Taran Swan Nichelodeon
Case study
Taran Swan at Nickelodeon Latin America
1. Describe the culture at Nickelodeon Latin America. Be specific How did Swan go about building that culture?
Swan formed an entrepreneurial culture that strives for competition, encourages to take risk and values for new ideas. The strong Nickelodeon identity (“orange blood”) and Swan’s business plan assisted building a clear vision and defining a key business strategy.
In order to build the strong brand and culture Swan had to find people for the dedicated positions and form a multidimensional team. Swan took risk and invested in finding the right person that would fit the organisation because a strong and trustful team was critical. (“I focused on getting the best team possible. I wanted bright, ambitious people who would give their all.”)
The Swan’s team involved different departments and the employees were encouraged to contribute ideas and question each other. (“I was a coach and cheerleaders, trying get people to put in the hours. I tried to give people ownership and help them feel part of a team. I just kept pushing, and kept believing.”). Every Tuesday executive team meetings were arranged to communicate and make consensus-based decisions; though after the team admitted that the information did not reach the lower levels and they agreed on Ni-monthly Update Meetings (“show and tell”). At the beginning Swan chaired the meetings, but later they introduce a system of rotating leadership stressing importance of the team work. The office spirit was open and friendly, thus the employees truthfully appreciated teamwork meetings and off-site communication (“lovefests”).
The corporate culture implied challenges since Swan preferred “big bets”/risk taking strategies and required the team to thing broadly about decision implication. Once a year Swan organized an offsite strategic planning session “Synergy Meeting” to affirm and decide on the projects for the upcoming year. After introduction of
Taran Swan at Nickelodeon Latin America
1. Describe the culture at Nickelodeon Latin America. Be specific How did Swan go about building that culture?
Swan formed an entrepreneurial culture that strives for competition, encourages to take risk and values for new ideas. The strong Nickelodeon identity (“orange blood”) and Swan’s business plan assisted building a clear vision and defining a key business strategy.
In order to build the strong brand and culture Swan had to find people for the dedicated positions and form a multidimensional team. Swan took risk and invested in finding the right person that would fit the organisation because a strong and trustful team was critical. (“I focused on getting the best team possible. I wanted bright, ambitious people who would give their all.”)
The Swan’s team involved different departments and the employees were encouraged to contribute ideas and question each other. (“I was a coach and cheerleaders, trying get people to put in the hours. I tried to give people ownership and help them feel part of a team. I just kept pushing, and kept believing.”). Every Tuesday executive team meetings were arranged to communicate and make consensus-based decisions; though after the team admitted that the information did not reach the lower levels and they agreed on Ni-monthly Update Meetings (“show and tell”). At the beginning Swan chaired the meetings, but later they introduce a system of rotating leadership stressing importance of the team work. The office spirit was open and friendly, thus the employees truthfully appreciated teamwork meetings and off-site communication (“lovefests”).
The corporate culture implied challenges since Swan preferred “big bets”/risk taking strategies and required the team to thing broadly about decision implication. Once a year Swan organized an offsite strategic planning session “Synergy Meeting” to affirm and decide on the projects for the upcoming year. After introduction of