In any startup, culture is developed through a mix of ideas, practices, and unwritten approaches to work. Over time, all this “knowledge” is organised into a clear document, serving as a work guide for any new employee joining the company. It also helps correct general misconceptions about the market.
When we talk about “startup culture,” we often think of office perks, flexible working hours, or open communication with executives. However, there’s much more to defining a company’s culture and its working methodology.
When we decided to launch the “Zan Methodology”, we reviewed all our previous ideas, work methods, and internal culture in executing tasks. As a small team in the early days, we collaborated easily and clearly.
However, as the company grew, it became harder for new employees to “understand how we work” and the quality standards we had reached. Therefore, we documented all the explicit and implicit behaviors and rules that coordinate our creative processes in the “Zan Methodology.”
The Zan Methodology summarises the three main stages that creative projects go through: staring with “curiosity,” involving asking questions, analysing answers, and researching.
We firmly believe in the transformative power of curiosity-driven questions, as they are the first steps of innovation.
This transformative power of questions helps in the flow of the creative process, which leads to the next stage, “creativity.”
In this stage, all data is comprehended, and then the creative journey begins, reaching its destination with full “clarity.” This clarity reflects a commitment to providing the best possible experience for all partners, rooted in our deep understanding of all data and creating innovative solutions.
Through the “Zan Scale”, a simple and enjoyable personality test evaluates your qualifications in the three stages based on your answers and motivates you to develop weaker aspects among these stages: “Research, Creativity, Clarity.”
We believe in the power of this methodology to help embed life into our stories, personalities, and products. In the future, we aim for this test to be a standard in talent acquisition and team management.
Because the essence of work at Zan is depth in creativity, the ultimate goal of this methodology is to promote a culture of quality and contribute to creating clear work methodologies in the local market.
We don’t offer arbitrary ideas; we study the project in detail. We aspire for the Zan Methodology to be a source of inspiration and creativity for all creators in the work ecosystem, whether they are Zan employees or not. Our goal is to raise the knowledge and creative value in creative outputs in our local market.
The values created by Zan will be used as guiding principles to spread the Zan methodology, enhancing internal mutual understanding.
Since mutual understanding is a fundamental aspect of company success, Zan’s work methodology helps unify ideas among various work teams, allowing ideas to be released more freely and with greater quality, enhancing innovation, collaboration, and adaptability.
The Zan methodology listens to all voices, empowering employees and enriching diversity of perspectives, thus fostering innovation and creativity. Therefore, it does not conflict with encouraging employees to think outside the box, challenge established traditions, and maintain their individuality; rather, it complements all these creative ideas.
Start-up culture fundamentally relies on unwritten teachings and rules, often stemming from the founders’ personal experiences and beliefs. These ideas, beliefs, and working methods form the foundational seeds of the company’s methodologies.
Documenting these methodologies and presenting them to the market as an “applicable and executable business plan” is challenging. However, we are proud that we managed to offer the essence of our creative experience in an applicable, measurable, and understandable product. This was achieved through the right mix of creativity, hard work, and passion.
Start-ups tend to focus heavily on customer service. However, they might lose their culture and methodologies as they grow and expand. Understanding customer needs is integral to our methodology at Zan, as our focus is on creating innovative products that meet customer desires and details while listening to all their feedback. This attention to detail in our work methodology has kept us ahead of our competitors. Now, it’s time to share our working method with everyone.
The Zan methodology is a creative working style that guarantees a blend of encouraging collaboration, risk-taking, creativity, customer focus, and purposeful execution.
Additionally, changing economic conditions, market trends, and technological advancements might cause start-ups to lose their identity. Therefore, the Zain methodology emerged as a flexible working framework born from a start-up culture that embraces and adapts to rapid changes.
By Afra Alsammahi, Founder & Chief Creative Officer at Zan Agency
