we have our CLICC Awards: employees nominate their colleagues and then make a supporting video clip thanking them for their contribution, which is then played out in our weekly whole company meeting. It s a great way to celebrate people s brilliant work. The winners receive a pre-loaded credit card that they can go out and spend. UKTV is a big believer in staff incentive and recognition schemes. One of their most popular is their chocolate bars scheme which is like an on the spot thank you and contain instant reward vouchers like a lie-in, an early finish or a duvet day. They ve also invested more than 40,000 into an initiative called Learning Curve which pays for people to do non work related training. Add to this a huge range of CSR activities that employees have the freedom to undertake, e.g. the team cycle to Paris including Darren Childs last year, and the result is a purposefully cool culture that is serious about investing in people. page three of five

4 I believe that the single biggest threat facing our industry is the loss of talent to digital, says Childs. If we don t attract the right kind of people today, we won t make the right kind of programmes and services tomorrow. Young talent is attracted to the right culture. If you get in a few of the right people, then you attract in more and before you know it you ve got great talent climbing the walls to get in. A large part of UKTV s work to develop its ideas culture was focused on creating an environment for people to be at their most creative. Significant investment was made in ensuring the office layout at the new Hammersmith premises promotes stimulation, collaboration and the opportunity for serendipitous encounters to lead to creative breakthroughs. The office boasts bright, creative spaces (all with quirky names reflecting the spirit of the business) including a Room with a Pew, and a large open-plan area, which is home to their weekly all-staff gatherings. Employees move desks on a three-monthly basis to build relationships with new people from across the business and gain a greater understanding of each other s roles. To ensure all this creative thinking translated into action, a range of bold mechanics were put in place, one of which was the Innovation Pot - a pot of money available outside of the usual business case process to use to progress great ideas. Anyone can apply for money from this pot from the cleaners to the comms teams. If it s a great idea, UKTV will put in place the money, mentoring and management to bring it to life. To date, the broadcaster has invested 1.1m bringing Innovation Pot ideas to fruition, many of which have delivered extremely successful products and projects for the company. Claire Astley comments: If we return to the three pillars of culture, ensuring that the right mechanisms (i.e. the tools) were in place to actually capture and act upon all of these great ideas was vital. The innovation pot was the proof in the pudding and the perfect support system to drive forward a developing culture of new ideas, innovation and entrepreneurial support. page four of five

5 Just one year after those fateful Best Companies results, UKTV entered the Best Companies survey again, and became the first television broadcaster in history to achieve Best Company status, and it has now received it for every year since - making it into the Top 100 and receiving special recognition. Believing that culture is never complete, the organisation continues to undertake the survey annually as well as a range of additional, more regular organisational opinion gathering, to ensure its finger is always firmly on the pulse. More recently an updated, newly defined set of values - create, learn, influence, challenge and collaborate - or CLICC as they are known, have recently been crystallised across the business. Jane Sparrow, founder of the Culture Builders, summarises: All sorts of organisations work to create and sustain strong cultures and leadership. What makes UKTV unique is how it s been relentless in its focus. Many CEOs and organisations start out on a culture journey but it fizzles out after the launch. Darren Childs and his team, working with myself and the wider Culture Builders team, have persisted for over four years, never resting on their laurels and knowing that it s not just creating a high performance culture that counts it s keeping it and growing it. Jane Sparrow Reporting year end revenues of 283m in 2014 and 319M in 2015, plus closing 2106 with an International Emmy for its comedy output, you ve got to be pretty happy if you re Darren Childs right now. Times are tough for TV but UKTV has stuck its neck on the line, and gone big. It has invested in its culture and has managed to create a contender, not only in the broadcasting space, but in the digital sector too both in terms of both content and human capital. This is just a snapshot of the culture work undertaken to create amazing results. To find out more, please contact Jane Sparrow at The Culture Builders via jane@theculturebuilders.com or +44 (0) page five of five