The cool company that outgrew itself: Weta Digital’s culture of impunity and fear of rules
Photo credit: AM STUDiO / Shutterstock
Weta Digital—the New Zealand-grown company founded by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and his screenwriter and producer partner Fran Walsh—has been in the news, but not in a good way. In September last year, the scandal broke with an exposé on the main TV news channel, with stories of porn usage and sharing on the company servers, sexual harrassment and assault, and bullying. The exposé was swiftly followed by political pressure to act, and to the company’s credit, within 10 days Miriam Dean QC had been appointed to conduct an independent review of the company’s workplace culture.
Her review was completed and published by late December. At just five pages, the report is very readable, and also revealing. Miriam Dean describes the culture as not “toxic” (as per media reports) but as “undisciplined, overstretched, reactive and cliquish.” She makes 17 clear recommendations, ranging from the simple—“Employ an in-house lawyer“—to the deeply structural—“Restructure the executive team“ and “Implement a wider organisational restructure.” It’s also quite a hopeful report. She describes not only the problems that need to be addressed, but also the advantages the company still has, in terms of “crew” loyalty and pride from which it can work to address those problems. Working at Weta Digital has clearly given, and still gives, many a great pride. It has also been a source of suffering for those who experienced one of the “pockets” where there are problems.
In many ways it’s just another run-of-the-mill story of an organisation which has grown fast on the back of success, but failed to mature as an organisation at the same pace. The reviewer says it in as many words: “its core people processes are those of an ‘awkward teenager going through growing pains’.”
And the causes of those problems? Two significant root causes called out in the review were the sense of impunity for those with power; and the resistance at senior levels to introducing systems, policies and processes, for fear that bureaucracy might stifle the creativity on which the company’s success is built.
Impunity is often spoken of as a root cause of a toxic culture. It occurs when some people with power are excused behaviour that should not be tolerated by the organisation. While this power can be positional (senior leaders get away with more than do junior people), it can also be associated with other forms of power: the power that comes from being considered indispensable; the power that comes from longevity in the organisation associated with deep protective networks; or the power that simply comes from being part of the dominant group in the culture. Clues to the effect of these other forms of power can be seen in the review, for example “‘technical or artistic excellence (‘getting the shot’) trumped all other considerations’; and “ women were at a disadvantage in a workplace where three-quarters of the workforce were men.” Tackling impunity means taking on the visible and less-visible power structures in the organisation. It’s hard, but it has to be done if you want to create a healthy workplace culture.
Structure, policies, processes are topics that are guaranteed to send many senior leaders screaming from the room. Developing and implementing them (including persuading staff to adopt them) is complex, internally focussed work that many see as boring distractions from the real work of the organisation—an attitude with which I have some sympathy. But in fact, well-designed policies and processes are critical to the well-being and safety of a workforce. And a happy, healthy workforce, operating in physically and psychologically safe conditions is essential to organisational success, especially where that success relies on creativity and innovation.
Systems, policies and processes must be designed and implemented in a way that is right for the organisation, in size, complexity and emphasis. Leaving it to the administrative people to copy-paste from other organisations will give the very result that senior leaders fear—a bureaucracy that stifles. But doing it well—designing systems that are the right size and complexity for the organisation, and built out from the unique mission, values, and risk profile of the organisation—will not only avoid death by bureaucracy, but indeed will help unleash further creativity and success.
Weta Digital has a lot of work to do to implement Miriam Dean’s recommendations. The company is still expanding internationally and clearly has a lot of ambition, which will add further complexity in a context where growth has helped create the problem. On the plus side is new leadership—the current CEO came from outside the company and has only been in place since the beginning of 2020, is presumably not too deeply implicated in the failures of the past and so can likely lead determined action to address these deeply rooted issues.
DISCLAIMER: This article is written on the basis of publicly available information--I have no other insights into Weta Digital and its culture.