Douglas was previously Director of Corporate Development at Freeserve but has now been at innocent for four years.

So I ask him if he were now to leave innocent to work within a large global organization again, what is and is not transferable from what has made innocent successful?

More generally, what thinking, behaviour and culture can one usefully take from a relatively small single brand company to apply in a large multi-brand one?

What follows is a combination of 
Douglas’ words, Adam’s pencil, and some notes…


1. Brand is 30% of the reason for innocent’s success. Most of it is the culture
.


2. If I were to take my learnings from innocent back to Freeserve, the key thing it has made clear is to start with the purpose and the vision. Get real clarity over that. Then let that guide who you bring into the organisation – who you need to help you do it.
 Where Freeserve stalled was in painting the next stage of the journey after the initial success.


3. In terms of the people who you can change, focus on the juniors. The seniors can’t adapt. Recruit the juniors to be the right people, and place bigger bets on them. A lot of the people driving the culture at innocent are people who have only been there 18 months. And the company gives responsibility to younger people, 25 year olds, earlier. 
 


4. What people see at innocent is an environment of permissibility, and that is encouraged. What they don’t see is the rigor of objective setting underneath and its a rigor much greater than anything I witnessed at France Telecom or KPMG – twice a year, for every member of staff.

Innocent starts with feedback fortnightly (360 review), then reviews and sets objectives for the next month. There is a five-point scale 1-5. 10% of people get 5s which is the best result, 25% get 4s and 50% get 3s – and bear in mind these are all very motivated high achievers and then there is a bonus and salary review at the end of the year.

This rigor is the bedrock on which we allow everyone to wear shorts, and walk around drinking beer on Friday afternoons. It allows them to make very conscious choices in everything they do. 
 


5. Random seating. This is really important. Of the five people sitting nearest to Douglas only one is a direct report. The others are: The Next Big Innovation Person, The Brand Manager in the Marketing Team, a Project Manager, The Technical Quality person, and Douglas’ Product Developer. There is very little value in all sitting next to each other within a discipline. So much energy is wasted in second guessing other departments – just eliminate that. 
 


6. Rip out offices. Overheard conversations critical to the culture and to interconnection. They find other ways to help teams connect:
 

- ‘Quick Splash’ meetings on Monday mornings
- 10 minute catchups

- Formal monthly meetings

- Relevant project meetings

- Lots of ‘chill out spaces’ (not bookable) for informal meetings to happen regularly


I loved my office at Freeserve, but it was unnecessary. His PA at innocent sits a very long way from Douglas. Important for the palpable energy it gives the building. 
 


7. Allow the culture to grow organically – don’t just stick in a funky bar. Create a fund and permissibility. And wait for someone to come forward with an idea, and a mini-general-management idea that they then have to go away and make happen.

We have scholarships of £1000 each – we offer them for someone with an idea that they have always wanted to fulfill. Someone recently remade Thriller and posted it on YouTube. It was great for us, and a dream realised for them. 
 


8. Create the spaces that allow all this to happen. That allow for different kinds of conversations. Chill out spaces, kitchen, etc. 
 


9. What wouldn’t I take back? Don’t try to copy the public face of innocent, the brand. That’s the last place I would go. Take the internal culture as a midwife for self expression. 
 


10. If I went back I would focus less on making the change and more on fostering the environment for change.

11. The world underestimates young, bright people. Take risks on them.