Tim Hwang, Founder and CEO of FiscalNote, joined the Business Leadership Series (BLS) on July 26 to talk about ‘Millennials as Employees: Operationalizing Culture for the Largest Demographic.’ Today, FiscalNote is the largest legal-tech startup in the United States, with a high percentage of their employees in the millennial age-group.
Tim’s presentation focused on the importance of culture. Defining what you stand for (mission and goals), creating a sense of ownership (objectives and results) and operationalizing and executing (KPIs and budgeting) within your business are really important for Millennial employees when they consider career choices.
Above all else (including starting salary of pay), Millenials are looking for opportunities for personal development, the reputation and mission of the organization, and the role itself. The ideal work place for them is described as a learning environment, which promotes training and development through coaching and mentorship.
At FiscalNote, Tim uses a Modern Millennial Social Contract to institutionalize values and engage his employees. He describes them as values crafted from millennial executives for millennial employees for the purpose of running a millennial organization. They include level up (invest in yourself by mentoring others), own the job, have a bias for action, focus on design, and think like an owner.
The ultimate perk is a workplace filled with motivated and talented professionals on a mission.
By creating ownership through freedom, FiscalNote allows employees to work from home and take unlimited vacation time, as long as results are accomplished. It also means that there are less pre-approvals and checks in the way, and employees are encouraged to sometimes work on big projects that are not directly tied to the job.
By creating ownership through transparency, FiscalNote promotes honesty and the highest levels of management. A lot of companies use the all-hands meetings to provide a forum for this discussion. The idea is to reinforce the values in everything the business does - stick it within the operating ethos.
Tim went into further detail during the webinar about the ways FiscalNote operationalizes their values. Screening with Hiring, Reinforcing with Onboarding, Processes and Decision-Making, Over-investing in Growth, and Rewarding through Management were all discussed.
