Openness and trust, the main building blocks for company’s atmosphere.
Which feeling is more important to you? Knowing that your boss is aware of your full knowledge and competent OR knowing, that he or she trusts you, no matter what you do?
Small example. We had one big project starting in our company, and our CEO announced that one team member, Mister X, will be the main architect for the project. “WHAT?! ME!? Come on, I have never been the architect, how can I be one now? I don’t think I am capable, I don’t know what to do!” That was the answer from the Mister X. Even I, at that time thought, that was it fair to give big responsibility for a person who felt it so overwhelming? Our CEO then told me “I have known that guy for years. He has everything what it takes, believe me. The only problem is the lack of self-confidence.”
Months went by, project succeeded over expectations. Mister X did not only do great job professionally, but also gained confidence, became more relaxed and stopped the unnecessary worrying. That was a lesson also for me. You can always reach higher than you think, if you have someone’s support.
If the people at your workplace have total trust on you, it really has huge impact. Being trusted makes you perform better. It brings forth hidden skills you thought didn’t exist. Trust makes you shine and to exceed yourself. It gives you confidence and also enables the growth, your personal, but also indirectly the company’s. Gaining and having that “I know what I’m doing” –feeling gives you space to focus your energy, time and passion to things that matter.
Trust is not just one man’s job to build. No. The company managers or CEO can be the ones to show example with their actions and sayings, but in the end the whole team is needed for building the mutual trust. Inside the team there are different opinions, different aspects, various values and diverse personalities. The first step in building mutual trust is to accept that. I may know, that we vote differently and our thoughts about religion differ like day and night, but so what?! It doesn’t change my professional opinion about my team members. I can still trust that they are experts and doing their best every day.
One of the main values in APInf (www.apinf.com) is Openness. We embrace open source software and we have open processes. In addition to this openness in the technical side we try to keep the same open mind in the human aspects also. This is one main factor also for building the trust. Having open mind, being open for new ideas, being open about your own life and opening yourself for the team members is not self-evidence for everybody. It also sets quite a big demands for the work community. In order to be open, one needs to care. In order to care one needs to feel secure.
I know my co-workers well. I know their spouses and kids, I’ve met most of them, baby-sitted their kids when they had to finish some project. I know their hobbies, I know where their summer cottages are, I know if their dog is sick or how the first day at day-care went. I want to care and to be cared for. We don’t build fences or hierarchies, we want to be more like a family. Team member’s problem belongs to the whole team. Team member’s victory belongs to the whole team. Why not, we spend so many hours together every week. We don’t need fancy leadership philosophies for treating our team members as individuals. We can look at them and say “Hey, you look busy. How can I help you?”
The rumor is, that in the future the robots take over and they will also replace employees in the companies and the percentage of unemployment will skyrocket. I think developing and practicing the features that robots don’t have will give you a great advantage. Caring, being compassionate and having humane touch in the interaction just might be the divider for you and that robot in the job interview.
