Download - The SmallBox Playbook
T H E P L A Y B O O K
EDITION 1
Hello there, welcome to the SmallBox “playbook.”
WELCOME
We think most employee handbooks aren’t that
helpful, or even read by the employees, but we
hope that this playbook will help you do great
things at SmallBox and beyond.
DO GREATTHINGS.
DO GREATTHINGS.
no. 1
06OUR ORIGIN STORY
Pitching NUVO
How we got our name
Initial growth
What the CMS wrought
Following opportunities
Growing up
Getting intentional
18THE SMALLBOX WAY
Being present
Creating value
Practicing respect
Thinking like an owner
Embracing failure and mistakes
Holding each other accountable
Engaging in healthy conflict
Building healthy habits & behaviors
12THE BIG PICTURE
Core values
Why are we here?
Our definition of “great”
What do we do?
What we believe
Where are we going?
24OUR INSTITUTIONS
Factory Week
Nice Grants
24 Hour Web Project
Think Kit
CONTENTS
26HR STUFF
Commonsense practices
Advice for new hires
Benefits and perks
Performance reviews
Who is my boss?
How to get a raise
Professional development
Conferences and certifications
Employee graduation
32MONEY STUFF
How to use your company credit card
Company structure
How profit share works
36QUESTIONS
How should we treat clients?
What does our ideal client look like?
What is “our culture?”
Can I do freelance work?
What’s up with all these meetings?
What is our role in the community?
What’s my role in SmallBox’s culture?
Do we have a dress code?
40MISC. STUFF
Recommended reading
Appendices
Our Origin StoryPITCHING NUVO
HOW WE GOT OUR NAME
INITIAL GROWTH
WHAT THE CMS WROUGHT
FOLLOWING OPPORTUNITIES
GROWING UP
GETTING INTENTIONAL
HISTORY
6
WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN…
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7
e want every employee to know our origins. We
have a tight knit team and it can be a little intimidating
coming into this company – we get that. We hope that
some background on how we got started and our “early”
years will create some context for you. In many ways,
who we are is a composite of our experiences, our shared
story. Now you have the opportunity to continue and
expand this story.
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let’s go back in time – waaay back to 2005. SmallBox’s
co-founders, Jeb Banner and Joe Downey, were both
working at Antique Helper, an auction house here in Indy.
Jeb had co-founded Antique Helper with Dan Ripley in
2001, but he was ready to do something new. Jeb and Joe
built a couple websites together, including the Antique
Helper website and musicalfamilytree.com. Joe coded and
Jeb pointed at the screen and said, “Make it do this!” They
worked well together and saw the potential to build a new
business around website development.
Musical Family Tree is an important part to the story. We
didn’t know it yet, but it put us on a path of doing things
differently. It put investing in what we believe and caring
about community in our DNA.
PITCHING NUVO
Not one to start small, Jeb decided to pitch NUVO
Newsweekly on a new website. This would be the third
website Jeb and Joe would build together. It was big and
bold with social networking functionality. It was a real
beast. For some reason NUVO’s editor Kevin McKinney saw
something in this fledgling company and took the chance.
It didn’t hurt that the price was right: $8,000. Now this
company needed a name.
HOW WE GOT OUR NAME
During the early weeks of 2006, SmallBox was born. On
an unseasonably warm winter day Jeb took a walk around
What’s the story?
9
JUSTBUILD.
no.44
his neighborhood and brainstormed on names. He thought
about what the company wouldn’t be – namely it wouldn’t
be “big box.” And he thought about the iPod in his pocket.
Such a small thing, yet it carried as much music as his record
collection. Devices were getting smaller but more powerful.
Small teams were doing big things with very little overhead.
SmallBox spoke to all of this. It might not have been the
best name, but it meant something and there was a contract
with NUVO that needed to be inked.
INITIAL GROWTH
Working with NUVO created new opportunities. Jeb’s friend
and former roommate PJ Christie jumped on board as a
project manager. Lydia Whitehead was NUVO’s designer
on the website project and soon joined SmallBox full time.
Soon Jack Shepler, Jordan Wilson, Karl Hofstetter, Ben
Jehring and others joined the fold. Starting from one little
office shared by Jeb, Joe and PJ, SmallBox began to grow.
WHAT THE CMS WROUGHT
Over the course of our first year in business we decided to
build our own CMS. We looked at Wordpress, Joomla and
Drupal, but all seemed limited in different ways. So we built
our own custom solution. People loved it.
It caught the attention of MediaSauce, a local digital agency
that was growing quickly, and before long SmallBox was
building their websites. This relationship lasted about two
years (from 2007-2009) and resulted in more than 30
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NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO BUILD ON THAT FOUNDATION.
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websites launching. Despite the confines of being a sub-
contractor, the experience was a crash course in how
agencies work (for better or worse), created needed cash
flow and introduced us to an army of talented folks, a few
of which became SmallBoxers later (Leigh Marino, Justin
Lacey and Tyler Bender).
FOLLOWING OPPORTUNITIES
As many businesses do, SmallBox grew by following
opportunities. But over time we found ourselves
organizationally unfocused and frustrated by some of the
work we were doing. By 2010, the early excitement had
evaporated. We wanted to stop jumping from project to
project, to saying yes to whatever walked in the door.
We were ready to grow up.
We began to define the opportunities we
wanted, the work we wanted to do, and the
impact we wanted to make.
GROWING UP
Part of growing up was moving from a website company to
a full-service creative agency. Our design and development
services had matured, and it was time to go deeper.
Leigh Marino brought creative concepting and traditional
advertising experience, which pushed our work to be more
strategic. Jeb had hired Dan Fahrner to be the managing
director of Musical Family Tree, but he quickly pivoted to
building out the marketing side of SmallBox. Dan’s first
hire, Sara McGuyer, grew from a freelance strategist to our
first internal marketer. We were bringing our brand to life
in new ways. We also started thinking about process, from
both a creative and operational standpoint. Our first office
manager, Elizabeth Heil, brought operational order to a
house admittedly full of chaos.
GETTING INTENTIONAL
SmallBox 2.0 was really born over our first Factory Week
during the summer of 2011. Although we didn’t really know it
then, we were at the beginning of a new journey, one that
we continue today. We were becoming a purposeful company.
We began to define the opportunities we wanted, the work
we wanted to do, and the impact we wanted to make.
The Big PictureCORE VALUES
WHY ARE WE HERE?
OUR DEFINITION OF “GREAT”
WHAT DO WE DO?
WHAT WE BELIEVE
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
12
DIRECTION
hy are we here? Where are we going? Hopefully
this section of the playbook can help illuminate
the path a little. Just keep in mind, we are constantly
challenging ourselves to better understand and define
who we are and where we are going.
WE ARE NEVER FINISHED.
W
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CORE VALUES
These are not just words for us, they are behaviors and
benchmarks. We realize that at many organizations core
values are written once and forgotten. Not here. You
will hear us talk about these again and again. We hold
ourselves accountable to them. No one, from CEO to intern,
is above the law when it comes to our core values.
WHY ARE WE HERE? aka Purpose
In 2011 we had something of an existential crisis. “Ack!” we
uttered. “What is the purpose of this ‘SmallBox’? Why do
we exist?” After much soul searching – individually and
collectively – we decided our purpose was, drumroll... “to
do great things!” That might seem a little vague at first, so
let’s unpack it.
Do: We are action oriented. We don’t just want to think
about stuff, we want to do it. If we aren’t creating impact
then we aren’t fulfilling our purpose.
Great: We use the word “great” a lot. But what does that
really mean? First thing to keep in mind is that great is
not perfect. There is a place for perfect and sometimes
we get there, but that isn’t the same thing as great. Great
stands outside of perfection. Great creates “wow.” It
surprises, it can be subtle, it can be bold, it can even be
messy. Bottom line, great endures.
Things: We are not limited to digital. We want to do all
kinds of great things – things Online, in person, and in
the community. Heck, maybe we’ll get to do great things
in space someday!
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CURIOSITYAlways start with understanding, with asking why and getting to the
bottom of things. If we find ourselves talking more than listening, then we
probably aren’t being curious enough.
COURAGEBe bold and willing to have hard conversations, take on challenging work
and do truly great things. The hidden driver of courage is vulnerability.
Being willing to say “I don’t know” or “I need help” takes courage.
COLLABORATIONWhen in doubt, default to collaboration. Seek outside perspective, be
willing to let your ideas flourish or die as needed. There are times for focus
and times for input. Find and practice a healthy balance between the two.
PERSISTENCEWhen you hit a wall, find a way through it, around it or over it. In the rare
cases when you give up or run out of time, accept failure and learn from it.
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core values
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SmallBox partners with authentic organizations to create meaningful
experiences for both customers and employees. We believe that
strategic alignment around purpose and values is the foundation of
strong brands. Our unique Culture-Powered Marketing approach
helps build a better culture and gets results.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe that marketing starts with the employee experience. We
see that the employee experience drives the customer experience,
which is the most effective way to build an amazing brand experience.
Therefore, we believe organizations that create meaning for their
employees also create powerful marketing, sometimes as an accidental
by-product. So why not be intentional?
We see a new way of marketing that can require organizational
transformation. It starts with purpose and is driven by vision.
Organizations that align themselves around great causes attract
great people. We believe that people need and seek meaning across
all areas of their lives, especially work. Meaningless, stressful work
literally kills us. It also kills businesses.
We believe that healthy organizations are filled with happy people
doing work they love. We believe that healthy organizations pretty
much market themselves. Therefore, we consider our tactical work
as an agency to be training wheels that should be removed as our
clients gain strength in their voice and mastery of the tools needed
to amplify it.
WHERE WE ARE GOING? aka Vision
We see a revolution coming and we want to help spark it. We see a
unique opportunity to realign organizations around purpose and
away from profit. Ironically it will be profit that drives this change. The
most profitable companies will soon be the ones that create the best
employee experiences. They value experience over bureaucracy,
ideas over hours, design over efficiency. They know that an engaged,
passionate worker is vastly more valuable (and efficient) than one that
hates his job. These organizations will attract the very best people,
create amazing experiences for them and their customers and they
will dominate their markets. The rest will wither and die, wondering
why their marketing and sales are increasingly ineffective.
Great
17
stands outside of perfection. Great creates “WOW.” It surprises, it can be subtle,,it can be bold, it can even be mBOTTOM LINE
Great
Great endures.
essy.
The SmallBox “Way”BEING PRESENT
CREATING VALUE
PRACTICING RESPECT
THINKING LIKE AN OWNER
EMBRACING FAILURE AND MISTAKES
HOLDING EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE
ENGAGING IN HEALTHY CONFLICT
BUILDING HEALTHY HABITS & BEHAVIORS
18
ACTIONS
19
his is stuff we expect from every employee. In many
ways these items expand on our core values – getting
into specific ways we need to be curious, engage in
collaboration, have courage and be persistent.
TIME TO ACT.
T
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BEING PRESENT
Whether you are engaged in your work, a conversation,
observing or taking a walk, you are encouraged to always
be fully present. Don’t check your email or phone during a
meeting unless it’s an emergency. Commit fully to whatever
you are doing or stop doing it.
CREATING VALUE
By value we mean additive. When 1 + 1 = 3. Moving ideas,
projects and opportunities along in meaningful ways. Go
that extra mile to transform whatever you are doing from
good to great. Don’t settle, re-scope.
PRACTICING RESPECT
Create the experience for others that you want to have for
yourself. Always assume the best in others until they prove
otherwise. Respect your team, your clients, your community
and, most of all, yourself. Always err on the side of respect
and kindness.
THINKING LIKE AN OWNER
We encourage thinking like an owner. Everyone from the
intern to the CEO is expected to participate and speak up.
We value the opinions of all team members. On the flip
side, we must recognize when the time is right to make
space for others to speak up.
21
EMBRACING FAILURE AND MISTAKES
You will be expected to fail and make mistakes. This may
be a new thing for you – a place that encourages productive
failure. When you fail you will be held accountable. Not in a “I
told you so” kind of way but in a “Hey, that didn’t work, what
did we learn?” kind of way. The key is to not make the same
mistakes repeatedly. Once you have awareness around your
failure you should recognize it as a growth opportunity, a
chance to get to the next level. Continue to make better and
smarter mistakes.
We are constantly revisiting the
ways in which we work. Above,
you can see us mapping out our
entire process (with the help of
some serious coffee).
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We must practice healthy conflict to
do great things. There is absolutely
no way around it. Expect it and bring
it, with kindness and love. We must
always remember to treat each other
with kindness and love.
MAKEDISCOVERIES.
no.21
23
HOLDING EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE
This is where companies cross the line from
good to great. Accountability is probably
the hardest thing to do – in business, in life,
in general. We all have those gut reactions
when something isn’t right. This is an area
of weakness for us. We aren’t there yet, but
we know that we cannot achieve lasting
results without it. Transparent accountability
is our great opportunity to realize our vision.
ENGAGING IN HEALTHY CONFLICT
We must practice healthy conflict to do great
things. There is no way around it. Expect
it and bring it, with kindness and love. We
must always remember to treat each other
with kindness and love, especially when
engaging in conflict. If you struggle with
conflict then we recommend you read Crucial
Conversations. It will help, but it never gets
easy. Conflict is hard.
BUILDING HEALTHY HABITS & BEHAVIORS
We believe that successful organizations
are essentially a collection of great
habits and behaviors. Here are some we
encourage you to embrace. Plan your week
in advance. Seek mentorship, internally
and externally. Clean up after yourself. Do
what you say you are going to do, every
time. Don’t limit yourself to title, experience
or responsibilities. Explore and grow at
all times. Work from a default of seeking
forgiveness not permission, balanced by
not being an insensitive jerk. If you step on
someone’s toes, apologize for the pain but
not for the initiative. Also, learn when to get
some distance. Take a walk or grab a Nicey
Treat and get some perspective before
re-attacking your work with fresh vigor. Your
mind is a muscle that needs rest.
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inkkit
.org
O U R I N S T I T U T I O N S
HR Stuff
COMMONSENSE PRACTICES
ADVICE FOR NEW HIRES
BENEFITS AND PERKS
PERFORMANCE REVIEWS
WHO IS MY BOSS?
HOW TO GET A RAISE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
CONFERENCES AND CERTIFICATIONS
EMPLOYEE GRADUATION
BASICS
26
27
e know, even the term “HR” (Human Resources)
can feel yucky and a little un-SmallBox-y, but the
function is necessary to run a healthy business. So here
are some items that need to be categorized as such.
OUR CODE OF CONDUCT: BE NICE.
W
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1 COMMONSENSE PRACTICES
Don’t harass people or make them feel uncomfortable. Don’t say racist, sexist or generally
offensive things. If you hurt someone’s feelings or offend them in some way, which
happens from time to time, make it your business to get things right as quickly as
possible. We cannot have an intimidating work environment. Anyone that engages in
negative behavior is on the road to being let go.
ADVICE FOR NEW HIRES
Be curious and don’t worry about stepping on someone’s turf or toes. We encourage you
to be adventurous and explore the company. People that may seem unapproachable
aren’t really, they are just focused on doing great work. Throw something at them and
say “Hey, what’s up?” In time, we hope you’ll feel more and more at home.
BENEFITS AND PERKS
Here’s all the good stuff coming your way when you work at SmallBox. We want you to
be set up for success and we hope this stuff helps.
• Insurance: All full-time SmallBox employees are eligible for health, dental and
vision insurance. We cover 75% of your individual premiums and 50% of the
premiums for your dependents. We also provide long-term disability coverage.
• Phone and Internet: We cover your monthly cell phone bill and a portion of your
home Internet bill.
• IRA matching plan: We offer a simple IRA matching plan. We match up to 3% of
salary or $12,000 per year max.
• Speak Easy membership: Our work home away from home. The Speak Easy was
co-founded by Jeb in 2011. It’s a great space to escape to, hold an off site meeting
or grab an after-work beer.
• Professional development: We support membership in professional groups,
attendance at events and conferences and other learning opportunities. If an
opportunity aligns with your career path, we’ll find a way to make it work.
• Wellness perks: We cover the cost of one monthly massage, acupuncture or
chiropractic session at Jansen Chiropractic.
• Quarterly profit sharing: Employees benefit from SmallBox’s quarterly profit
sharing program. If we’re successful, we want to share it across the team. You
start with one point, and for each additional six months of being a ‘Boxer, you earn
another point. Profit is divided up across the team.
• Freedom: That’s right, no more counting days off for you. We don’t set a limit to
sick or vacation time.
• Monday team lunch: We buy lunch for the whole team every Monday and talk
important business and usually laugh together a little too. Sometimes there’s
dancing or song-singing. You never know what can happen.
• Surprises: You may be surprised with ice cream, cake, or pie on your birthday. THIS
IS IMPORTANT! What’s your favorite? Seriously. We need to know.
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PERFORMANCE REVIEWS
All SmallBox employees have monthly reviews with their respective team leads, and quarterly
lunch meetings/reviews with our CEO, Jeb Banner. Our Chief Culture Officer Sara McGuyer
will conduct a career path session with you that will inform your individual goals as well as
your monthly check-ins.
These reviews provide the opportunity to highlight areas where you are excelling and areas
where you could use some work. Keep in mind that these meetings go both ways – not
only will you learn what you need to do to improve your performance, you will also have
the chance to voice your own concerns. We want our employees to excel – if that means
requesting the opportunity to develop a new skill or seeking assistance in identifying areas
that need improvement, just let us know!
WHO IS MY BOSS?
No one, everyone, your fellow employee, the client, the community. If you need help
figuring out what to do you can talk to your team lead. They’re your accountability partner.
HOW TO GET A RAISE
Be exceptional, consistently. Bring and build transformative ideas, consistently. Make others
better, consistently. We offer up to 10% raises annually. Your team lead will work with you
on this in your monthly one-on-one during your anniversary month.
DISRUPTYOURSELF.
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BUILD AND BRING TRANSFORMATIVE IDEAS
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
As a group of curious, life-long learners, we’re serious about professional development.
Soon after you start at SmallBox, we’ll have a conversation about your career path and
where you want to be in ten years. You will choose smaller goals that point you toward your
path. It won’t stop there.
CONFERENCES AND CERTIFICATIONS
At least twice per year, we offer group training opportunities around core skills. Topics may
include communication or creative concepting that will be beneficial to all (or most) team
members – things like the Myers-Briggs assessment plus workshop, or the training to be a
better facilitator.
For out of town and larger investment conferences or certifications (more than $300):
We generally send at least a few people per year to major conferences or training
opportunities. You’re encouraged to research and find opportunities for these. Work with
your team lead to determine if the opportunity is the right fit.
The criteria for selecting these should include:
• Is this opportunity aligned with your career path and current goals?
• Will you learn something new or more advanced than your current skill set?
These opportunities are subject to budget and timing. Just let Sara know, and she’ll work to
find a way to get you set up.
Smaller stuff:
• We cover the cost of one art class per year at Indianapolis Art Center. See Abby for
instructions on how to sign up!
• Local events and trainings under $300 can be purchased with your AmEx – just do it!
You don’t need permission.
• Your AmEx can also be used to purchase books or supplies.
EMPLOYEE GRADUATION
It is unlikely that you will retire from SmallBox. If some of us do, then yippee! But most likely
this will not be your last job. That’s ok. So when you feel like you are starting to level out,
or if the role you are in isn’t the right fit or if there is a killer opportunity you just can’t say
no to… don’t worry. Turnover and change is a good thing for individuals and organizations.
Graduation is how we think of someone leaving SmallBox, and if you “graduate” then we
want you leave on positive terms. Once you resettle, come by and visit, stop in for a Beer
Friday, let us know how we can help promote things you’re doing, etc. Once a ’Boxer always
a ’Boxer. We love our alumni. Also, we have been known to help SmallBoxers start their own
businesses. Something to think about if you feel the entrepreneurial itch coming on.
Money Stuff
HOW TO USE YOUR COMPANY CREDIT CARD
COMPANY STRUCTURE
HOW PROFIT SHARE WORKS
FINANCE
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ou know what? We make and use money to do stuff!
So it’s good to have an understanding of what role
money plays in our company. This is why we send out
a weekly “Monday Money” report that shows our bank
balances, receivables, payables, etc. We figure the more
you know the better. Really the only thing we don’t
share is individual salaries.
USE IT WHEN YOU NEED IT.
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1 HOW TO USE YOUR COMPANY CREDIT CARD
Upon arriving at SmallBox you were issued
an AmEx card. Sweet! Ok, how should you
use this thing? First off, and this is obvious
but we want to mention it – this isn’t for
personal stuff. If you need a short term loan
or to buy a new record player, that’s great,
but it’s not what this card is for. So what is
it for? It’s for buying things you need to do
your job, for taking a teammate or peer out
to lunch, to take a client out to eat, to use
for travel expenses when visiting a client or
going to a conference, for buying a book
relevant to your professional development
and yes, for Beer Friday.
COMPANY STRUCTURE
In case you are interested, here are
some facts about how we are structured
business-wise. We are an S-Corp (feel free
to google that later). Basically, all profits
“pass through” to the owners. Who are
those owners? Jeb Banner and Joe Downey
each own 50% of the company. So any
company profits that aren’t distributed to
employees then flow through to Jeb and
Joe’s personal tax returns. Sometimes
this can be confusing since a company
can show X dollars profit but not have X
dollars in the bank. Often Jeb and Joe
have to pay taxes on “profit” they never
received. This is because some of the
things we spend money on might not be
considered an expense by the government
– building improvements, investments in
other companies and other stuff like that.
When this happens the company covers
the tax bill. Keep this in mind when reading
the next section. Keeping cash on hand for
taxes and growth is a healthy practice.
HOW PROFIT SHARE WORKS
When we do have profit, we do an employee
profit share on a quarterly basis. If we have
a first quarter profit, we would distribute that
sometime in the second quarter (probably
late April or early May).
How does it work? Every employee gets
one share for every 6 months they have
worked at SmallBox with a minimum of
one share – meaning once you are hired
you have a share and then a second after
12 months, etc. So if you have been at
SmallBox 3 years you have 6 shares. We
tend to round up when in doubt. 2 years
and 5 months? 5 shares. We then decide
what percentage of our profit to share. This
is a decision made by the owners and the
leadership team. For instance, we might
do a $10k distribution on $40k in profit. If
there are 200 total shares (meaning all our
individual shares add up to 200 total) then
each share would be $50. If you had 10
shares you would get $500 added to your
payroll. Not too shabby, but also no reason
to go buy a yacht.
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Your AmEx is for buying things you need to do
your job, for taking a teammate or peer out to
lunch, to take a client out to eat, to use for travel
expenses when visiting a client, for buying a
book relevant to your professional development,
and yes, for Beer Friday.
Questions, Questions
HOW SHOULD WE TREAT CLIENTS?
WHAT DOES OUR IDEAL CLIENT LOOK LIKE?
WHAT IS “OUR CULTURE?”
CAN I DO FREELANCE WORK?
WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THESE MEETINGS?
WHAT IS OUR ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY?
WHAT’S MY ROLE IN SMALLBOX CULTURE?
DO WE HAVE A DRESS CODE?
FAQ
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ou may have some questions from time to time about
SmallBox and how we engage in the community,
work with clients, etc. Here’s an FAQ section of sorts to
help answer some of those questions.
GO AHEAD, ASK AWAY.
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HOW SHOULD WE TREAT CLIENTS?
We must treat our clients with great respect. We must strive
to speak no differently of them when they are present
or absent. If we have an issue with a client we must feel
comfortable addressing it with them quickly. An honest,
timely conversation can do a world of good, and avoid a
good deal of pain for all involved. Our job is to understand
and then lead the client. We must always return to a place
of understanding when we fall out of sync with our clients.
It will happen: catch it quickly and get things back on track.
WHO IS OUR IDEAL CLIENT?
Often our clients are larger non-profits, service businesses,
foundations, universities, associations, etc. But we have
been known to work well with many different types of
organizations. This is driven by our mission statement
to “collaborate with authentic organizations to create
meaningful experiences.”
What does it mean to be an “authentic organization?” We
see it as an organization that is walking toward transparency
and accountability. In time you will learn to sniff out an
ideal client through their language, culture and reputation.
Are they secretive or open? Do they trust each other or tear
each other down? Is their office vibe positive or negative?
WHAT IS OUR “CULTURE?”
We sometimes talk about culture being the “umami” of an
organization. What the heck is that? Well, umami is a
Japanese word to describe the fifth flavor. After salty, sweet,
bitter and sour you have savory, or umami, which is more
fun to say. Culture is something that always happens. There
is no organization without a culture. It may be bad, good,
boring, weird, exciting, etc, but it always exists. So our
thinking is, why not make it awesome? Also, there are very
real benefits to having a healthy, awesome culture. It makes
SmallBox attractive to potential employees and clients. It
helps keeps them around. But culture, for us, is more than
just fun and games. It’s about how we behave, it’s about our
values – curiosity, courage, collaboration and persistence.
We must live our values at all times to maintain a healthy
culture. If we compromise on our values we undermine the
foundation of our culture. Trust begins to erode and then all
hell breaks loose. Well, not literally, but you get the idea.
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CAN I DO FREELANCE WORK?
Yes! We believe that having outside perspective and
influences is very healthy. Every business, no matter how
great it might be, can become something of a fish bowl.
Doing some freelance work, especially when it helps build
new muscles, is an effective way to stay on top of your
craft and bring new ideas back into the fold. We do want to
mention that we always expect you to put SmallBox work
first. If you aren’t hitting your deadlines and doing great
work then we will start to wonder about your priorities.
WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THESE MEETINGS?
Some people think meetings are a waste of time and they
certainly can be. But we think meetings can and should be
compelling experiences. We look to the Patrick Lencioni
book Death By Meeting as our model. A great read if you
want to check it out, 2-3 hours tops. We have adapted the
meeting structure from Death By Meeting and have been
tweaking it over the last couple years. You will quickly
learn our meeting cadence and if you have ideas on how
to improve it we are very open to ideas. Also, if you find
yourself in a boring or unnecessary meeting, feel free to do
something about it!
WHAT’S OUR COMMUNITY ROLE?
It’s no secret that we are actively involved in the community.
This isn’t by accident. There are several reasons: First, we
care. Second, it makes stuff better. Third, it connects us with
great people. Fourth, it creates opportunities (for personal
growth, for sales). When considering a community opportunity
for us, we suggest you use this as a filter, in that order.
WHAT’S MY ROLE IN OUR CULTURE?
We expect everyone to engage in our team culture in their
own way. Some ’Boxers like to lead, some like to follow.
Some want to engage in the community, some want to
engage more internally. Our only request is that you find a
way to get involved that is personally meaningful to you –
whether it’s blogging, presenting at a ‘Box Lunch, starting
a new cultural institution or pulling together a random
“Nicing.” If you think of this as just a job then you are in the
wrong place.
DO WE HAVE A DRESS CODE?
Not really, but we do encourage you to dress for your
calendar. If you have a presentation in front of a more
conservative client and you think it would be best to
dress up a little, then go for it! If you feel like you are more
comfortable and confident dressing in jeans and a T-shirt
then go for it as well. Or maybe you feel like wearing a tux
on Tuesdays. That’s good with us. Just be conscious of the
experience you are creating. We suggest looking at your
calendar before getting dressed for the day. If you get too
far out of whack one way or another, we’ll tell you.
Misc. Stuff
RECOMMENDED READING
APPENDICES
EXTRAS
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his playbook just scratches the surface of getting to
know the SmallBox way. Read on for a few more
resources to help you better understand our philosophy
and ways of working.
CHECK OUT THE ODDS AND ENDS.
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Although there is a wealth of knowledge and experience within the walls of SmallBox, we
don’t want you to get stuck in a bubble. Here are some great books that we have found
helpful in our growth (individually and collectively). We suggest you consider these and
we also encourage you to recommend some of your own.
(you are welcome to buy these with your company credit card or grab one from Jeb’s bookshelf)
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• 5 Dysfunctions Of Team, Death By Meeting, Advantage or literally anything by
Patrick Lencioni
• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al
Switzler
• Rework by 37 Signals
• Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan and others
• Give and Take by Adam Grant
• Power Cues by Nick Morgan
• Traction or Get A Grip by Gino Wickman
• The Starfish and The Spider by Ori Brafman
• A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
RECOMMENDED READING
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APPENDIX ITEM 1 – SALES PROCESS
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APPENDIX ITEM 2 – SMALLBOX METHODOLOGY
DISCOVER PLAN CREATE
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PROMOTE MEASURE ADAPT
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CREATE BELIEVERS.
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no. 3
CREATE BELIEVERS.
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THE PLAYBOOK
EDITION1