The fantastic tale of our team culture
A story of creativity and innovation
Not long ago, in the magical lands of Costa Rica, there was a startup named Huli with a small design team. These designers were working their magic to success, experimenting and learning each day that went by. They had one mission, to create amazing solutions that enable patients to connect with health providers.
But as their startup grew, they realized they needed more power to succeed. New designers joined them in their mission, but they all needed a star to guide them in the same direction. And so they began their journey, searching for their star, their guide, their source of power.
This fantastic tale may seem similar to many design teams in a growing startup. It’s easier to work collaboratively with a small team and a small product. But as the startup begins to grow and the team grows with it, it’s essential to define a culture by which the team may always be guided and aligned.
This was our case in Huli. Our startup was founded in Costa Rica not so long ago. And for two years now, our team was made up of four designers. Happily, Huli expanded its horizons into other Latin American markets, so we needed more power to fulfill Huli’s needs. Just four months later, four new designers had joined our team, and we were compelled to define our culture and strategy if we wanted to achieve great things.
Huli started to face these growth challenges some time ago. So as a company, we decided to redefine our culture for growth. Members from all teams were involved in this decision and we've been doing our best to spread our culture to every team. As Huli's design team, we knew our team culture had to be aligned with Huli, this was critical for us.
One afternoon we summoned a workshop with all of our team members to discuss our team culture. Each member had to bring a vision, mission and values or principles from Huli and other companies we liked. This way, we took into consideration what each one thought was valuable for the team and company. This space was treasured by each one of us, because we all had a say in what we thought should be our team’s direction. A natural synergy helped us move together into what would later become our team culture.
Our vision
Inspire everyone touched by our work to create the best future!
We knew from the beginning our vision had to be memorable and achievable for our whole team. We questioned ourselves where we wanted to be at some point in our future. Since we were defining our direction, our vision had to be aligned with our goals as a team and as part of Huli. This way, we concluded that our vision was to inspire everyone touched by our work to create the best future!
Our mission
Transform ideas into impactful experiences
The next step was to define our mission. So we asked ourselves, how are we going to achieve our vision? This statement had to reflect the means needed to accomplish the vision we had just set. It had to inspire and reflect our everyday work. At the end, we decided that we would reach our vision by transforming ideas into impactful experiences.
Our ground rules
Last but not least, we had to decide which would be our ground rules, the dotted line we would follow on our map to accomplish our vision & mission. To fulfill this task, we had to examine our daily life and choose which behaviors were most important to us, which were the most inspirational, meaningful and valuable for the team. We defined them as follows:
Spread the power 💥
We trust, we help, we learn together everyday and we succeed as a team.
Work our magic 🧙🏻
We do what it takes and we turn limitations into opportunities for creative solutions.
Sparkle and shine ✨
We’re curious, we question and explore everything to spark innovative, useful and beautiful ideas.
Enjoy & have fun 🤹🏼♂️
We enjoy what we do every step of the way, we celebrate and spend good times together.
Put on the other’s hat 🎩
We embrace and understand diversity, empathy is at the core of what we do.
Do the right thing 👨🏽⚖️
We’re consistent and ethical, we make the right choices.
Once the workshop was over, we were deeply satisfied with the results. We are certain each one of us is represented in the team culture we defined and got empowered by it. We profoundly believe the process and results will keep us on track on our journey as Huli and our team grow together. The team is now ready to continue the adventure, renewed and refreshened with a clear path in our journey to success. The only task left to complete is the hardest one, to commit to our culture and live up to it every day.
We genuinely hope this tale serves as inspiration for you and your team, as you encounter growth face to face.
