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Welcome to The Culture Code podcast. On this podcast, you’ll learn how to grow, shape, and sustain a high-performance culture with the CEO of LEADx, Kevin Kruse. From designing and delivering highly effective leadership development programs, to measuring and improving the employee experience, you will understand what it takes to cultivate a thriving company culture. Through interviews with Chief People Officers, deep dives into key topics, and recordings of our invite-only community sessions, we bring you cutting-edge, data-backed insights from the most desirable companies to work for in the world.
Kruse: Hello, everyone! I'm Kevin Kruse. Welcome to Culture Code. Our guest today is the Chief People Officer of Quizlet, Stephanie Douglass. Stephanie, where are you joining us from today?
Douglass: Today, I'm joining you from just right outside San Francisco.
Kruse: Nice. So close to headquarters.
Douglass: Yeah, we are headquartered in San Francisco, near the ballpark actually.
Kruse: Oh, that's a nice spot. I haven't been there in a while, but I love that.
Douglass: It's beautiful. Yes.
Kruse: For those who might not be familiar with Quizlet, how big is your organization, and in plain language, what do you do?
Douglass: Well, first of all, if you do have kids, you've heard of us. Actually, if you're an adult and you're studying for something like a contractor's exam, a real estate exam, or even a master's degree – so, and it is one of the fun things I will tell you about us in a minute about being with Quizlet. If you wear a Quizlet T-shirt, a lot of people come up to you because you helped them get through school. So it's a beautiful place to work.
We're a global learning platform. We provide engaging AI-powered study tools to help people practice and master whatever they're learning. And every month, we have about 60 million students, teachers, and everyday people who use us to study just about any subject you can imagine. It's pretty neat – it can be school-related, it can be for personal interest. Two out of three high school students and one out of two college students in the US use us right now.
Kruse: That's incredible – the difference you're making. How would you describe your company culture in just a few words?
Douglass: Yeah. You know, I joined only about a year and a half ago, and I have to say what struck me was, you hear a lot about culture, but how people live it? It's a very curious culture, which it should be. We're about learning – the people who work there are absolutely passionate about learning, students, and supporting each other. And then I think this is quite special – it's a very kind culture. It might surprise you, but the kindness I see in the teams here is just unusual.
Kruse: What are some of the ways you foster or sustain this culture? Any unique rituals or traditions related to your culture?
Douglass: Well, we do have a weekly all-hands meeting, and while I know a lot of people have a weekly or monthly all-hands meeting, that's not very unique. What struck me when I first started going to these meetings is how much of the work of all the different teams was celebrated. So you might have an IT team and their work is celebrated just like product teams, and they're really joyous meetings. And there's a lot of interaction. So that's a great thing. We're huge on shout-outs, or people love sharing other people's wins which is nice, it's not just their wins, but other people's, and there's a sweetness in the culture. One thing that really struck me is that people raise their hands in meetings, either virtual or real. They give a lot of space for other people to talk. And when you look at building a culture of inclusivity, those kinds of things, really, if they're naturally built into how your org works, you know they do create a better culture. I also am struck every day by how many times I hear to myself and others, people saying things like, "I can't wait to learn from you. I loved learning that from you." So that's really embedded in the culture as well.
Kruse: You hit on so many things there; I want to do a follow-up. First of all, for our listeners, you know we talk about so many shout-outs, and you know, LEADx research and other companies in the employee engagement space. Recognition is almost always at the top 10 drivers of employee engagement. If you want people who are fully committed and engaged, you want to give recognition. It doesn't always have to be from the manager down; peer recognition is key. But, Steph, remind me and our listeners again, how many employees are at Quizlet?
Douglass: We've got about 250.
Kruse: Do you have an in-office culture, or a hybrid culture? What's that like?
Douglass: We have a hybrid culture. We were in the office until Covid, and then, you know, the world changed and we changed with it. We still have a lot of people who come into our offices and like to engage that way, but we also have remote people.
Kruse: It's great. I ask because you talk about weekly all-hands, right? You know, 70% of engagement is correlated to the manager, and front-line managers touch more employees than any other leadership group. What are some of the ways you develop your front-line managers?
Douglass: Yeah, I mean, I think everyone out there who's got frontline managers understands this is actually really hard. Developing managers is hard. Now, we're in a remote world, and it's even harder because there's less shadowing, perhaps seeing things happen in the office. So, some of the things we do is we do have monthly meetings with our leadership – the people that we call queue leads, directors, and above. We start with the priorities and things that are important to them. We break into focus groups with them to work on team building, and personal development, and it gives them, you know, a safe space (which might be an overused term, but truly a safe space) where they can, not in front of their teams, work through issues that they might be having, our concerns, and share those. We also have a series of learning paths where managers can learn about all facets of managing and leadership, including DEI practices – which are very important. And you know, we think that needs to be embedded into their learning as managers. So, there's the tactical part, but there are also the skills which are called soft skills, but they're incredibly important as you're leading a diverse team, especially, you know, a diverse team.
Kruse: I always use that phrase "soft skills" to stuff because that's what the industry has just grown up with. Like it's not going to change, but it's such a horrible thing to do, right? It's like, I want the power skills, right? Like just call them power skills.
Douglass: I'm going to steal that. I believe in this – steal that for me. I'm going to start calling them power skills.
Kruse: Okay, I've got one convert. Now you go find one, and in a few years, we'll have a dozen. How do you solicit feedback from employees about the culture and their engagement (e.g., engagement or other surveys, town halls, ?)
Douglass: Well, we do the, you know, the engagement surveys. We do this twice a year, and that's a full engagement survey. So, trying to get to all aspects of how people are feeling about the organization, about their teams. We do that. And we do follow-up focus groups because, you know, you can get a lot out of a number, and even some comments. So, we get a lot of comments – people are great about that at this organization. But those focus groups are really helpful and really well-focusing on what's important to people. We were also at the all hands that I was talking about. We have a weekly space for questions about anything from anyone. So, people can ask anything in that public forum, and people do, which is great. We also have a Slack channel where people can dump in any questions they might have or any concerns. So, it's not just questions, but concerns. We try to make it as open as we can with our teams. But that's always, you know, it's always work.
Kruse: You're mentioning so many great things from the manager's monthly meetings, the weekly all-hands, you know. Related to culture, are there any special initiatives or results you’re most proud of?
Douglass: Yeah, I mean, I have to say there's a lot of things. When I came into the organization, I started looking at where you wanted to make your mark. I started doing audits, and I like to start in the DEI space, and what I found out was that there was a great foundation here, especially in our hiring and promotion practices. As for strong, and so the stuff I'm most proud of is things that we built on those foundational processes. Don't want to take credit for all of it, but we could have something wonderful to build on. We've added programming around ongoing education with courses focusing on recognizing bias, building inclusive environments, managing people with different work styles and learning styles. We've done panels showing how different kinds of students learn, which is interesting to our people, but also brings what working and teaching in neurodiverse classrooms and offices looks like. And then we have a program where people get micro-learning every day through Everyday Inclusion, around diversity.
Kruse: That's great. So everything from microlearning and self-paced stuff to the live programs. What book would you recommend that your colleagues read? (or podcast, video, etc.)
Douglass: Well, I mean, I recommend things. I'm sure you're getting all the business books already. So what I'm gonna recommend for my colleagues, if I look at HR. Business people read a lot of books by people talking about a lot of different things in a lot of different cultures, because it will give you a quick way to get some insight into different worlds. So I would read "Cassandra Speaks" by Elizabeth Lesser, talks about women as storytellers. I would read "Brown Is the New White" by Steve Phillips. It talks about the changing demographics in our world. I read things like "Educated" by Tara Westover, so you can understand who are the people who didn't grow up in maybe a traditional family where you'd likely end up where she ended up at the top of academia. So, I think you can really find out a lot by diving into books of different cultures. If you read fiction more, read "How Much of These Hills Is Gold?" by Pam Zhang or "Exit West" by Mohsin Hamid. I think that those will open the world for you a little bit, and you'll be better at interacting with your diverse population.
Kruse: I just got 3 new audiobook credits from Audible, and I can tell they're going to be spent about 5 minutes after this interview. What skill or behavior do you wish your employees did more of?
Douglass: Yeah, we have a very beautiful and humble culture. I would tell my teams to brag, brag a little more. You're doing good, important work. It's meaningful. So get out there and share that a little bit more.
Kruse: That's great, for so many people here. The word "brag." I know you're using it lightly. It has such a negative connotation, right? And of course, there's a gender bias here – men traditionally have a much easier time "bragging," quote and unquote, than women. But just thinking about it as "get out there and bring visibility to your work," right? Just bring visibility to the good work you and your team and your colleagues are doing – that elevates everybody. So, final question: What excites you the most about your company right now?
Douglass: Oh, yeah, you still my thunder. Yeah, I mean, honestly, what doesn't excite me? We're in this drastically changing and exciting time in education, and we're right in the middle of it with students and teachers. So, you know, we get to hear this through our research team and through handwritten cards we get every day. And what I'm excited about is what we're working on – yes, amazing AI tools. It'll continue to democratize our access to education. We're part of a really old, beautiful world.
Kruse: I love the way you put that first. Thanks for the great work your organization is doing, thanks for getting my kids good grades in high school and into good colleges, and thanks for spending so much time with us today – which happens to be a Friday afternoon that we're recording – and sharing your wisdom so we can all learn. I appreciate the time.
Douglass: Oh, thank you, it’s been an honor.