In this issue – how to boost employee engagement, and finding your management style

3800 is here to solve big problems. The knotty ones. The awake-at-4am-ones. The business-changing, future-shaping ones. For brands. For organisations. For people.

This month, we've been donating stem cells?(Sol), sharing wisdom on the value of stories?(Sam)?and hiring!?

Three really talented people are joining us in January, to bolster our skills in?Art Direction, Motion Design and Engagement Strategy.?2024 is looking to be a great year. Now, to make sure our own company values are on point…?

What if... your company values lack value?

Company values are hard. They need to be memorable and relevant, realistic but also aspirational. Leaders often pour a lot of time, effort and energy into them, but recent studies have shown that between 50 and 65% of employees struggle to recall their organisation's values.

Often, after various workshops and rounds of feedback, values emerge as a list of single words. These look good emblazoned on an office wall, but end up meaning everything and nothing.?

Brand strategist Phil Adams has written persuasively against this trend. "Your values are the genes that determine your culture. They should be uniquely meaningful. Most single words aren’t. Most single words are uncontroversial, bland, anodyne. They’re safe words that people write on sticky notes in brand strategy workshops."

Worse still, these words are so common, they crop up in the values of companies who would swear they couldn't be more different...? (LINK)

Also on our minds this month:

• Product marketing talks about what a new tool or features does. Really good product marketing shows what it means for users. Apple, with the help of some Gruffalo-style storytelling, smashed this out the park. (LINK)

• The debate over return-to-office rumbles on, and employers are getting more creative in their efforts to tempt workers back. Apparently, companies are now creating spaces brimming with “Instagrammability” – think colourful walls and quirky furniture – to boost employee retention and social-first employer branding. (LINK)
• But maybe this Pinterest-fuelled approach misses the point? Because this piece, packed with great stats, argues that wellbeing and happiness are the keys to building an engaged workforce. (LINK)
• So many takeaways from this in-depth interview with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky , and so many ideas that buck received leadership wisdom. For example, he defends micromanagement, and thinks too many leaders fudge a compromise between what they want, and what employees want – “That's a good way to make everyone miserable.” (LINK)

• There’s a sermonic quality to Matthew Waksman 's stirring challenge to break free from your bubble and go wider and deeper when it comes to understanding your customers. As Matt puts it, “Open up your fucking world because if your life is small, your work will be too.” (LINK)