https://www.geluksfabriek.nl RSS feeds for De Geluksfabriek 60 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/12/span-stylefont-size-18-What-is-your-favorite-core-value-and-why#Comments 1 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=222&ModuleID=694&ArticleID=12 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12&PortalID=0&TabID=222 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/12/span-stylefont-size-18-What-is-your-favorite-core-value-and-why What is your favorite core value and why? This is one of the questions I asked employees at Zappos during my visit. I was especially impressed by Paur's contribution. She works at the Customer Loyalty Team Support and her favorite core value is value nr 10: "Be humble".   Her definition is as following: "humility is the art of being detached from self recognition..[...]..You want to make sure that what you do is coming from your heart, with no strings attached." (for the record: the official Zappos’s definition states: Humility is the quality of being humble: modest, not proud, doing something out of the goodness of your heart, not for yourself.) What surprised me most in Paur’s message is how authentic her definition came across and what it meant to her. It confirmed that Zappos employees do know all of the 10 core values and that they are meaningful to them. I will let you judge by yourself and watch the video extract.  How does Zappos ensure every employee is on board and demonstrates humility? It starts with the recruitment process. Candidates are tested on each core value, either during the interviews, the incubation program or just by observing their behaviors. Any candidate acting in a condescending way toward the Zappos shuttle driver or any other employees would fail immediately the recruitment process. Consistency is key here, so humility is for everyone, always. Zappos does not have any VIP corner offices. Every employee has the same cubicle space, including the CEO Tony Hsieh and the rest of the management team. No clean desk policy though, every cubicle is a personal “fashion” statement by the user. Another great example: every year during the peak season, each employee contributes to maintain the best customer service (and the WOW) by allocating 10 hours of their time to answer customer calls. Being an accountant, an HR or a technical person, they all got the training when they first started, thay all pitch in when it is most needed! So my question to you: Are you ready to give up some of your “privileges” and accept to do something out of goodness of your heart and without recognition?   Valérie Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:31:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/11/span-stylefont-size-18-What-happens-in-Vegas-stays-in-Vegas-Not#Comments 2 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=222&ModuleID=694&ArticleID=11 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=11&PortalID=0&TabID=222 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/11/span-stylefont-size-18-What-happens-in-Vegas-stays-in-Vegas-Not This famous Vegas rule can't possibly apply to the company Zappos. What I experienced during my training at Zappos exceeded by far my expectations: I made great connections, learned their inner working methods, I had fun and plenty of WOW moments and they even made me feel like a star! (See picture 1) The magic (or WOW) started the instant I entered the Zappos building. I felt immediately overwhelmed by the employee's happy greetings and the fun decorations hanging everywhere. While I was in the hallway, I had a short glimpse at their library and what makes it so special: All books (mainly management and self development books) are made available to employees for free (even to visitors) and considered as an extra growth and learning opportunity. I personally took the book Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan as it has a large influence on the Zappos culture. I could not help noticing as well how serious Zappos is about its casual dress code: be aware if you wear a tie, hide it before they cut it out and hang it on their wall of fame! (See picture 2) My second WOW moment occurred during the Zappos insights team’s introduction as their manager Robert greeted me personally, stating my first name, in front of all other participants and acknowledged indirectly he had viewed and remembered my video message sent to Tony Hsieh a few weeks before. (cf. my previous blog “why go to Vegas if you hate gambling?”). This was an awesome experience! The training day had not yet started and I already had been WOWed a few times! Right after the introduction, I had a 1,5 hour Culture tour given by our guide Rocco, member of the Zappos Insights team. His official function and title is actually “culture magician”, another example of the creative environment present at Zappos. This was the most overwhelming experience as I walked through the alleys and discovered how the Zappos culture translates into fun team greetings, creative and weird desk decorations and of course WOW moments for customers and visitors (See the Monkey row video). Every employee I came across looked very happy and interacted naturally with the training participants. It is difficult to imagine how they can be productive at the same time in this disruptive environment. Zappos offers 4 guided tours per day, 4 days a week to anyone interested to visit its head quarters. In the last 5 months, they had approx. 6000 visitors attending the tours. Would you let visitors in and talk to all your employees? Zappos is all about transparency, it is their core competency and what differentiates them from competition. By being so open to their public, they build trust, inspire others and in the end gain free word of mouth advertising. Since Zapponians are aligned with the corporate culture and the 10 core values, it makes sense to let them be the ambassadors of the Zappos brand. With such a level of transparency, it is easy to discover other Zappos secrets - the hard part is doing it yourself. As the training kicked in, I learned much more about the Zappos way worth sharing… so stay tuned!   Valérie Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:29:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:11 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/10/span-stylefont-size-18-Why-go-to-Las-Vegas-if-you-hate-gamblingspan#Comments 3 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=222&ModuleID=694&ArticleID=10 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=10&PortalID=0&TabID=222 https://www.geluksfabriek.nl/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/10/span-stylefont-size-18-Why-go-to-Las-Vegas-if-you-hate-gamblingspan Could it be I have found a true “Geluksfabriek” where workers and clients are both attached (verbonden) and attracted (geboeid)? That is the question I asked myself when I read the book by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh “Delivering Happiness”. The book tells of the remarkable personal and corporate growth that took place over the last 10 years, when the focus of Zappos went from generating profits to providing WOW-level service to delivering happiness to all parties involved. After reading the book and attending a Delivering Happiness meeting I was so inspired I decided to go to Las Vegas to find out for myself just how the Zapponians do it. I will share my experiences through this blog, starting with the first challenge: getting myself noticed among the thousands of Zappos fans who contact Tony Hsieh with similar ambitions every day. Video message magic Since Zappos keep WOWing their customers by delivering more than they expect, I decided to try to WOW them in return. Instead of an email, I made this video message. Experiencing the WOW at Zappos from Valerie Pivron on Vimeo. I expected one standard reply but instead I received 3 different messages within a few days, here are some quotes:   Tony let me know about your message. We're all touched by your first video message! While Tony will not be available at that time, we are happy to meet with you here at Zappos Insights and give you more insights on our culture. (Robert) Tony asked that I get in touch with you while he is traveling. We are very excited that you will be joining the Gold Event on June 9th. Hopefully, we will have a chance to meet.[…] Tony recommended that you walk around and interview other Zappos employees. You don't have to ask permission to speak to anyone specifically. We love to have visitors talk to whomever they happen to meet in the hall. (Elizabeth) I WOW-ed them and they delivered happiness right away! My first goal has been achieved: I will not only be able to experience the Zappos Insights Gold Experience training but also to walk around freely and talk to whoever I want. There is so much I want to ask and find out, and I know many of you do too. I will be travelling to Las Vegas for a few days, plenty of time to connect with as many Zapponians as possible and spending no time gambling since I hate it! In preparation of my visit, I already assembled some questions from various customer service professionals but you are welcome to submit additional ones and I will do my best to get as many of them answered as possible. I am now very much looking forward to my coming experience! I will keep you posted… Valérie is a French national living in the Netherlands, follow her on this blog and on twitter @vpivron Valérie Tue, 31 May 2011 17:18:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:10