Welcome to part 3 of our company value blog post series. Previously we gave you insight into how we value balance and respect in the workplace, today’s post will talk about how we create an empowering culture for everyone at Smartcar!
Communicating Smartcar’s vision 👓
A company can only be successful if each individual knows how their work contributes to the overall success of the organization. This is why for us, being empowered starts with knowing Smartcar’s vision and aligning on common goals.
Our co-founders Sahas and Sanketh openly communicate Smartcar’s vision and goals during monthly All-Hands meetings. Those meetings serve to create transparency around our company’s focus, metrics, and precisely what the team is doing to achieve our short and long-term goals. With the help of everyone’s buy-in, enthusiasm, and collaboration, we’re not only aiming in the same direction and achieving our goals as a team, but we’re also happier and more empowered employees.
Autonomy & decision making 🙋♀️
Sahas and Sanketh don’t only create transparency and alignment around a broader vision and goals, but they also strive to empower every team member during their day-to-day work. At Smartcar, we want everyone’s voice to be heard and different opinions, perspectives, and ideas to be sincerely considered and appreciated.
To encourage open communication and feedback, we hold bi-weekly 1 on 1’s between each team member and their manager. This helps us think critically and to speak up for what we believe in. When our voices are heard, we feel valued and know that we can truly make a difference.
Smartcar is a collaborative environment, but managers also trust every team member to work autonomously, make their own decisions, and take ownership of projects. When Mathilde wanted to experiment with a new recruiting incentive, she didn’t need to cut through a bunch of red tape to get approval. She had an idea and her manager trusted her to see it through. The new incentive yielded increased response rates and was a huge success.
But even when we try something new and aren’t successful, management doesn’t label it as a failure. Instead, it is seen as an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve. When we feel trusted with making the right decisions, we can focus our efforts on accomplishing the best results.
Career development 📈
Finally, empowerment means being able to grow in our current roles and, beyond that, to grow our careers at Smartcar. Sahas and Sanketh encourage the team to take charge of our career growth and to make our roles our own. Take a look at some Smartcar success stories:
Charlotte, Marketing
Charlotte has been with Smartcar for right about one year. She joined the team as a Marketing intern, working on blog posts and all things content. After a successful internship, she took on a full-time role. Charlotte has been our Content & Marketing guru ever since, managing everything from product copy and homepage content to SEO, blogs, and PR.
Gurpreet, Engineering
Three years ago, Gurpreet joined the Smartcar team as a Software Engineering Intern. Halfway through his internship, Gurpreet accepted a full-time role and eventually got promoted to Senior Software Engineer and acting Tech Lead. In his time here, Gurpreet has gained lots of new skills and has worn many hats, discovering everything from sales engineering to building out engineering mentorship programs.
Zeenia, Business & Sales
Zeenia joined the team as a Business Development Associate in 2017. Fast forward to today, Zeenia has been promoted three times and is now heading Sales and Business Development. She has built out everything from our sales process to market research and pricing.
