Icebreaker exercises often challenge participants to distill their most important characteristics into a few single words. A single word, taken to encompass meaningful values and forms of self-expression, invites others to consider the effects that characteristic can have on personality, interpersonal dynamics and growth.
When it comes to company culture, sometimes it’s more revealing to hear what particular word employees would choose, and why they landed on it. For local team members across 10 Chicago companies, those words include “collaborative,” “kind,” “rewarding” and “dedicated.” Each response seems to revolve around a similar core sentiment — the power of unity and support as pillars of company culture.
With so much focus on positive employee experience, it’s no wonder that each of these organizations propels its team members on their individual career journeys. In Zach Marks’ experience as a solution architect at Adage Technologies, the company supports employees at their own pace and “accelerates people toward their professional goals.”
We met with members of 10 local organizations to learn more about how a specific aspect of company culture has impacted their professional development. If you’re considering gifting yourself a new job for the holidays, one of their open positions might be for you.
What they do: Logiwa is the cloud fulfillment software provider, empowering high-volume direct-to-consumer businesses to scale and impress customers with a flawless delivery experience.
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and how did it help you grow professionally?
Since joining Logiwa, I’ve had the privilege of getting involved with several projects. The coolest has been helping the customer success team fine-tune the playbook. My colleagues and I have the chance to shape a growing department by leveraging our experiences, industry standards and unique company parameters. This is so cool because I feel heard — I can tell leadership truly values the opinions I bring to the table. Professionally, being able to take an abstract concept and turn it into an action item has allowed me to practice defining what really matters. That has promoted me to exercise my ability to be concise which is, admittedly, a detail I’m trying to work on every day.
What they do: The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks across the United States that, together with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., serves as the nation’s central bank.
Describe Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s culture in one word. What made you pick that word?
Rewarding. The Federal Reserve is a high-energy, fast-paced environment, particularly in the technology teams. We recently completed some major deliverables for a large, multi-year undertaking to enhance critical applications and the supporting infrastructure. In the midst of doing so, we embarked upon a few significant transformations. The amount of work we took on, combined with the number of changes in how we think about the design of our solutions was huge, to say the least. The collaboration, honesty, deep trust and sheer openness among the teams to achieve the collective goal exemplified the team culture.
The Fed is a place where people are hugely motivated by the mission of the organization, and this sincerity shines in every team and individual I have met. Working in an environment where people are motivated by a greater good is incredibly rewarding, and I look forward to coming to work to achieve amazing things each and every day.
What they do: Provi is a platform that connects those in every tier of the alcohol beverage trade.
Describe Provi’s culture in one word. What made you pick that word?
Kind. While it sounds cheesy, it is hands down the first word I think of when candidates ask me about the culture. From handing out company kudos to helping answer questions to onboarding new hires remotely, to celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, everyone has the no-stupid-questions mentality and wants everyone to be successful. People are also extremely giving and always asking for ways to share their time or expertise.
What they do: Origami Risk is an integrated SaaS solutions provider for the risk and insurance industry—from insured corporate and public entities to brokers and risk consultants, insurers, third party claims administrators (TPAs) and risk pools.
Describe Origami Risk’s culture in one word. What made you pick that word?
Collaborative. The best work I’ve done personally and that I’ve seen come out of my team has been through collaborative efforts where we’ve established open communication and trust that allows us to ultimately get to an idea we’re excited to execute. For example, we knew our clients needed a way to distribute safety messaging in their organizations more efficiently. A core team identified a few problem statements, and with a larger group from multiple departments and industries, we ran a fun and engaging brainstorming session to identify how we could solve the problem. No idea was a bad idea! Through that effort, we were able to identify common themes and run with ideas the smaller group may have never identified. Ultimately, that effort is leading to a new innovation in our product that is soon to be released.
What they do: MoLo Solutions connects shippers who need to move their goods and the truck drivers that have capacity to haul those goods. They are moving hundreds of truckloads across North America every day.
What professional growth or development have you seen in your time with MoLo?
Working in operations for several of our business development accounts has provided me with a lot of fantastic opportunities, such as coordinating cross-border shipments from Canada and into Mexico, or analyzing data to help our customers better understand loading and unloading times. All these projects have taught me so much about freight and business, and they have helped me better understand my style of operating.
I’ve also had the privilege to help organize several fundraisers for our diversity, equity and inclusion committee and our philanthropy committee. Helping organize these fundraisers has taught me so much about multi-tasking, event planning and sales. It’s been such a joy to collaborate with my colleagues to help raise money for charitable causes, and it is always so rewarding to see everyone at MoLo pitching in and helping us raise money.
What they do: Farmer’s Fridge built a network of 300+ smart Fridges stocked with chef-curated salads, sandwiches, bowls and snacks. Meals are handcrafted in their kitchen, then delivered fresh to Fridges or homes in the Midwest and Northeast.
How long have you been with Farmer’s Fridge, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I’ve been with the company since 2015. I was one of the earliest employees. I wore almost every hat imaginable, but as we raised more money and hired more people, my role became more defined. Early on, I managed our drivers and fridge technicians; I now lead our mid-market client success team. To see where we started and where we are now is night and day. I remember working out of a shared kitchen space where the “office” was not much larger than the room Harry Potter slept in. Contrast that to our current beautiful office space — it is incredible to see the physical growth, but more so all the new people who have helped shape Farmer’s Fridge. But the company culture is still the same. We still have the same values and still strive to give people as good a product as we can possibly deliver to make their day a little bit better.
What they do: Capital One’s mission is to change banking for good by bringing humanity, ingenuity and simplicity to banking.
How long have you been with Capital One, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
One constant in my nearly seven years at Capital One has been sticking to my personal mission statement: “Empower others while continuously learning.” I’ve continued my education through Capital One’s Tech College, which offers thousands of free courses for associates seeking to develop new tech skills. I’ve taken classes on Python, Snowflake, Agile processing and structured query language. Through the platform, I also take exam prep courses on Amazon Web Services Solution Architect certification. These courses enabled me to quickly build a foundational understanding of our data infrastructure and the various tools we use to build our models. With the help of my colleagues, Capital One, and Tech College, I’ve been able to work my way up from a principal risk specialist to risk manager.
What they do: Locusview built the world’s best Digital Construction Management (DCM) platform, which helps energy, telecom and water utilities manage large scale construction projects from planning to revenue.
How long have you been with Locusview, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I’ve had the pleasure of supporting the U.S. team since June of this year, and in that short time I’ve seen our company expand in every direction. We’ve increased headcount by more than 20 percent, promoted multiple key contributors to positions of leadership, and built our teams across the globe.
Personally, I’ve had to grow in order to support a team that’s building onboarding plans on the fly, and creating new roles and responsibilities all the time. I’ve led change management initiatives in my career, but nothing at this pace. I’ve had to learn how to win employees’ trust without the benefit of weeks of research and methodically planned rollouts. It’s been a fun lesson to learn while working with a team that is agile and smart enough to set realistic expectations.
What they do: Adage Tech is a web design and development firm that combines strategic thinking with a passion for technology to advance their client’s purpose.
Describe Adage Technologies’ culture in one word. What made you pick that word?
Acceleration. Whether we’re getting the end-user to their goal in fewer clicks, giving the website administrator tools to automate manual processes, or providing the project manager a detailed status report on our progress, we’re always accelerating clients toward their goals. The same principle applies to working at Adage. Not only do we allow you to grow at your own pace, but as a company we love supporting and accelerating people toward their professional goals.
Client goals and professional goals often combine. I’m currently working alongside a developer during her first opportunity to lead a Greenfield project. The rapid professional growth she has demonstrated is also benefiting the client by keeping the project on track and on budget, while still going above and beyond on quality. I get excited to work in that kind of culture of mutual acceleration toward goals.
What they do: Machinio is a global platform for buying and selling machinery and equipment. They use technology to connect buyers and sellers and facilitating transactions.
Describe Machinio’s culture in one word. What made you pick that word?
Dedicated. Everyone who I have had the pleasure of working with at Machinio is nothing if not dedicated. Our team thrives on each person setting their own personal goals and having open communication and support to help achieve those goals. We set a company-wide goal for the end of 2021 and our team leaders have put time aside to talk with each person about how they can help the team reach this goal by the end of the year. We’re all contributing in our own way but keeping the same goal in mind.
