We celebrated our first global leadership summit in style. From great quotes to speaker insights, here’s how it went down.

On Tuesday we were delighted to host Flow, our first global leadership summit, bringing together visionary founders, SaaS experts, Workplace customers, and product partners.

Thank you to everyone who came, participated, shared, networked, listened (and partied). And thank you especially to our panelists and keynote speakers who made it a truly inspiring day, full of unique stories, insights, and experiences.

But what was it all about? And why Flow?

Turning Companies into Meaningful Communities

At Workplace, we build tools that empower people to do their best work. That’s what we call ‘Flow’. But it goes further. When their people are in Flow, organizations are in Flow. And that can drive profound effects. Tuesday’s event was dedicated to understanding the strategies that help organizations achieve Flow, and examining the effects that follow.

Workplace by Facebook VP, Julien Codorniou, got things under way in the morning. He laid out the vision that drives our product teams to create something that’s more than just a communication or collaboration tool.

“We come to work every day because we want to connect people. And when we connect people we can have a profound impact on their working lives. We can turn the companies they work at into meaningful communities.”

He shared the Workplace journey so far – from a fledgling idea that created a new way of working inside Facebook, to experimental start-up, to fully fledged enterprise business. He showcased some of the incredible customers who have joined us on the journey, from Walmart and Starbucks to Chevron, GSK, and Clarins. As well as the service partners and software vendors who are bringing our “Better Together” philosophy to life.

Julien was followed by Director of Product, Kyle McGinn, and Product Marketing Director, Christine Overby, who took us further into Workplace’s mission to create meaningful communities and showcased some new features bringing it to life.

Kyle revealed the three big trends that happen inside companies that deploy Workplace – information flows more freely, workflows become faster and more delightful, and we put people at the center of organizations.

Christine announced major new features like Safety Check for Workplace and valuable upgrades like Multi-company chat and Mark as Important.

Daniel Coyle, author of The Culture Code and The Talent Code, took to the stage for the keynote. He began with an observation. Culture – the thing we all recognize as so important within every company – is the thing that’s hardest to put your finger on.

According to Daniel, the three key behaviors required in order to create culture in any organization are to build safety, share vulnerability and establish purpose. And when you get these three things right, people and purpose are aligned, and productivity flourishes.

He also emphasized the importance of seeking and sharing impactful stories. Find them, share them, celebrate them – it’s the small signals and moments at work that often matter most.

“It’s not about what you say, it’s about what you do. The safer you feel, the more open you are, the more committed you are.”

From Cultural Change to Product Workshops

After the break, our panel sessions kicked off with ‘The People Behind the Change.’ I had the pleasure of hosting this session and my guests were Maxine Williams, Chief Diversity Officer at Facebook, Pradheepa Raman, Chief Talent and Innovation Officer at Stanley Black & Decker, Ronald Schellekens, Group HR Director at Vodafone and Joelle Emerson, CEO at Paradigm.

The theme of their talk was how to drive culture and change within an organization, which is fast becoming recognized as a business priority.

Part of the problem is a lack of understanding about how to measure inclusion. But as Maxine pointed out, the solution lies at the hiring stage.

“If you don’t interview underrepresented people, you won’t hire them. Companies need to get more qualified candidates from underrepresented backgrounds into the interview stage. Diversity is everyone’s responsibility.”

Then came ‘From Stack to Suite,’ where Workplace Global Sales Director Lesley Young welcomed to the stage Aaron Levie, CEO at Box, Helen Russell, CPO at Atlassian, Rahul Sekhon, CTO at Sun Life Financial, and Sanjay Beri, CEO & Founder at Netskope.

Employee engagement, open leadership, and smart tech were the dominant themes of the session, and everyone had a different point of view on how to get these elements in alignment. Rahul shared one of the most enlightening moments of the session.

“When leaders share their vulnerability, it invites employees to be open and it builds trust. It builds the DNA of your organization.”

Practical breakout sessions

The afternoon was all about hands-on learning with a series of breakout workshops. New York Times best-selling author Daniel Coyle led a workshop on how culture drives competitive advantage, giving practical advice about how organizations can connect their people and play as one team.

And there were two product workshops on how to use Workplace to get more work done, and how to communicate effectively with everyone in your organization.

Meanwhile, in the Brilliance Ballroom, Mark Mader, CEO at Smartsheet, Eric Yuan, CEO at Zoom, Melissa Taunton, Partner at New Enterprise Associates, and Jason M. Lemkin, Founder at SaaStr, joined Workplace’s Global Director of Customer Growth Monica Adractas for a Q&A.

The topic on the agenda was how to build a SaaS unicorn. The group shared some valuable insights about turning a startup into a billion-dollar business.

“As you scale, it’s important to ensure that all employees still speak the same language. Define the ‘what’ of your company, and make sure your management team communicates it to every corner of the business.”

“At Delta Air Lines, 70% of our people don’t have regular access to a computer. Because people can share things on Workplace on their own device it allows people to join our conversation and build better communities.”

Connected Organizations and Work with a Purpose

“Workplace is a common place, a common language, and all generations know how to use it. We spend time liking, loving, laughing, and crying together as a team.”

In a particular highlight, we were joined by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg alongside John Taylor, CTO at United Way, and Joanne Smith, EVP & CHRO at Delta Air Lines, to discuss how to build connected organizations.

Sheryl shared how we use Workplace at Facebook, emphasised the importance of Workplace to the Facebook mission of building community, and compared this with the experience of Delta and United Way.

For Delta, having a mobile tool like Workplace has facilitated connections and collaboration between dispersed parts of the organization such as pilots, crew, and ground-based staff.

For United Way, being a connected organization allows them to engage with the wider community and affect change where it matters most.

“We use Multi-company groups, but we want to expand our use of them so that we’re not just talking to ourselves – we’re talking to everyone we work with about the big, important issues.”

The final session saw Workplace’s Director of Online Sales and Channels, Geoff Perfect, introduce us to Workplace for Good before Brian Wenke vividly brought the idea of community to life through his experiences at LGBTQ+ nonprofit It Gets Better.

As Geoff explained, Facebook was built to connect people to friends, family, and loved ones. But over time, it also began to connect people to the causes they cared about.

When we were building Workplace, we asked ourselves what we could do to bring this kind of impact into the work environment. The answer was Workplace for Good: a way to donate a premium version of Workplace to nonprofits and educational institutions free of charge.

“Something magical happened when we brought in Workplace. People gravitate toward it. It gives me the opportunity to be in the trenches with affiliates. And the translation feature: Oh my god… It’s all been a game changer for us.”

And after the close, it was all back to Facebook Campus for networking, debriefing and a glass of something fizzy. The Californian weather was kind, spirits were high and it was the perfect end to a great inaugural Flow event.

Thanks again to everyone who made Flow a great day. We’ll be sharing more insights from our panel sessions alongside exclusive interviews over the coming weeks.

And we’re already planning for next year. We hope to see you there.

Flow-ver and out.