5 ways to build your team and grow your company culture

We all know that company culture is more than grabbing drinks after work and the occasional NERF gun battle, but for the Des Moines-based Bunchball team those are both important components. For the Iowa team working for California-headquartered gamification company Bunchball, creating a positive company culture and building a team from one remote employee to…

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We all know that company culture is more than grabbing drinks after work and the occasional NERF gun battle, but for the Des Moines-based Bunchball team those are both important components.

For the Iowa team of the California-headquartered gamification company, creating a positive company culture and building a team from one remote employee to six has been a conscious and thoughtful process.

On Thursday, Bunchball hosted a lunch and learn at Gravitate to share what’s worked and what hasn’t as they’ve worked to grow their team and create a positive company culture. For anyone working to build their own team, here are five of their biggest lessons:

1. Growth can be terrifying, but it’s worth it

When Kasey McCurdy first started working from Bunchball, he was the company’s only Iowa-based employee. Today the Iowa-based team includes six members. But figuring out how to build out a team, especially remotely, isn’t always easy. “Going from one to two people is terrifying. Being in a real office is terrifying. Firing your first non-referral employee is terrifying. But I typically spend more time in the office than I do at home so it needs to be awesome.”

2. Always consider the “Beer Test”

Bunchball’s Andrew Kirpalani says that typically during interviews he stays away from asking technical questions—that’s what other members of his team are for—to focus on personality and how the potential hire would fit in with the rest of the team. “I can talk to somebody for two to three minutes and figure out if they’re someone I want to talk longer. If I want to sit down and have a beer with that person, they might be worth hiring.”

3. Team building should be a daily activity

When you’re creating and maintaining a company culture, building your team is something that happens every day. Whether it’s something small like a team lunch or something bigger like a company retreat, team building ensures that when difficult situations arise, your team feels comfortable enough to address the important stuff.

“The fact that we put an emphasis on daily, weekly and monthly team building is because it persists in everything we do,” Bunchball’s Jeff Shinrock said. “It’s not so much that we just like to go out and have fun, but it persists a level of trust and removes the fear that might be there.”

4. Companies need to invest in remote workers

With more than half its team headquartered in California, Bunchball’s Iowa team is technically “remote,” but that doesn’t mean they feel disconnected. McCurdy says that thanks to tools like Slack and video conferencing, he’s able to see and talk to the people he works with every day, just like his co-workers who live in Iowa. Ultimately though, it’s equally important that a company’s management is on board with the way distributed teams operate.

“Remote or distributed teams don’t work if the company doesn’t make an active investment in making it work,” he said. “It’s just a mentality shift.”

5. Know the difference between culture & creating a cult

There’s a big difference between creating a culture team members feel they can contribute to and an environment where “culture” is mandated. McCurdy likens the difficulty to creating a cult versus building a culture: “A cult is telling someone, ‘You will think this way.’ A culture will flex and bend, but there are still things you won’t compromise on.”

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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One response to “5 ways to build your team and grow your company culture”

  1. Silvina Avatar

    Great
    article Megan. I strongly believe that the progress of a company
    depends on understanding the multicultural differences among their team
    members. Big and small companies are realizing about the importance of
    considering any cultural factors while working with a multicultural
    team. It’s important to ensure that the collaboration between team
    members located in different parts of the world is smooth and
    successful.