How seeing in “3D” helped us transform our culture

There are two challenges that get me excited to come in to work every morning—two problems that I believe every company faces in today’s world:  

The first is the frustrating gap between what people are capable of doing and what we actually achieve. There’s just so much that gets in our way every day, from digital distractions to office politics to inefficient processes and tools. How can we eliminate this productivity gap to enable people to reach their full potential and efficiently accomplish more every day?

The second problem is the myth of “work/life balance.” Many of us labor under the notion that work and life are separate things, and so the question most people ask themselves is how they can get through the former to enjoy the latter. This is a tragedy, as we end up spending most of our lives at work. A much better question is how can we make work a source of purpose and meaning such that people gain as much satisfaction and fulfillment from what they do in their jobs as they do in the other parts of their lives? 

My take on how to address these two issues has been greatly influenced by my longtime mentor Satya Nadella, who over the last six years as Microsoft’s CEO, has led an extraordinary cultural transformation at our company. He believes, as I do, that everything starts with culture. You can have the grandest, most thoughtful business plan, but you will never succeed without an inclusive culture that minimizes the productivity gap and maximizes fulfillment at work. 

Of course, business growth is important. But I believe that’s only one aspect. To build a wholesome and thriving culture, it takes a broader, more holistic approach that defines success in terms of three dimensions—the product, the business, and the team. I call this a “3D” view of culture.  

Cultural transformation has been a central focus for the Communications and Time Management product team I lead at Microsoft. Our team is reimagining iconic products like Outlook, to deliver new experiences that people not only depend on, but love. That’s a tall order for a product that is used by hundreds of millions of people around the globe—and one that required us to think differently about our culture. We had to see in 3D: product + business + team.  

When I talk about the first dimension - product - the question we always need to answer is: are we really making a difference in our customers’ lives? For us, it’s not enough that people use Outlook because it’s the tool their IT department provides. We want to know if it’s helping them in getting things done, across their whole life. Are they more productive? To me, one of the most important ways to measure our success is whether we are helping people achieve success when they use our products, at work, at home or on the go.  

The second dimension—business—is the most obvious of the three dimensions. Usually, it is the primary definition of success. Basically, this is a matter of ensuring that the net value we generate for Microsoft shareholders is multiple times what the company invests in the team. And this has to be a priority that’s owned by everyone on the team – not just marketing or sales, but also engineering, operations, HR, etc.  

The third dimension is all about the team. I believe that, fundamentally, the only way to succeed in a sustainable way is to enable everyone on the team to contribute to their maximum potential, with a day to day experience that they relish. To do that, we need to make our team a great place to work – not only by hiring and retaining talented and motivated people, but also by making sure we lead an inclusive culture that enables everyone to thrive. 

What’s important here is that these three dimensions are mutually reinforcing. If you have a product that improves peoples’ lives, it will lead to business success. If you have a thriving business, you can invest more in the team and the product. Likewise, if you have a team with the right culture, people can move fast and work together to serve the product, the business, and most importantly, our customers. 

Ultimately, it’s only by creating the conditions where people can reach their full potential as creative, productive human beings that a business can truly hope to overcome the unique set of challenges it faces as it strives to succeed in a fast changing and highly competitive world. Getting there is a long journey, but also a very rewarding one.  

In future posts, I look forward to sharing specific examples of the steps we’ve taken and what we’ve learned as we continue to drive cultural transformation in our team.