Being part of a thriving startup is difficult to describe if you\u2019re not used to it \u2013 it typically defies most work norms and that can be unsettling for some people. However, to those who blossom and believe in this type of corporate environment, the results can be outstanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone works really hard \u2013 I\u2019ve never felt like I gotta get out of here,\u201d says Dave Moran, Help Desk Technician at uShip<\/a> HQ. \u201cIf I\u2019m working a 12-hour day, I don\u2019t really realize it. They make it fun so you want to still be here. Everyone is invested in the success of the company. It feels like it\u2019s something you\u2019re doing for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n After recently splitting into two offices in downtown Austin, a move that made uShip\u2019s growth especially tangible, I sat down with uShippers, as employees are referred to, from veterans to those who have been around for less than six months to find out what defines uShip culture, how we foster it, and how we have maintained it over time as the company continues to grow. From the employees themselves, these are the most important tenets of fostering long-term success in a startup environment. If you\u2019re looking for inspiration, check out the list below.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s one resounding thing I heard across my interviews, it\u2019s the \u201cWork hard play hard\u201d core value at uShip (with a slight variation from Jack Aldridge, Australia Country Manager, see: title of this article). It\u2019s easy to see how this rings true among teams daily, especially when you have the founders as an example. According to Gillian Wilson, Human Resources, \u201cAll of the founders were first and foremost friends who enjoyed being around each other. With that comes an incredible amount of respect \u2013 you can razz each other and still be cool.\u201d<\/p>\n At uShip, people get stuff done while having a ton of fun. A healthy balance is the everyday norm for uShippers. \u201cA lot of people think culture is separate from professionalism \u2013 those are not separate. Culture is still a work environment; it\u2019s the environment we\u2019ve built around our job,\u201d says Jearold Hersey, Quality Assurance. \u201cWe have to have values. Without them, what are we about? We have to consistently work towards goals but plan events in the office and community to reward employees.\u201d<\/p>\n Startups take off in semi unorthodox ways \u2013 in the case of uShip, with three founders in a temporary office space that they squatted in. What started from everyone sitting in one room together has grown to almost 200 people in two offices globally. Naturally, communication gets tougher as people spread out and you lose that small family feeling. \u201cWhen you\u2019re 200 people you don\u2019t have visibility into everything, says Connor Kirsch, a Product Manager, \u201cFrom a top-down standpoint, you don\u2019t feel in charge always. From the bottom up we need better ways to give visibility to stakeholders \u2013 we\u2019re actively working on that now.\u201d<\/p>\n In my first week I was privy to a lunch and learn, a regularly occurring lunchtime meeting to give insight into the latest developments in product by the engineering and product teams. \u201cSeeing demos is inspiring, it motivates me to work harder because I see us making progress,\u201d said Hersey, who works closely with uShip developers. Communication and insight into what different teams are working on is essential to sustain the feeling of one cohesive unit. Even if there are hiccups along the way, uShippers are aware of the importance of communicating, and constantly striving to create more opportunities for knowledge dispersion across the company.<\/p>\n When pressured with aggressive growth goals, it can be tempting to hire quickly to fill roles. However, hiring the right people is absolutely essential for long-term success when guarding the culture of an office. \u201cWe are still in the mindset where we have to hire the right person \u2013 everyone here is very enthusiastic and sold on the company vision,\u201d said Kirsch. \u201cNo one is just filling a job title here.\u201d As Kirsch described it, \u201cWe are always trying to find the best balance and cohesion of people\u2026 we are actively trying to defend culture here.\u201d<\/p>\n For veteran uShippers like Heather Hoover, Director of Customer Operations<\/a>, \u201cCulture is very important to me. I feel it supports and promotes healthy camaraderie cross-functionally and helps to create better products for our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n This feeling carries across the company from management down. uShippers carry pride in the openness and honesty of their teammates and managers, the open door policy of company leaders, and believe, \u201cmanagement wants you to succeed,\u201d said Aldrige.<\/p>\n As companies grow, so do teams, and as such people will naturally gravitate towards their own social groups. It\u2019s easy for people to fall into their own cliques and become somewhat insular in their teams. However, uShip works hard to make sure this doesn\u2019t happen. In fact, a smile crept across every uShippers face when they described a long list of regular social events including First Friday, where uShippers take the first Friday of every month off work to socialize together and do team building activities, community outreach, or simply hang out. \u201cWe play well together and this helps us work well together. Our events, our first Fridays, our traditions start the groundwork and foundation for us to work better together,\u201d says Hoover. \u201cNow that we\u2019re in two offices, we have a forced interaction that is a great time given to spark conversation. It\u2019s like \u2018stop, don\u2019t think about that, think about this.\u2019 This is a better two office setup than before. People sit and talk about what they are working on.\u201d<\/p>\n Like any story of rags to riches, there is certain nostalgia for the original grind and scrappiness of an organization. \u201cWhen I saw our new industrial size fridge, I immediately became nostalgic for the old fridge with mold. It\u2019s the little things for me,\u201d said Hoover. However, Hoover, like any successful startup employee, embraces change and charges forward. \u201c[Growth] happens. We\u2019ve made steps. As we\u2019ve grown we\u2019ve had to cut out certain events\u2026We still get to have ugly sweater day so that\u2019s good. I look at it glass half full.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of adapting accordingly lies within hiring the right people and dispersing the responsibility to set the right example. \u201cDepartments need to step up and start defining their own internal culture. That will filter up and start defining the overall culture. We need people that are committed to and understand the overall culture, and how culture can help build and foster better product.\u201d<\/p>\n As your startup grows and develops, nostalgia may nag at your heartstrings, but it\u2019s important to remember to stay positive about change and embrace the chaos that is startup life. There is a beauty and pride in growing something from inception to full-fleshed organization and dealing with uncertainty and lack of perfection along the way. \u201cUs growing and changing means we are not stagnant. It requires people to be open and to adapt,\u201d says Hoover. This should push us to make things better constantly. If we did the same thing over and over people would get burned out and lose the enthusiasm. It\u2019s a new challenge daily as we grow and as things change…It\u2019s not the same office from 2005 with seven people and that\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n Adapting to change is tough, there\u2019s no better way to say it. However, if you can follow these five guidelines, you will be closer to guarding a culture that you hold sacred.<\/p>\n Communicate effectively throughout change Hire the best people to help you grow who truly believe in what you are doing Create a time and place for your employees to break down barriers and socialize Accept that things will change and adapt Go forth and be bold! You got this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Being part of a thriving startup is difficult to describe if you\u2019re not used to it \u2013 it typically defies most work norms and that can be unsettling for some people. However, to those who blossom and believe in this type of corporate environment, the results can be outstanding. \u201cEveryone works really hard \u2013 I\u2019ve… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":6096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company-news"],"acf":{"blog_post_content":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushipblogsubd.wpengine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Live Your Values<\/h2>\n
2. Communication<\/h2>\n
3. Hire the right people<\/h2>\n
4. Create company mandated social events<\/h2>\n
5. Accept that things will change and adapt accordingly<\/h2>\n
Never lose sight of your values \u2013 be true to your culture and live it every day.<\/h3>\n
\n\u2013 even if it\u2019s not good news, be honest and open.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 don\u2019t compromise; it\u2019s the lifeline of your business!<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 create a neutral space outside of the office to foster true relationships.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 if you continue to iterate on the original values and ideals of your organization then you can hold on to what always made and will continue to make your organization special.<\/p>\n