Another of our values is this:
Motivation isn’t about carrots and sticks.
Constant oversight and the threat of punishment are incompatible with great, fulfilling work. We believe in creating appropriate constraints and then giving people the freedom to excel.
We do have some rules, bumpers, guidelines, and limits on what people can do. We’ve added a few since 2010 as the company has grown and lots of people might not have the culture ingrained.
However, we try hard to let people get work done, expect them to do so, and have a few reminders, but without the thread of punishment.
At the same time our bonus or recognition strategies are mostly around group goals or company goals. We don’t push people to compete with each other to get a bigger bonus than someone else.
That was strange to me, coming from US companies, but I have found it more refreshing. There are some commission aspects for individuals, but for most of us outside of sales, we’re all in this together.
I have a copy of the Book of Redgate from 2010. This was a book we produced internally about the company after 10 years in existence. At that time, I’d been there for about 3 years, and it was interesting to learn a some things about the company. This series of posts looks back at the Book of Redgate 15 years later.