10 Guiding Principles for Building a Positive Sustainable Team Culture

Was talking to a friend this morning about the interpersonal relationship at the workplace and how conflicts are inevitable as a team gets bigger.

What makes a team productive is the diversity of personalities, capabilities and point-of-views. The same quality is also the source of disagreements. In case of conflict, however, we view each other as enemies and forget the fact that we have more in common than different.

I have also seen some other companies with culture merely built on the age-less lesson “find a common enemy and you’ll find a common purpose”. May that common enemy be the competition, a customer service issue, or a PR crisis. While it may work fine, the culture is short-lived and unsustainable because it is creating belonging by exclusion and othering. Simply put, it is creating bad vibes.

I learnt a very valuable lesson about working-togetherness during my time at Expedia. With more than 25,000 employees globally, Expedia set out 10 Guiding Principles to become the everyday language and way of doing globally.

The “Expedia Group Guiding Principles” are:

1. Put Yourself in the Shoes of our Customers and Partners

2. One Team, Group First

3. Have a Bias to Action

4. Relentlessly Strive for Better

5. Think Big and Small

6. Be Data Driven and Business Judgment Led

7. Simplify

8. Be Open and Honest

9. Be Humble

10. Be Positive. Assume Positive Intent

I carry these guiding principles with me to all my next roles after Expedia. They are still part of my everyday language at work — and sometimes at home but my children don’t seem to appreciate me saying, “Have a bias to action!” — and certainly guide my behaviour and strategic thinking unconsciously.

Importantly, these guiding principles help me bring my team together, communicate strategies effectively and solve problems collaboratively and productively.

A positive sustainable team is built on the foundation of common values and oneness. Simply, it just creates good vibes.

P.S. Picture of me on my last day at Expedia back in 2013, and I rejoined the group again in 2019 in a different capacity. Good times!

(Disclaimer: I left Expedia in 2013 and in 2019 again. I don’t think Expedia is using the 10 Guiding Principles anymore at the date of this post… someone can fact-check).