Lever Talent Blog | Cultural Transformation - Skedda Case Study

After receiving a growth equity investment, Skedda, a workplace management software company, started to scale and wanted to take a strategic approach to crafting a well-aligned culture. Being an international company and remote-first, and its size doubling in just one year, Skedda turned to Lever Talent to advise and help cultivate a cultural blueprint that would support its growing team and ambitious goals.

Building Skedda's Cultural Touchstones

The core of Skedda's growth strategy lies in its Mission, Vision, and Virtues (MVV), virtues being how they refer to their values. Skedda's mission is simple yet profound: to empower organizations to bring workspaces to life. This mission serves as a north star guiding their decisions and interactions, ensuring that as the company grows, its cultural integrity remains intact.

Skedda’s vision is about thinking bigger—to create the most powerful workplace platform. Their virtues ensure that every team member, whether new or seasoned, aligns with these cultural touchstones, promoting a unified approach to reaching their objectives. They crafted six virtues every team member should embody:

1. We are a community: At Skedda, we are a global community of individuals aligned to a singular goal. While we often work autonomously, help is never far away. We care about each other, we care about Skedda, and we care about our customers.
2. Quality is at our core: Customers choose Skedda because of our commitment to high quality. When the details matter, we get them right. 
3. Take ownership: At Skedda, we never say “that’s not my job.” We take initiative, we deliver work we’re proud of, we always think about the long-term, we are accountable for outcomes, and we share feedback with each other to ensure we are all delivering our best.
4. Create momentum every day: We take smart risks, we learn quickly, and—when in doubt—we have a strong bias for action. When we do that, hundreds of days of work compound into incredible results.
5. Tackle hard problems: At Skedda, we go where others are afraid to go, and we make it look easy in the process. We get to the core of the customer’s problem and work relentlessly to solve it. 
6. Be curious: We pride ourselves in customer empathy and intellectual curiosity, and work to create solutions that meet their needs. We take the time and energy to truly understand the underlying data and root cause of customer problems.
   
   

   “If we had continued to grow the business without the documented MVV... We would have created some very siloed and different pockets of the business.” -Maria Casella, VP of People Operations, Skedda

Lever Talent's MVV Program

Lever Talent was pivotal in embedding these values deeper into Skedda's operational fabric. Analyzing the results of recent employee engagement surveys, Lever Talent identified what aspects of Skedda's culture were most cherished by its people. This involved asking employees to distill Skedda’s culture into descriptive words and engaging in exercises that balanced team personalities, aligning them with the MVV framework.

A word cloud was made from words that resonated most with Skedda team members when asked about company culture.

Lever Talent took a hands-on and customized approach to helping Skedda craft its MVV. The MVV program helps businesses scale the velocity of their good decision-making to strengthen their growth and empower them to meet their business objectives. The Lever Talent team, in concert Jenny Moebius, with SVP of Marketing,  Maria Casella, VP of Human Resources, and Mark Gentry, CEO, kicked off this project with 1:1 interviews. Then, the whole leadership team joined for a one-day offsite workshop facilitated by Lever Talent called MVV CAMP (which stands for Craft a Vision, Align on Strategy, Map to Values, and Plan Ahead).

After the CAMP session, all of the inputs and notes were digitized and turned into a rough draft of their MVV culture code. Lever Talent then worked with Casella to host focus groups of Skedda employees, gathering feedback and further refining their MVV. After an iterative process, they then took the project across the finish line to create Skedda's Mission, Vision, and Virtues.

Skedda's CAMP session

Utilizing Effective Employee Engagement

Involving the Skedda team was central to the process. Skedda’s approach allowed employees to voice their perspectives, ensuring their ideas weren’t just heard but were also acted upon. Team members participated in discussions and surveys that not only gauged their current cultural experience but also painted a picture of what they envisioned for Skedda’s future.

This engagement led to critical conversations that were both challenging and inspiring. This inclusive process empowers employees, enhancing their connection to the company and reinforcing the cultural transformation happening at Skedda.

Conclusion

Skedda's success underscores the importance of a strong cultural foundation that is well-aligned to business goals, particularly for companies experiencing exponential growth. Lever Talent's MVV program expertise helped Skedda not just articulate its MVV, but bring it to life, ensuring every employee could see how their contribution will help Skedda's vision be realized.

Bring your business strategy to life with your Mission, Vision, and Values. Contact Lever Talent today to learn more about our tailored management training programs.