Oomphosity: How to Embrace Creativity at Work
For any company, getting employees excited to come into the office is a top priority. Happy employees can increase your organization’s retention rates and have a positive impact on the quality of work employees deliver every day.
That’s why Animoto developed a company value focused on embracing employees’ creativity and allowing them to bring their genuine selves into what we do. We call this company value Oomphosity.
What is Oomphosity?
Oomphosity is the “extra gear” that makes Animoto’s culture unique. Simply put, it’s having a passion for life, full of interests both inside and outside of work, and the ability to bring that passion to work everyday.
For our team, a person who’s full of Oomphosity would be someone who:
- Lets creativity shine through in both work and personal interests
- Shows interest in new, innovative, and interesting projects that help the individual, their team, or the company as a whole
- Allows passions and interests to help shape Animoto’s culture
How did we come up with Oomphosity?
When we updated our company values, we wanted to include an element that encompassed the fun side of Animoto’s culture, and gave us a way to embrace everything that makes our team unique. We also wanted to learn what makes new candidates and employees tick, so we can harness that passion and build a fulfilling work environment at Animoto.
Today, we think of Oomphosity as a way to approach and tackle problems and projects around the office, representing our drive to give all the work we do a little something extra.
Oomphosity in action
However, it’s not enough to expect passion from our team. We also had to incorporate that extra gear into the fabric of Animoto and its culture. Here are just a few of the ways we’ve put Oomphosity into action at Animoto.
Create a personality-filled office environment
Each conference room at Animoto has its own distinct theme, with nods to Legos, mystery novels, pirate ships, and more.
Our boardroom, Throne Room, is Game of Thrones-themed and comes complete with dragons eggs, a map of Westeros, and it’s very own Iron Throne. The Throne Room was create during one of our biannual hackathons when a few members of our engineering and design team came together with a passion for Games of Thrones and decided to completely redesign a Camelot-themed conference room. Needless to say, it’s now one of the company’s favorite, and most frequently used, conference rooms.
Give teams space to experiment outside of regular projects
Twice a year, we hold hackathons, which we call Hackimoto. These hackathons give employees time to create projects with individuals outside of their usual teams. Hack projects are designed to improve our company culture, our business, or the Animoto product itself. Past hack projects have included the Throne Room mentioned above, an Animoto theme song, and board games employees can play during downtime.
Provide opportunities for team building
Throughout the year, we find ways to make sure employees are engaged in activities that they love and that offer a break from the everyday. We host annual cooking competitions like Battle of the Dips, monthly movie viewings in our atrium, and trivia nights.
Even our company retreats have an added flair to them. Twice a year, we host YETI New York (Year End Togetherness in New York) and MYAGI New York (Mid-Year Animoto Gathering in New York). We use these gatherings to come together on company strategy, do some team building, host Hackimoto, and celebrate all we’ve accomplished.
On a more regular basis, we offer a team-building break with our biweekly “Other Demos”. Regular Demos offer teams the opportunity to share the projects they’ve been working on for the company. But on the off weeks, one of our engineers decided to kick off Other Demos. Unlike Regular Demos, Other Demos lets the team get together and be a little silly. Whether it’s sharing a favorite cat video or brushing up on our Harry Potter knowledge, Other Demos provide a way for the team to unwind on a Friday afternoon and share what they love.
Develop company values with something extra
Our company values themselves are a nod to Oomphosity. Each value represents something that is important to Animoto’s culture; however, they are all presented in a unique way.
Our three core values, Oomphosity, Betterfication, and Humbletude were all developed by our team to speak specifically about what is important to Animoto’s company culture. In creating our own terms and definitions, we think we’ve added a little something extra that helps make our core values unique.
How to spot Oomphosity
If you’re looking to hire candidates that embrace creativity at work, you need to know how to spot it! Here are a few of our go-to questions to ask:
- What would you say is the most interesting thing about you that is not on your resume?
- Tell me about a project that you were most passionate about. What was it about that project that got you excited?
- What is it about your job that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?
- Tell me about a time when you brought an idea to the team that you were really passionate about. How did you get the team onboard?
For all of these questions, make sure you get a clear understanding of what gets the candidate excited both inside and outside of work, and how they would bring that passion to make your company and its culture better.
We hope this post inspired you to explore ways to introduce Oomphosity into your organization. Does your company have a value similar to Oomphosity? We’d love to learn hear about it! Let us know how you add that extra gear to your business in the comments below.
Do these values resonate with you? Join our team! We’re hiring.
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