Wisdom of the Crowd: Nurturing a Global Community at Qualtrics

We love finding new ways to incorporate our company values into our daily life. Often we will develop programs or processes that encourage us to better live our values. As an example, we have a "Snippets" initiative which helps us focus on our values of “Transparency” and “One Team.” Snippets are a form of weekly goal or top priority setting but with a twist: everyone’s Snippets are shared via email with their team, and our top company leaders have their Snippets shared company-wide. By making our weekly goals visible (Transparency) we gain a sense of accountability, but more importantly, our team members are now uniquely able to help us achieve our goals (One Team). After all, you can’t be helped if no one knows what you need help with. 

But what do you do when a program isn't having the robust participation you know is critical for its success and the growth of cultural elements? Well, in early 2018 we had to answer that very question as participation in Snippets began to decline. Ultimately, we answered that question by implementing a new weekly series called “Wisdom of the Crowd.” In it, we ask questions focused on gathering the wisdom of Qualtrics employees on different grab-bag style topics. Then, the answers are shared company-wide by email at the end of each week. The intent was this would inject some fun into weekly goal setting and cause a resurgence in participation numbers. 

Thinking of personal values, what is your most precious value and why? 

“Being content and centered...Being able to detach from the chatter of what could be done, and be content with the present is hard and precious.”

While Wisdom of the Crowd did spike participation in Snippets, it also had another unplanned and far-reaching impact. Because the answers to the questions were sent out to the company each week, a new sense of connection developed. At the time, we were still adjusting to being an ever-expanding global company and still figuring out how to infuse culture on a global scale. Wisdom of the Crowd became an important aid in helping to build our sense of community. It put us all in the same conversation so that we could share, laugh, and learn with each other on a weekly basis. We got to read about the movie-going rituals of our team in Australia, what someone in Provo does to recover from a bad day, where the best burger is in Dublin, or what brought a smile to a person’s face in Seattle. 

Where were you born? What is your favorite thing about your hometown?

“Italy! Favorite thing would be the vibe of getting into conversations with anyone around town. I miss walking to the paper stand, the coffee shop, sitting in the central square, and just picking up chats with whoever walks by. People have so many fun stories that become iconic and everyone in town knows them!”

Everyone across the world and from every part of the organization has participated in some way or another whether it be writing or reading responses. In fact, the impact of the weekly series was such that people who were not part of the Snippets team wanted to participate in the creation and curation of the questions. There is now a committee made entirely of volunteers who write their own questions and select from the hundreds of suggestions they get sent.

What was meant to be a simple motivator to participate in a weekly goal-setting program has become a larger part of the behaviors we are developing to promote our culture. Wisdom of the Crowd has created a space for all of us to become closer to each other, whether we live on opposite sides of the world or lead a large-scale department. It’s part of what grows the electric community we have-- a community people can feel the minute they come in the building. 

When you are having a bad day, what do you do to make things better? 

“Watch videos of Labrador retrievers.”

As we’ve watched the positive impact continue to grow over the last year and a half, we knew we needed to find a way to share this on a larger scale. So, in the spirit of One Team, we are opening up our community and inviting you in. We are launching a weekly Instagram series where every Wednesday the Qualtrics Life story will highlight responses to a previous Wisdom of the Crowd question. Now you can laugh, learn, and grow along with us by watching our #WednesdayWisdom stories each week. To follow us on Instagram click here. 

To learn more about Qualtrics, our culture, and our people explore the rest of the Qualtrics Life blog. You'll find our take on the Q-mmunity, stories from the team on how they're fulfilling parts of their lives with their work at Qualtrics, as well as thought leadership, and stories of how we're closing experience gaps in our own lives.