In order to build a construction that lasts, you must start with the foundation – think it through, and make it solid, resistant. On top of that, you add the brickwork, and then you polish it up. What you end up with is a useful, attractive structure that will stand the test of time. The same principles can be applied to building a team. The foundation is an environment that encourages innovation and creativity – just like Bytex. It makes it easier to identify strong team values that give a clear direction to a unit – the brickwork. Then talent, hard work and inspiration just come to complete a great experience towards customers and their product’s users.
We all have a set of ethical and overarching principles that guide our actions, whether we acknowledge them or not. They help us overcome obstacles, avoid pitfalls, give and receive respect, create goals, grow and free our creative thinking.
We believe that when a group of people, who happen to constitute a team, identifies a set of shared principles, then those principles can easily become team values – or superpowers, if you will. The following paragraphs will shed some light on how Bytex’s design team pinpointed exactly what makes them tick. The process is quite simple, and can be followed by anyone looking to identify a set of shared values.
Our Design Team’s Superpowers
- Collaboration. Always “We” never “I”, that is our belief. Different unique perspectives can lead to faster innovative solutions.
- Value. We strive for performance, quality, and growth, and all our efforts are centered around this question: How does our work improve people’s lives?
- Integrity. Moral principles and ethics are empowered by full transparency towards ourselves, our colleagues and our customers.
- Strategic Thinking. In order to create a smooth path for continuous learning and provide enough space for growth and innovative ideas, it is important to think ahead, be mindful of the bigger picture and learn from failures.
- Excitement. A smile is worth a thousand words. Humor and a good mood create an environment conducive to creativity and confidence. Always being excited about our work leads to creating better products and facilitates empathy – both to ourselves and to our customers.
How Do These Superpowers Help Us?
In a nutshell, our team values:
- Create transparency and help us build rapport with our customers.
- Cultivate openness: everyone in a team has a voice and is encouraged to ask and receive help.
- Encourage growth and facilitate conclusive evaluation systems.
- Encourage positive thinking and empathy.
- Bring focus on business value and on improving people’s lives.
How to Find Your Team’s Superpowers
Identifying your team values is easier than you might think. It is important that all team members contribute. We used the Miro app to collaborate, even though we work in the same office – we found it more satisfying to see the whole picture, and we wanted to archive it for later revisits and showcasing. The process was very simple:
- We searched online for what other design teams from other companies set up to be their core values and created a post-it for each one. [20 minutes]
- Each team member came up with their own ideas (3 to 5 per person), either original or just a reinterpretation of existing ones. [20 minutes]
- We set up a 5 min session in which everyone voted for their favorites using 5 red dots. [5 minutes]
- We then met in a room to discuss the outcome and decided on the final choices. [20 minutes]
There you have it – a session of just 65 minutes for establishing a set of common principles which had a huge impact on the direction of the design team and on the quality of Bytex’s UX services.
We are confident that finding your team’s superpowers will be just as easy. Drop us a line and let us know how it went.
