At 1904labs, growth is a huge part of our culture. The labs was started to be a place to build innovative solutions for Fortune 500 clients, as well as a place where entrepreneurial-minded people could grow their careers. But what does a “growth culture” mean at 1904labs?
At 1904labs, growth culture is about three things: continuous learning, feedback and collaboration, and balancing psychological safety and challenges.
Continuous Learning
Growth is about continuous learning, which is why a huge focus of our hiring is on identifying intensely curious candidates. Curiosity means continually seeking out ways to expand your skills and knowledge and about questioning the status quo. At 1904labs, we created a workplace where learning is prioritized, and we want that focus in the team members we hire as well.
Additionally, growth culture is both about professional growth but also personal growth. We want employees to be able to bring their whole selves to work, and that extends to their growth paths too. We seek to be a career partner for however long the labs is a good fit for you.
“Focusing on growth, you’ll get performance. If you focus on performance, you may not get growth; both company-wide and individually.” - Sean Walsh, Managing Director
Feedback and Collaboration
Collaboration is at the key of any successful workplace. At 1904labs, we use collaboration and feedback to make the solutions we build for our clients better, more innovative, more comprehensive, and inclusive. But a huge focus of growth is also using this community of highly skilled, intelligent people to help improve one another. We believe our coworkers are our best resource to help advance our skills, give us feedback, and even help further our passion projects.
This is why one of our company handbooks is Radical Candor by Kim Scott. This book provides tools to give meaningful feedback in a way that shows you care about the other person. Growth can’t happen without feedback to help you improve.
“Growth culture is about feedback. We have to be open to getting feedback and giving feedback to grow.” - Sean Walsh, Managing Director
The Right Environment for Growth
Growth also doesn’t happen without the right environment, and that starts with psychological safety. There’s been a lot of research about high-performing teams, and that feeling of security is the biggest factor in team success.
“A growth culture environment has to be safe. And what that means is people have to feel secure that they can be the person they want to be.” - Sean Walsh, Managing Director
So our first priority is to ensure that everyone feels secure, included, and empowered to contribute to their team and the company. It’s also important to balance that psychological safety with an environment that pushes and challenges employees. Security is not about stagnation, and it has to be balanced with the need to push boundaries so we can take our solutions and our skills to the next level.
Growth is a foundational part of the labs. In this series, we’ll go through the ways that 1904labs fosters a growth culture for its employees day to day. If you’re interested in being part of a culture that prioritizes growth, check out our open positions!
