Build a sports team, not a family

Most people are aware of Netflix's philosophy of "We are building a sports team, and not a family", in the context of building a professional organization, that is covered more extensively in the book "Powerful: Building a culture of Freedom and Responsibility" by Patty McCord, who is largely credited as being one of the architects of Netflix's philosophy.

I remember first encountering this when I interviewed at Netflix years ago, and I was honestly pretty surprised. Being an immigrant from a foreign country, this overt demonstration of capitalistic intent was shocking to me. I interpreted it as being ruthless and as an employee I took that to mean that there was always a sword hanging on your neck. It was probably also driven by the fact that given my status in the United States was a function of my employer, I couldn't in good conscience, believe that an employer could toss me out on the street without cause. As I have gained more experience, I have done almost a complete about-face on this position of mine. I can start with the 3 things that I misunderstood from my initial understanding w/ Netflix In my own personal case, I misinterpreted an honest declaration of building any high performance team, as being an attack on myself. Which probably highlights the insecurities I had in my own station as an immigrant, whether warranted by my status, background or actual abilities. Although the more pertinent point is that the statement itself is NOT ruthless. It is ruthless if you set a goal ("becoming a sports team") and then go on to provide NO support to allow people to excel but thats where I was wrong.

Netflix, and any other high performing team, will provide several avenues for strong performers to get even stronger, whether it is through increased ownership, learning off their peers and superiors or branching out into new and different paths not seen before. Having not had first-hand experience of this kind of a support system, my trying to grasp this culture was like one trying to build a rocket when they were still in the Stone Age. The presence of these kinds of tools and opportunities forms the bedrock of what is required to create a high performing team and is what allows someone to broadcast the intent of the qualities of the team they want to build.

Building high performing teams has a huge feedback loop that feeds into itself. When one sees one of their peers or superiors operating at a level they werent even aware of, it inspires them to do more and be better. On the other hand, if someone isn't pulling their weight or doing the things that is expected of them, it can be a huge drag, not just on the productivity of the team but also on their morale and make them say things like "Well if that person isnt doing X, why should I go out of my way to do Y", which can set a terrible precedent for future actions. This is why it is absolutely critical to address these kinds of issues as early as possible  -  even if it means having a conversation with the employee who is underperforming, which could be due to legitimate reasons (personal problems, health issues, case of the yips etc) or solve it through direct feedback which may result in a Performance Improvement Plan(PIP) or being let go.

By-and-large, people that we (in this case any reasonable company) hire are good people. They show initiative, drive, motivation etc which is why we added them to the team in the first place. However, if there are justifiable reasons when they need to be given real tough feedback or need to be let go, unfortunately those actions just need to be taken. It is not only good for your team to show them that there is a certain bar for the team, that helps codify the culture of the team, but it actually, counterintuitively, also good for the employee thats being let go - hopefully to help them set off on a path that is more suited to their skillset going forward.

Build a sports team, not a family  -  one of the many things that I have changed my belief on as I have gained new information.