Theme: Rejecting the Hierarchy
At some companies, title equates to power. If you don’t have the right title, you lack access to key meetings & information, you lack autonomy to do your work, and you lack authority to make decisions. But what happens if an organization ignores formal titles and instead values ideas and expertise? Well, it creates a culture where employees, especially junior team members, can grow and learn. It also creates a culture where employees can establish themselves as experts, regardless of title, and receive similar benefits.
At Starwood Hotels, this non-hierarchical culture was prevalent according to its former employees. Almost everyone I spoke with had a story of how they were given an opportunity to speak with, pitch, and/or be in the room with senior leaders. And in return, those team member’s voices were given just as much credence as any other person in the room. At Starwood, there was no gatekeeping by level.
There were three ways in particular that Starwood exemplified this non-hierarchical culture:
Cultivating a space where the best idea wins
Valuing expertise and empowering experts to lead
Providing exposure and opportunities to team members
BEST IDEA WINS
Non-hierarchical companies value not a person’s title or even years of experience, but rather, ideas. And those organizations also recognize that the best ideas can come from anywhere or anyone.
I witnessed this first hand as I frequently sat in on meetings with C-suite leaders, SVPs, and VPs. When I had something to say, I was allowed (and encouraged) to say it. This is one of the primary ways I developed a strong reputation at Starwood which resulted in more than one promotion opportunity.
Starwood was not an organization where there was “gatekeeping” around senior leaders. Dani, a former Starwood employee, recalled that in her first month of working at Starwood she had an idea about how to leverage social media to connect SPG members. She told her boss who immediately recommended they bring the idea to Chris Holdren (formerly Head of SPG) and another senior team member on his team. Despite the fact that Dani was new to the organization and very junior, they took the meeting with her. Even in recounting this story about a decade later, Dani was still in disbelief that these senior leaders went ahead and took the meeting with her. Years later she found out that afterwards Chris told her boss that if Dani ever has an idea to bring it to him and he will support her in doing it. To be clear, Dani was ~23 yrs old at the time when she first joined the company.
This wasn’t an isolated incident either. Noelle, formerly the Associate Director of the Global Sheraton Brand, recounted a story that also highlighted what it looked like in practice to bring this idea to life.
“I remember Amy Weinberg [formerly SVP of Consumer Insights] was leading a brainstorm in a team meeting with the most senior person on the global brand team and the least senior person. All ideas are good ideas no matter who it comes from. In other places you are told what to do.”
In fact, team and department wide brainstorming sessions were common at Starwood. I attended several in my tenure at Starwood where you had the most junior team member alongside the Global Brand leaders engaging in idea generation. Everyone had a voice in those rooms. Reflecting back on it now, I can understand how rare of an experience that was.
VALUING EXPERTISE
While leaders across Starwood were open to ideas coming from anywhere, they also continued to put trust in subject matter experts at the company. But a subject matter expert at Starwood was not necessarily the person with the most years of experience. Rather, a subject matter expert was simply the person who was closest to the job and the topic.
For example as Elisa, formerly Director of Digital Brand Strategy, put it, “At Starwood you bring in the subject matter experts into the conversations. Mike English ran all the call centers, but if there was a question about the brand he would tell you to ask the brand person and bring you in.”
Noelle experienced this first hand in her role working for the Sheraton brand team.
She recalled, “I had built some deck on personalization for Sheraton. Hoyt (formerly Head of the Sheraton Brand) brought me to the meeting with Phil (formerly Chief Brand Officer) because I had built it. I was in meetings with Frits (former CEO) and it was not uncommon. There was no hierarchy, just accessibility.”
Bridget, another former employee, also saw this play out amongst the C-suite leaders and how much they trusted and empowered their team members. During her time supporting Allison Taylor (formerly the Chief Sales Officer), she saw how Allison would bring in her direct reports who owned the specific area that was being discussed and ask for their opinion. While Bridget noted that Allison could have made the decision on her own, she brought them in because she trusted and valued her team's expertise. Only confident leaders engage in these sorts of behaviors because they aren’t focused on proving their value, rather providing the best value to the organization they serve.
Elisa highlighted how leaders reinforced this type of culture on a daily basis.
Elisa remembers clearly how her boss told another leader, “When Elisa comes to your office, give her the 5 minutes because it's in your best interest to listen to her.”
Instead of her boss stepping in and giving the information to a leader who asked for it, her boss reinforced that people should talk directly to the source. This empowered employees everywhere and also helped them understand their impact at work, which is crucial for employee engagement and development.
PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES TO JUNIOR TEAM MEMBERS
Part of demonstrating that you value expertise means enabling junior team members to present their work. How often in organizations do managers and leaders take their teams' work and present it on their behalf behind a closed door? The result is that the team member never gets to present their work, or defend their work, and/or see the impact of their work. These are the key skills that are needed for people to grow and develop in their roles. You can tell a team member that their work lacked enough detail and accuracy or they can experience it when they receive questions and pushback when presenting their work to others in a meeting. People learn better from experience more so than from telling.
At Starwood, leaders were more willing to provide opportunities for growth to their junior team members by giving them opportunities for exposure. Emily, formerly a Senior Manager of Guest Experience for Westin, recalled how she was given exposure which allowed her to see the impact of her work. For example, early in her career at Starwood, her boss allowed her to be on calls with the General Managers and directly present to them.
As Emily recalled the impact of those small gestures she noted, “It allowed you to understand what your work was supposed to be doing and its impact.”
Bridget had a similar experience when she started working to support a senior sales leader in the organization. She recalled that this leader invited her to various conferences and trips which allowed her to learn by soaking it all in. Exposure is crucial to enabling people to further develop in their careers. It also helped to build her confidence.
Noelle had a similar experience and summarized the impact of this culture by sharing, “Starwood had a culture of rewarding good work, it didn't matter your age. To see young people be given opportunities to grow and develop was really inspiring.”
As a result of all these behaviors, most employees felt empowered in their work at Starwood and found opportunities to grow. The organization in return, was able to cultivate internal talent and generate constant innovation and idea sharing which enabled them to become a leader in the hospitality industry.
What has been the impact on your career in working in either non-hierarchical or hierarchical work environments?
Did you experience this non-hierarchical culture at Starwood? Want to share your Starwood experience with me for this project? Fill out this form so we can find a time to talk.
