The following story may sound like a puff-piece, but I assure you, it is not meant to be one.
I had just traveled 5 hours and was walking into the hotel where me and my colleagues were staying for the conference.
Hitting the lobby I see one of the founders of the firm I work for and beside him the CEO.
Walking up to them, they both smile. The co-founder opens his arms and gives me a hug that I accept awkwardly. The CEO fist-bumps me and we talk a bit.
Looking back at how awkward the hug and fist-bump was I stop to think why?
The only reason they were awkward was that it had never happened to me before. That someone in a high position, within a company that I was working for, ignored the divide between worker and boss. It was awkward but made me feel welcome by being genuinely natural and open.
Now you are probably thinking, so what, why should I care, it is not important.
But for me this is an example of saying you care and showing you care, leading by example. This carries on to management further down the chain and they also behave in the same way. All managers in the company, that I have been in contact with, have shown that they genuinely care.
But what is so important about that?
Our company wants the employee’s to feel comfortable, relaxed and safe. Safe to talk about the good and the bad, to be open. Safe to make mistakes. Safe to develop their craft. The type of safety you get in a family. Without judgement or being discouraged. Because that way a person can grow so much more. Become what they strive for. The best they can be.
So this is not a puff-piece? -You say…
Nope! What I am trying to point out is a fundamental way of running a company. Especially a tech-consultancy company. A way to get the best out of your employees. The hug and the fist-bump is just small details. But they show the natural commitment to the company way of being.
And that is the important part!
I have worked at many different firms, and this is not about them being bad, because they weren’t! It’s about what I feel is the best way of running this type of company when it comes to the relationship between managers and employees. Building trust and understanding.
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