CREATING BETTER CATAPULTS CULTURE

By Rachel Hermansader, SVP, Head of Culture & Brand

Culture defines agencies. The most compelling creative work happens when teams are supported, empowered, and connected to culture.? It’s what sustains talent, and it’s the deciding factor with clients. When a team is safe and happy enough to be brave and succeed—the real magic happens.?

My gut instinct knew the culture at XDA was real when I joined in 2017. I learned that “be real” was a core value along with being bold, clear and kind. I also learned the founder's mission was to create a place so interesting you’ll never want to leave. That’s an audacious people-centric goal I knew I wanted in my life, and it’s been a guiding principle as XDA’s culture leader.?

Last week, we were recognized as an Ad Age Best Place to Work. We are in a group of 25 agencies of our size that both cared enough to validate our culture and that were voted by our staff as exceeding expectations - as a leadership team, a culture, a place so interesting you’ll perhaps never want to leave. The survey looked at compensation, DEI, employee programs and the elusive work-life balance.?

So for the agencies and clients out there as well as my family (hi mom!) and friends, let me unveil how we? achieve this cultural nirvana.

WE SHIFT CULTURE BY CREATING IT

Our values are not just words on our website. They are a two-way agreement that we hold one another accountable to everydamnday. They guide us in vetting talent and clients. They anchor us in the highs and lows of agency life. They help us deliver feedback, and they illuminate the path to personal growth. When you join our team, you agree to be real, bold, clear, and kind. And we agree to always reciprocate. It’s how we’ve curated a group of the kindest badasses you can find in the experiential industry.?

WE WELCOME WITH INTENT

“Best onboarding ever!” Words we’ve heard multiple times from our new hires. We believe real belonging starts on day one. In the two week program, each cohort of new colleagues learns the ins and outs of XDA, meets every leadership team member and every single department lead. We train on values, culture and emotional intelligence with tools like the Enneagram, setting the tone for a different kind of agency experience.?

WE OVERCOMMUNICATE

Embracing remote work with open arms keeps our people happy and productive. We invest energy into well-orchestrated, transparent communication - we simply have to pay more attention to it. We have a dedicated Hybrid Work Manager on staff who delightfully disseminates agency comms and supports the connectivity of the agency.?

WE EMBRACE AUTONOMY

We have vibrant lives outside of work. Our lived experiences make us and the work more interesting. We also believe the 40 hour work week is dead - especially in an always-on experiential world with teams working onsite all over the world. The old school maniacal focus on hours kills culture, and, ironically, productivity. We don’t want to breed a band of workaholic robots. We’re more into cultural nomads. Get your work done and live your life. And with that mindset, we've found that oftentimes both feel richer and more fulfilling.

WE REJECT HOMOGENY

We’re bored when everything and everyone is the same. Instead, we seek out and celebrate differences. We build teams that have the just right set of complementary skills to slay. We have a Talent Experience Manager who’s building an inclusive bench of partners that align with our culture and develops experientially-driven DEI education and programs.

WE GROW TOGETHER

We do not rest on our laurels or past experience. We invest in supporting the lifelong journey of growth as whole humans from both business and personal development lenses. From wellness initiatives and impactful coaching to agency training, we do it all and we don’t stop because learning is never something you can check off the list.?

WE DO FUN SH$T

Our people are encouraged to explore their passions to help make the world, and our world, a little bit better. If you have a dream, XDA is a place where you can build it. Our sustainability initiative, XDA Earthlings, our DEI efforts, and our two flagship events - The EDYS and The Casies - were all born from passion and the autonomy to chase an idea.?

WE CREATE BETTER

We built our agency brand platform on the idea of Create Better because better is what we’re always striving for. It’s a mindset and a daily call-to-action that we use to crush our goals, make epic work, and keep our amazing relationships alive and thriving.

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For more on XDA’s culture of creating better, come see us at www.xdagency.com. Hit me up if you want to chat about building and sustaining culture.?

XD Agency (XDA) is an award-winning creative agency bred from production chops, creating badass experiences for brands who want to redefine industries and rewrite the rules. We have hubs in New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Los Angeles with teams dedicated to creating better experiences, stories, and worlds.