Bringing the Human Side to a Technology Business
The pace of technology start-ups moves fast, and it can be easy to go along with this speed of working and growing to the detriment of other aspects of your business, such as maintaining personal relationships with colleagues. However, keeping that human connection in a fast and thriving work setting is undoubtedly worth it in terms of the rewards you can reap like passion, loyalty, and real connection.
My company Clinked has undergone a lot of changes in the just over a decade that we have been operating in, with us beginning as a small start up in Cambridge, UK, to having a global team based all around the world. We have taken the best of our successes with us as we have grown, but have always kept the small business mentality that is so important to fostering the sense of connectivity in the workplace. I’ve witnessed first hand the benefits of maintaining great human connections, particularly in a technology business, and believe that many other companies in the sector should be striving for this too.
Better connections
Fostering a sense of community within your workplace and really getting to know your employees’ personalities gives a deeper sense of connection on several levels. Not only will this give you the chance to get to know your colleagues on a personal level better, you’ll also start to recognise your teammates strengths, and in turn their weaknesses. Great leadership in tech companies comes from taking what you have learned from interacting with your colleagues and putting this into practice in your workplace. Knowing that your team performs better without meetings scheduled on a Friday, or allowing flexible working hours around personal commitments will benefit your whole team. That’s why at Clinked, we all make time in our schedules every week to chat together at our regular ‘water cooler’ meet ups and take a break from work to foster those personal connections.
I’m also fortunate to have team members based all over Europe, bringing with them experiences from having lived and worked around the world. I believe companies thrive off this diversity and it helps to make us more compassionate and considerate coworkers. Listening to my colleagues stories and viewpoints I know makes me a better colleague and boss, and Clinked is a better working environment because of it.
Motivated to work harder for each other
As a result of knowing each other better, I find that this makes my team more driven to work together. You are invested in the business succeeding and also seeing your teammates succeed individually too. What you then benefit from is a positive cycle where this enjoyable, collaborative working environment makes your employees happier. As a result, this environment is enjoyable and desirable to keep this way, and so your employees keep this fantastic atmosphere going.
Alternatively, if your colleagues have a strong relationship with their fellow employees, there is more at stake by allowing a bad working environment to creep in. They don’t want to jeopardize the strong connection they currently have with their teammates, and so this in turn is a great incentive for keeping productivity levels high.
More enjoyable working environment
Each of these reasons for building a strong human connection with your team has a knock on effect of creating another great reason why your business shouldn’t be without this strong human connection between teammates, and the next one is that it makes working a much happier and enjoyable task.
I also find that this helps to tear down the negative associations people have with the tech industry overworking its employees and creating a much too highly pressured environment.
It’s great to see this attitude also be adopted by other big companies, like Monzo with their dedicated family rooms and LinkTree offering extended parental leave, regardless of gender. For me, this just reinforces that by not having this approach to work and treating your employees is humans first is not only unsustainable but unethical, and that tech should be leading the way with building the new normal of fantastic working environments.
As businesses continue to grow, it has certainly become more fashionable to offer benefits like snacks and games rooms to give this sense of care and community. And while many companies will advertise their relationships with their employees as ‘being like a family’, it requires real effort from the leaders to carry these meaningful relationships throughout the company. Genuine, human connections go a long way in the tech industry, and the effort they require to become great relationships is undoubtedly worth it for an all round happier, more productive and more valued workforce.
