Keeping The DK Community Spirit Alive, Remotely

Maintaining an asynchronous and rapidly growing team is not for the faint of heart.

Based on an interview with Ute Tanusaputra, Head of People Partner at DKatalis

Believe it or not, we started out with only 10 people in the team working from a garage. But, in just two years, DKatalis has grown into a community of over 300 people collaborating from all over the world. What’s more impressive is that we achieved this figure through a remote process!

Under these circumstances, our Katalis — how we address our team members– interact with each other virtually most of the time. Although this arrangement can be advantageous because we can recruit top talent from anywhere, it also introduces a new challenge: ensuring that our values and culture are well-understood by all employees as well as keeping the community spirit alive.

Why is it important?

Let us begin with a question: what factors influence employee satisfaction?

Salary and benefits would be the first answer that comes to mind. However, there are also non-economical aspects that employees care about, such as career growth opportunities and cultural fit. Offering free drinks and snacks, billiard tables, or bean bags may entertain your team, but if the work culture does not meet their expectations, they will lose spirit, and eventually leave.

People tend to stay longer and thrive in a place where they feel they belong there.

Before we proceed, let us define what company culture is. Although there is no fixed or official definition, it can be thought of as the customs and norms that naturally formed within an organization. It can be seen in how the team interacts with one another both at work and outside of work; during sprint reviews and retrospectives, as well as during lunch and casual meetings. It may also be reflected in the company’s values.

Because different organizations have different cultures, the most effective way to instill them may also differ. At DKatalis, we promote a culture of community and camaraderie, as well as continuous learning and growth. It eventually boils down to four core values that we hold dear: Life-Centricity, Purposeful Growth, Fearless Creativity, and Empowered Agility.

When everyone in the office can meet and collaborate directly at the office, nurturing and developing a culture can be easy. However, how can a growing and asynchronous company like DKatalis cultivate a positive culture, when everyone mostly interacts virtually?

Part of my tasks as the Head of People Partner is to ensure our way of working runs well and is understood by everyone in the organization. Furthermore, despite the fact that our talents are spread across the globe, it’s important to make sure everyone feels a sense of belonging to the DKatalis community and has close relationships with one another.

Here are some practical tips based on our experience at DKatalis:

Hire the right people

It’s important to start right from the gate: hiring.

When hiring at the junior level, we set high standards for technical skills and experience. But there is another factor that heavily affects our decision: growth potential. Even if the candidate is still lacking in certain technical aspects, if they display a strong curiosity and a willingness to learn, we believe we can bring out the best in them.

This brings us to another crucial decision: senior-level hiring.

If we want to help raw talents reach their full potential, we need mentor figures who can nudge them and bring out the best in them. And who else but our senior leaders would take on the role?

So, during the interview, I would always inquire about their team management experience and knowledge-sharing initiatives. Furthermore, I’d ask them to share what it means to them to be a leader. Although this might sound philosophical, we must ensure that the person we are hiring is a leader at heart, not just by status. They must be willing to get involved and encourage their team to improve. You can’t join DK if you don’t want to grow as an individual or as a team.

In the end, when you find and hire the right people, it will make instilling the culture of purposeful growth much easier.

Don’t tell, show

The best way to teach is by example and hands-on experience. If the leaders can reflect the company culture in their actions and policies, then the rest of the team will follow suit. Starting from the BOD to the squad leaders, they have to continuously grow themselves to be effective leaders, either through 1-on-1 coaching, mentoring, or other methods.

Sustain and maintain through a system

It will be easy to personally coach everyone individually in a company of only, let’s say, 50 people. The challenge comes when the company is growing at a scale like ours. It’s just impossible if the People and Culture team have to handle everyone in the company. And an unstructured approach is just chaos in the making.

An unstructured approach is just chaos in the making.

Thus, having a systematic and structured approach to maintaining our growth culture is crucial. At DKatalis, we are creating a well-implemented learning system that not only scales our talent’s capacity and capabilities but also keeps everyone close-knit.

Building a strong system allows everyone, not just the People and Culture team, to take on the responsibility of managing and maintaining the culture within the community. Leaders, especially, play a crucial role in ensuring that the system works properly within their team.

Conclusion

Maintaining a growing and asynchronous community is difficult, but not impossible. As long as all stakeholders are willing to be involved and commit to the task, the community will eventually be shaped as intended.

The points I have shared above are by no means a panacea for other organizations facing similar challenges. My intention is to share new perspectives and possible approaches for other teams out there. Then again, different organizations, different approaches.

As office culture and community are naturally dynamic, there may be some adjustments in the future. So, stay tuned for further updates!

Do you want to be a part of a community that fosters growth and learning? Or would you like to help shape the DKatalis community? We’re hiring, join us!