Carissa Stewart
Vice-president and chief client officer, wonderMakr
Adam Mitchell
President, Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers
Be flexible
“As someone who had worked from home for the better part of a decade, I knew not only how much more productive I could be when eliminating a commute, I also knew it afforded me lots of perks. Affording working parents this type of flexibility was paramount in the company we were building. This kind of flexibility works just as well for team members who prefer to start later in the morning and work through to the evening. We have built a team who truly understands when they are needed in the office, how to thrive from home or on the road and, I think, appreciates what our flexible culture affords them.”
Share successes
“A business doesn’t grow as quickly as we have without a focus on results. Everyone knows what our goals are as a team and we celebrate every win, no matter how small. We also celebrate the individual successes of our teammates, because we know that work is only part
of life. Birthdays, anniversaries, babies, awards, educational achievements — a win for one is a win for all of us. Oh yeah — we also have an office gym and offer free personal training, because we want teammates to succeed at life, not just in business.”
Offer face time
“Every day at 11 a.m., we come together for 10 to 15 minutes as a team. Even those working from home can dial or Zoom into our conference room. We call it our ‘huddle.’ Huddle is a time when we ensure the team is set up for success for the day, to get the answers, to flag any challenges, to share updates about projects, celebrate good news and for Mark [Mark Stewart, president and chief innovation officer] and I to advise on the ‘state of the nation’ at wonderMakr. We are big proponents of being wholly transparent with our team. Taking this time to connect keeps everyone informed and engaged.”
Praise empowerment
“We rely on individuals to represent us with our customers, so we give them the technology, tools and training they need (no, we don’t call it the 3 Ts), and then we empower them to be their best selves. We have so many different personalities, and we don’t ask people to be what they’re not. We let their strengths shine.”
Encourage creativity
“We are an experiential technology/innovation studio, so creativity is required at every turn. We work to foster that creativity by affording team members the opportunity to take on personal interest projects, bring forward ideas of new technologies they’d like to explore and play with, and to learn and experiment with projects not related to the client work we’re doing.”
Share successes
“The business is an open book to everyone at the office. We regularly share our results, in detail, with the team. If we have a good month, the team knows. If we have a bad month, the team knows. We also share what the leadership team is working on in terms of new partnerships, expansion plans, etc. In this way, we’ve cut out a lot of the speculation, rumours and whispers that go in other offices. Everything is out in the open here.”
Give the team a voice
“We give our team the opportunity to weigh in on decisions, talk about how to drive the business forward and how we are taking measures to improve our processes and operations. We talk to team members individually about the role he or she plays now and we work to ensure it’s the role he or she wants to keep playing. We can’t promise everything will happen right away, but giving everyone a chance to be heard and to understand what’s in their heads and their hearts seems like the best way to keep our incredibly talented team happy and healthy.”
Praise empowerment
“At M&W, fun is a line item. There are toys and games all over the office, we regularly have team lunches and celebrations, and every other Tuesday, we deliver treats to team members at their desks using our trolley, hence the name ‘Trolley Tuesday.’ There is also a substantial part of every work day that is spent simply being silly with one another. Life’s too short to be serious all the time. In fact, part of how we succeed as a business is we love going to work every day. We like each other and we try our best to brighten each other’s day.”
