Democratic working – why?

When we talk about our democratic principles and working practices at NixonMcInnes, the common misconception is that we do this at some kind of traditional business cost.

The logic is that involving people in the whole management and direction of the business must be slower and poorer, but somehow ‘nicer’.

Kinda..’That’s nice dear – how much did it cost?’….

Yet we believe that we can win at the traditional business game, and reinvent that game, AND do all of this our way – having fun and being fulfilled at work.

Quick recap on some of the ways we work

With open book accounting – everyone knows the bank balance, the performance against budget, and what everyone else earns
With decentralised decision-making – a Rewards Team assess and approve all rewards proposals (including mine), when we moved into our new office the first time I saw it was the day we moved in because a team to manage the move had successfully owned and managed it, there are two guest seats for team members at every board meeting, we vote on all ethical decisions including new client opportunities, lots of people get involved in each hiring process, we set and agree objectives for the year as a team (not as a board)
With personal development – we believe hugely in the development of our people and selves, and invest in these, especially in listening and communication skills, which we feel can unlock huge potential
With the whole person – we don’t expect people to leave their soul and personality at home every day, and we expect and work with the challenges that life throws up, in HR speak this means totally flexible working, and lots more authenticity
And more – and the above are merely the outcomes, powered by much-more powerful principles that we hold dear

It’s not always easy, nor is it for everyone

We’ve had many bumps in the road as a young developing company – we’ve changed and learnt along the way, going through a round of redundancies as the company fundamentally shifted from one generation and focus to another, being involved in unhappy projects, had many tough times.

We’ve also found that our approach and culture isn’t for everyone – it is demanding and can be uncomfortable, and for some people the fit is not good.

And finally, there’s a risk of becoming a tall poppy – putting ourselves on a pedestal of our own making, being perceived as arrogant, self-loving positive hype-rs. I’m very conscious of this, which limits how and where I talk about ‘us’ in terms of approach and culture.

But I do believe passionately in the power and inevitability of democractic principles in the workplace.

And I do believe that it can be a competitive edge, not a quaint ‘nice to have’.

So here’s a raised glass for the sceptics:

We grew turnover by 23% in the financial year just closed
We created healthy six-figure profits
We shared £10,000 as a team in the form of profit-related pay
AND we did all of this our way (the important bit) – including making the WorldBlu list for the second year in a row

Tomorrow we are celebrating our 10th birthday as a team with some of our clients, partners and friends.

With that in mind, I celebrate my co-founder and the only guy to have been involved for the full ten years Tom Nixon, and the team of smart, decent, real and talented NM people – a great, great team that I am delighted to be able to work with :)

We believe the future needs different ways of working; all we’re doing is trying to find our own.

Will McInnes wrote this on 20.05.10 – 5 comments
It's filed in the Democracy, Employee engagement, NixonMcInnes, Strategy box

5 responses

On May 20th, 2010 at 3:15 pm, Tweets that mention Democractic working – why? @ NixonMcInnes: Social media goodness. Translated. Created. Delivered. -- Topsy.com responded:

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Anna Carlson, NixonMcInnes and Ross Breadmore, max st john. max st john said: RT @rossbreadmore: An honest and unhyped write-up on NixMk culture from Will on the eve of our birthday http://bit.ly/cs8HzI [...]
On May 20th, 2010 at 4:04 pm, Michelle Goodall responded:

Happy Birthday Will, Tom and crew.

Congratulations on your Worldblu listing.

NM Towers is a lovely workplace, inspired ideas, inspirational leaders and great people. Have fun tomorrow.

Michelle x
On May 20th, 2010 at 7:32 pm, justin hunt responded:

Congratulations Will to you and the team and congratulations on doing something different and making it work. All the best
Justin
On May 21st, 2010 at 9:12 am, Will McInnes responded:

Thanks Michelle and Justin :)
On May 26th, 2010 at 3:36 pm, Matt Hill responded:

10 years!? Wow, congrats on the milestone. You all still look depressingly young though, how do you manage it!?