Onboarding at Runtastic (or probably at every company) can be rather overwhelming at times: loads of information from all kinds of sources and people makes it tricky to keep an overview. And to learn about a company’s culture.
Inspired by the famous Liz & Mollie, authors of “No Hard Feelings. The Secret Power Of Embracing Emotions At Work”, we decided to provide a little more guidance on the inofficial stuff that is good to know from the very first day:
- Things which Runtastics, who have worked here for a while, take for granted
- Things which are helpful but nobody thinks about actually telling you
- Things which you eventually find out on accidentally
Crowdsourcing during our Days of New Ideas
Almost every quarter, we dedicate two days to innovation. Well, that’s not true, because we dedicate our daily work to innovation (it is one of our core values after all). However, during our Days of New Ideas – or DONI, as we lovingly call them – we get together and do nothing but innovate. Preferably on topics that are not part of our daily business, with people with whom we don’t work on a regular basis.
So, a while back a diverse group of Runtastics teamed up to create an “It’s Okay List” which we could display in our offices and our online communication platforms. Team members who had recently joined as well as long-term colleagues, a variety of nationalities, professional expertise as well as genders collected a great number of things that we do, but may actually not be aware of.
What Is Actually Okay?
After hours of brainstorming and discussing, we realized how many informal rituals we actually have, how many unwritten rules we actually apply on a daily basis, and how many habits are perfectly fine at Runtastic, yet may not be someplace else.
What was particularly fun for us was to see how many different topics arose during the discussions: from feeling okay about making use of our flexi-time (and leaving work at 03:00pm without feeling guilty), about making mistakes, or about not being sporty (we can’t stress enough that you do not have to be sporty to work at a sports company).
We grouped our findings into the five categories: self-care, collaboration, time management, communication and (home) office life, and are really happy with what we came up.
Why This Makes Sense For Your Company Too
So, when scanning through this list, keep in mind that it is certainly not universal, but rather specific to Runtastic. However, this shall not keep you from trying it out at your work, as you most probably also have some rituals that you may not even have been aware of.
Aside from the “It’s Okay” List being a helpful guide for your colleagues, it is also a great way to reflect on what is actually amazing at your workplace. And this is always a good thing to do!
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