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A crisis often kickstarts innovation in technology and shifts in culture. As working from home options become a more normal structure, how will this impact performance and growth? Kaihan Krippendorff takes a look at the company culture of Netflix to explore the impact of no rules rules.

When we think about culture and responsibility in the workplace, companies generally fall into one of two categories. Some seek to monitor their employees and keep them in a structured order by implementing rules and policies for every interaction. This is more common and tends to happen as companies scale and become more established. The result is a thick handbook and a set of employees who don’t need to think as much about what to do, because the thinking has been done for them. 

The alternative seems more chaotic: companies that have very few procedures and regulations in place. This is most often seen in startups or businesses with few employees. Employees are given the freedom to make their own decisions, which often inspires creativity and innovation. This freedom usually lasts until the business begins to grow, and limitations are imposed. Controls seem necessary; a few wrong budgeting decisions might have a major impact on a growing business.

So as business scales, how do we give employees the freedom to make decisions while keeping chaos in check?

NETFLIX: CREATING A CULTURE OF FREEDOM AT SCALE 

Lucky for us, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings experienced both scenarios, and he and Erin Meyer, a bestselling author and international culture expert, have written the book on innovative culture in the workplace. Last week, I was fortunate to attend Erin’s Thinkers50 and Insight to Impact webinar: No Rules Rules (replay available here).

In the webinar, Erin described Reed’s experience launching his first business, a software troubleshooting company. At first, there were no rules. But as the business began to grow, Reed started implementing more policies. He found that the new restrictions drove his most creative employees out of the company.

Key points include:

• Creating a culture of freedom at scale
• Culture is about reconciling dilemmas
• Three steps to employee freedom

Read the full article, No Rules Rules At Netflix: Rethinking Culture As We Return To Work, on Kaihan.net.