Simplicity, velocity and trust are the three tenets of our culture we all put behind our common purpose of simplifying work-life.
Simplicity is in everything we do from designing products to communicating with our stakeholders.
Velocity is required for responsiveness, thus creating a fast moving, agile decision making environment.
Trust. The most important of the three. Timely and honest feedback are simple ways we build and maintain trust. Without trust, all relationships unravel and business is no different, across all stakeholders – internal and external. And beyond relationships we also need to trust the systems and tools that keep our businesses moving, I will touch on this aspect later on.
Openness builds trust
Everyone in our dispersed, multi-cultural team has a voice, and every voice is heard. Decisions are made in the safe knowledge that our judgement is strengthened, challenged and sharpened through trusted colleagues’, clients’, investors’ and advisors’ inputs.
A flexible working environment that actively encourages an underused section of the workforce – returning mothers – are part of our team. This gave us access to a fantastic bank of experience. Similarly, we have balanced our bright young minds in product with wise older heads in business to help shape and direct their energy. Good ideas have no age limit, and you’re never too young to start having them.
Demonstrating trust is vital
Returning to the importance of trust, last week some of our engineers stayed in a surfing school in Spain, on boards in the morning and working in the afternoon on our latest release. They can do this because we trust them and know that they want to keep our velocity increasing.
I’ve witnessed this from my early experience in Sales, where some of the best client relationships were built through consistently open and honest communication.
A new paradigm in building trust & transparency.
Once you build trust internally it creates very high positive energy. This results in enthusiasm that flows naturally into your stakeholders (clients and investors). It can and should be fun, respectful and inclusive. Achieving this sets a strong foundation to sustain success for everyone involved in it.
Trust is not only a fundamental tenet of our culture but also the very basis for building our product vyn – the smartvideonote. The short, structured mobile videos are trusted by stakeholders and leadership as they can instantly see what’s happening and crucially why.
How do you build and maintain trust in your culture?
Photo credit: @gwilymthomasphoto on Instagram
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