Here at Launchways, we take our core values very seriously. They aren’t a list of aspirational ideals that we wrote up on a wall. For us, they really are the soul of our company and are at the heart everything that we do. This is largely because our team members own the values as much as company leadership does. We take the time to review the values every year and allow our employees to shape the values and hold leadership accountable to live up to the values.
One of our most important values is the idea that Launchways is driven on an individual, team, and company-wide level. We aren’t content to just show up and do the minimum. We’re determined to win big for our clients, our team members, and for ourselves too. This sense of drive has ripple-effects throughout our organization. It is a cornerstone of our vibrant company culture and employee community and the foundation for our innovative people-focused solutions. Without our drive, we wouldn’t be able to fully live our other core values.
So what does being driven look like as an employee at Launchways and how does it set our experience apart from working at other professional service firms? In today’s post, we’ll cover how we:
- Own our work and are dedicated to professional development
- Fuel collaboration through shared purpose
- Foster mutual trust and a sense of community
- Respect each other’s intentions, empowering diversity and growth
Owning Your Work and Professional Development
One of the most significant impacts of living our “Driven” value is the extent to which it allows us to own our work and development as a person and as a professional. We don’t do what we do because someone higher in the organization tells us to. We don’t do it to impress our coworkers. Rather, our drive comes from within and is nurtured by our peers who value the same.
That might sound a little idealistic but it really boils down to the Launchways principle of putting the right people in the right seats. We carefully vet potential employees so that our team is made up of similarly driven and dedicated individuals across all departments. And we know that no one is going to be good at everything – but that everyone is good at their own areas of expertise. So we take the time to identify aptitudes and put people in the roles that let them take advantage of their skills. And our employees have a unique amount of leeway to shape their roles to suit their personalities, work styles, values, and talents so they can do and be their best.
Because we get to work on what we’re passionate about and good at, it’s much easier to build and maintain our drive. There is so much room to grow within the organization that there is no limit to our ability to grow ourselves and our careers as we work on many different types of projects to serve unique client needs. As our Senior HR Consultant Christine Lewis put it,
“Something that is really unique about working at Launchways is the ability that each of us has to explore different areas in our career and participate in projects that we would not be able to at another company. Our roles are not very siloed so we get to work with many different teams. Tackling HR issues in so many different environments has allowed me to grow my career much faster than I could working in-house.”
It also means that we get to take ownership of our projects. We feel comfortable and encouraged to come forward with ideas for projects or solutions and we help each other realize those ideas. Our mutual drive allows us to have more control over our work and a greater impact on the results we deliver for our clients. Our driven team is the key to Launchways’ innovative solutions.
Fueling Collaboration Through Shared Purpose
At Launchways, we’re not just driven on an individual level. There’s a sense of energy as soon as you walk through the doors and become immersed in the team environment. We’re each passionate about our own projects but we also get to work together to realize the goals on an individual, departmental, company, and client level.
This mutual drive gives us a sense of shared purpose. And because we openly acknowledge our different strengths and backgrounds, we can easily reach out to coworkers to fill in any gaps we might have and deliver our solutions to the client. There’s no foot-dragging or complaining about diverting resources from other projects – people are happy to get involved and help each other succeed. One of our Client Success Advocates, Hannah, said it best when she told us,
The team atmosphere is my favorite part of working at Launchways. There is always a sense of support and there is a lot of trust. You can really trust your teammates to back you up and we are all in it together. It makes me feel really safe, capable, and ready to be myself.
Earning Trust and Respect to Foster Community
At Launchways, we all have a shared passion for always doing what’s best for our clients while growing and learning new things. And no one questions each other’s dedication. We know how much our work means to every single person on the team and how hard we all work to make great things happen for our company and our clients.
And when you get so many passionate people together in an office and give them the resources they need to take ownership of their work and do what they know how to do best, something truly remarkable happens. You don’t just build a company culture. You create a community.
Our mutual drive creates the kind of genuine trust and respect that is necessary for deeper connections and an organic community. All of the realizations and benefits of our “Driven” value we’ve covered so far add up to make Launchways a special place to work. Launchways is where people are comfortable sharing their true selves and appreciate each other for who we really are. And this environment isn’t just individually rewarding, it also gives us the space to forge meaningful relationships. As our long-time team member Maribel Espinoza says,
“Everyone here gets along so well that I call it my second family. Coming to work with great people in a great atmosphere makes my work even more rewarding.”
Respecting Intentions Empowers Diversity and Growth
Working in an environment in which every person is driven and passionate about their work allows us to avoid many of the kinds of miscommunications that can derail teamwork, growth, and innovation. Because it creates the trust and respect that allows for community, it also lets us have full trust in each other’s intentions. This means that we listen to each other seriously without taking anything personally: enabling us to realize one of our other core values of being “thoughtfully candid.”
Once you trust your coworkers’ intentions implicitly, you open up a whole new world of possibilities for productive collaboration and personal growth. Everyone is comfortable to be themselves and share their genuine opinions and perspectives even if, and sometimes especially if, they differ or conflict with those of others. Having so many diverse perspectives at the table allows us to think outside of the box and truly innovate as a team and as a company. It fuels our individual and mutual drives and allows us to push each other to help us do and be our best. All without causing hard feelings.
And this diversity, equality, and willingness to push each other applies at all levels of the organization. Our CEO, Jim Taylor, had this to say about how our team drives his work:
“What I like about the Launchways team is that, simply put: they’re good at what they do. They make me driven because they hold me responsible to be the best I can be and there is a level of mutual respect that exists that has taken me to a place that I have not been before in my career. We’re not afraid to disagree on things and know that these different opinions will take us to the best possible place. And our relationships are authentic and rewarding, so we don’t take disagreements personally.”
Key Takeaways
Here are some of the key takeaways of what being driven means for us at Launchways:
- We own our work and our professional development, which makes it easy to be passionate about what we do
- Our mutual drive helps us work together to accomplish goals on an individual, team, and company-wide level
- Common purpose and dedication to our work does more than facilitate productive collaboration: it builds vibrant and meaningful community
- With everyone sharing the same sense of drive and purpose, we trust each other’s intentions, which lets us share our diverse opinions to maximize our outcomes and growth
The truth is that the core value of being Driven defines who we are and what we do at Launchways. It makes our office somewhere that is full of passionate, dedicated individuals who are hell-bent on being successful and really making a difference in the work that they do. And it builds a community based on trust, respect, and deep relationships.
Are you interested in joining the Launchways team? Learn more about our career opportunities here.