As a young company fortunate enough to have experienced tremendous growth in the past 3.5 years, we know that the only way to continue growing is to keep evolving.
And for us, this means not only constantly reflecting on our own performance and ways of working, but also learning from other successful companies, especially those that have gone through a journey similar to ours.
This month, at our company-wide all-hands meeting, we discussed the concept of ‘the Keeper’s Test’- popularized by streaming giant Netflix.
Why ‘the Keeper’s Test’? And why ‘Netflix’? Arguably one of the greatest business success stories of our time, Netflix has generated much following, discussion, and interest around its ‘People Philosophy’- principles behind its culture and strategy- which has ‘the Keeper’s Test’ at its core.
At the heart of ‘the Keeper’s Test’ is the fundamental belief that the best way to thrive as a company is to build and maintain a high-density workforce, in other words, a workforce that is akin to a professional sports team - one where every member is a rock-star performer. This is the very concept we convey to new Kitopians right from day one- that we commit to having the best performer possible in every position, just as we seek for our employees’ jobs to be truly meaningful- where they know that they are the best person for the job and that a job is the best position for them.
To help Kitopians reflect on this concept, we asked everyone to ask themselves:
If you told your manager today that you are leaving to join a competitor, how hard will your manager try to keep you and convince you to change your mind?
We then asked everyone to take the further step of asking themselves what they would do differently following their reflection. Similarly, managers were then asked to ask themselves the same question- for every member of their team.
While originally designed to serve as a transparent recruitment and retention tool, ‘The Keeper’s Test’ is much more than that. For us, it serves as an excellent self-reflection tool that we encourage both employees and managers to revisit regularly- and we believe that there is truly no better way for one to assess, on the one hand, how they are adding value to a company, and on the other hand, whether their strengths and talents are utilized in the best way possible.