Our Culture Initiative Process
Investing in Culture
Why invest in culture?
We believe team quality is the single best predictor of success. We're trying to do something really difficult, and we believe our collective success goes through each individual's happiness, development and fulfillment. We want Thirdshelf to not only be an amazing place to work at, but also an amazing place to grow personally.
Why a process?
- We want to do this right
- We have limited time & money
- We want all the team involved -> and everyone to know exactly how to get involved (and make it easy)
- We want to make sure what we do is relevant, appreciated, and truly adds value
- We want to be able to document it so it becomes something concrete we can use for hiring, for education and for thought leadership.
“It’s up to each one of us to contribute to make this a great workplace.
If you wish we did something we’re not doing, you can make it happen.”
How it works
5 dimensions
We're looking to have initiatives that fulfill each one of these 5 dimensions:
- Accomplishment & recognition
- Vertical learning & growth
- Horizontal learning & growth
- Pride & community
- Fun & happiness
The Process
- Anyone can propose an initiative in any one of the dimensions
- Every initiative needs to have a lead. The lead is responsible and accountable for the success of the activity
- To propose an initiative, you need to answer each of the questions below
- We'll have a 30 minute monthly meeting to discuss the ongoing/proposed activities
- We'll run a survey monthly to ask the team to rank their appreciation of each activity
- We'll adjust according to feedback
- Each lead is responsible for keeping up to date an entry in our culture book that details the initiative in a fun way :-)
Initiative Checklist:
- What is it?
- Why is it important
- Who will lead it?
- Who do you need involved to run it?
- How much time will it take?
- Who is interested in it?
- How much will it cost?
Example of one of our initiativeS
A monthly 5 a 7 with the team, family and friends. Twist: we invite each time an inspirational speaker to share their story with us. This initiative allows us to celebrate our wins each month, bring in our friends and family, and meet personally amazingly inspiring guests. Past speakers have included:
- Olivier Vaillancourt, VP Engineering of Keaton Row
- LP Maurice, CEO of Busbud
- Francois Arbour, CEO of PremiumBeat, sold to Shutterstock
- Eduardo Mandri, CEO of Tuango
- Marc Poirier, CEO of Acquisio
- Paulina Posadas, 6-time World Salsa Champion
- Howard Stotland, founder of STS Systems and of Otimo Ventures
