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When Pixar found itself with both a need to cut costs overall, and a concern about a loss of their famously successful culture of candor, openness and honesty, the company came up with a typically creative way to address the problem.
Notes Day, as they called it, was a one day, whole company consultation on ways the business could address those issues and generally work smarter. As explained in Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull’s book Creativity, Inc., the day led to a large number of practical ways for Pixar to evolve and adapt. [1]
In short, Notes Day involves a series of one hour meetings, where groups of employees address the problems by discussing topics and ideas that interest them, and which have the potential to benefit the organization.
While the specifics of running a Notes Day will differ according to the size, nature and needs of an organization, the structure offers an excellent method for collaborative problem-solving.
Pick a Day
Set a date where the company can down tools for a day and focus on the issues. Make it far enough in the future to give yourselves time to do the planning and organization required.
There are three strict rules to establish:
- No other work is to be done.
- No visitors are allowed.
- Everyone must attend (within reason).
Explain the Concept and Process to Employees
By whatever process best suits your business, communicate with your employees and explain the importance, structure and purpose of Notes Day. Be very clear about the objectives and invite questions. Pixar did this via a number of ‘town hall’ style meetings, for example.
Depending on the size of your organization, you could use the same method, team/departmental briefings, seminars or even video. One important thing Catmull makes clear is that demonstrating support and commitment from senior management is vital to the success of Notes Day, so whatever medium you choose, make sure the message comes from the top.
John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Pixar
Invite Suggestions for Discussion Topics
Set up a specific email address for people to make suggestions for topics they want to discuss, along with a closing date.
After the closing date, appoint a trusted person/people with a strong overview and understanding of the company’s needs to vet the suggestions. They will have to:
- discard any general grumbles/complaints
- be open to unusual suggestions that may not have an obvious practical application
- distill the suggestions into similar discussion topics
At this point, it is possible there will still be too many discussion topics to manage in a day. If that is the case, have senior management cut the number down to a manageable level.
For example, with 1059 employees, Pixar scheduled 171 sessions covering 106 topics throughout the day. The topics included things like:
- Helping directors understand costs in story.
- Returning to a 'good ideas come from anywhere' culture.
- Lessons from the outside.
- How can we get to a 12,000 person-week movie?
- Developing and appreciating a great workplace.
Announce Discussion Topics
Once you have a final list of discussion topics, invite people to sign up for those they are interested in joining. Each topic should be free to anyone to join, regardless of position or seniority.
Use the sign-ups to plan the Notes Day schedule. This will require someone with significant planning and organizational skills, to balance the available time, space and personnel with each person’s preferred sessions.
Recruit and Appoint Facilitators
Each discussion will require a facilitator, whose job is to:
- keep the discussions on track
- make sure everyone participates
- hand out exit forms
Pixar had a total of 138 facilitators, working in 66 meeting spaces across three buildings.
The Pixar ‘atrium’
Schedule for the Day
The day should follow this structure:
- Opening meeting with all company: reiterate the importance and aims of the day. Encourage candor, openness and honesty. Remind everyone of the need for ‘thick skin’ - especially management, who are likely to hear some difficult upwards feedback as part of the process.
- Team/departmental meetings: to get everyone warmed up, the first hour should be people who work together discussing how they can work better/address the identified problem(s).
- Hourly discussion groups: the rest of the day is broken into hour-long discussion groups, covering the selected topics.
- End of the day: once it’s all over, hold a social event, like a barbecue, where people can unwind and continue discussions sparked throughout the day.
Pixar employees
Exit Forms
Exit forms play a vital role in Notes Day. They capture the ideas and suggestions generated in the discussions and ask how they should be progressed. Pixar used three types of exit form:
- Proposals: ideas for practical steps which could be taken.
- Brainstorms: jumping-off points for the generation of further ideas.
- Best Practices: benchmarks for the best ways of working in any given area.
Each specific form for each discussion meeting should have a statement or question to stimulate a response from the participants.
For example, a brainstorm exit form might begin:
‘Three years from now, we have doubled the size of our graduate recruitment program. How did we achieve this?’ [2]
The forms then leave space for participants to write in their own thoughts, ideas and suggestions.
Crucially, every form must end with the following questions:
- How does this benefit the organization?
- What are the next steps?
- Who should pitch this idea?
- Who should hear the pitch?
After Notes Day
To make sure ideas are taken forward from Notes Day:
- Appoint ‘Idea Advocates’, based on the exit forms, to develop promising ideas and suggestions into pitches. Offer coaching or mentoring if necessary.
- Arrange for the ideas to be pitched to senior management.
- Make sure good ideas are acted upon or developed as soon as possible, to maintain momentum from the day.
The Benefits of Notes Day
Notes Day is an excellent example of Pixar’s inclusive, collaborative culture at work. The company’s leaders addressed their problems not by offering solutions, but by asking those who work in every area of the company how they would do it. Aside from the generation of hundreds of new ideas, the day itself solved one of their problems: re-establishing the culture of candor and honesty that had been so important to Pixar’s growth and success.
As an exercise in engagement and employee consultation, it is difficult to think of a better way of demonstrating an organization’s commitment to its employees and its desire to involve them in the company’s direction.
References[1] Ed Catmull (with Amy Wallace), Creativity, Inc. (Bantam Press, 2014).
[2] See Creativity, Inc. p285 for examples of Pixar’s exit forms.
