At Dropbox, we’re on a mission to design a more enlightened way of working. In order to bring products and tools to market that support these new ways of working, we must aim to operate incredibly effectively as an organization, as teams, and as individuals.
This year, we’ve embarked on a cultural evolution to what we call a “high impact culture,” which means that we’re laser-focused on ownership and accountability for results, and driving the right outcomes for our business, every day. This cultural emphasis is so important to us that we shifted our performance rating scale, core behavior expectations, and career frameworks to all focus on motivating and rewarding for impact. We even launched a new mandatory leadership development program for all managers called “High Impact Leadership” to help our leaders support these behaviors within their teams.
High impact starts with me as I strive to focus my Learning & Organization Development (L&OD) team on strategic work that drives business impact, rather than busy work. Our philosophy is that “more” doesn’t necessarily mean “better” - often we choose to do fewer things with higher impact and quality. We ask ourselves every day: What learning programs and experiences will move the needle on building capability? How can we improve our talent processes to deliver greater value to the business? How can we do this better than last time?
As a leader, high impact means aiming high, working harder, and taking ownership of all the work within the scope of my team. It’s about setting a high bar for myself in terms of excellence and having high expectations for the value and quality of my team’s work. It’s about me holding my team accountable for great work, and them holding me accountable to be a great leader.
But, great work and great impact aren’t possible without a healthy team and healthy team partnerships. So, while we run hard, I also dedicate a lot of time to building relationships, ensuring we practice our “Make Work Human” value, and creating a safe space to experiment and learn.
Dropboxers crave challenge, seek solutions, and thrive on building our next big product innovations. When high impact is the norm, it makes coming to work even more exciting and fulfilling.
