Our values
What Columbia Road stands for
Trust
Trust is shown in our company from the very first day, but it comes with responsibility. In a community-led organisation, trust means you don’t have to ask for approval for decisions that affect your work.
We trust people to make the best possible decision, as they know what is best for them to succeed in their work. But it’s important to keep in mind that by making a decision the person is then responsible for that decision.
A culture of trust is a great factor in our success, as it fosters creativity and commitment, and helps everyone to aspire to do their best.
Transparency
For people to make good decisions and to be able to take responsibility, everyone needs to have access to as much information as possible. We have approached this so that unless there is a legal or other cogent reason all information is available to everyone in the company, from financials to salary ranges to strategic documentation.
It is through transparency that we can see leadership manifest in client teams, internal task forces and individuals rather than through line managers. It means that tough questions might be asked and everyone should be open to having discussions, but the final call is always made by the people owning the topic.
Community-led
Community-led organisations have their own set of rules, ways of working, and support structures. These elements, at their best, manifest themselves in high employee motivation, organisational productivity and satisfied clients.
From the get-go, we have aimed to build structures that are geared toward building and maintaining trust and transparency as the organisation grows. Structures act as enablers, making sure that people are supported and have visibility, as well as creating alignment within the organisation.
Professional growth
In a community-led and self-directed company such as ours, the learning opportunities are abundant but also the responsibility of each developer, designer, and marketer. A learning budget you to define, endless certification options, and continuous learning through client work are facts that are all true.
The real value of these opportunities is and should be defined by each Roadie in order for the learning path to support and elevate the skills of everyone in the most fruitful way. You be you.
Shared goals
Our community of 150+ Roadies is a collection of different backgrounds, knowledge, and experiences. All of us contribute to our business in equal amounts, which makes it immensely important to make sure that everyone feels and knows they are treated as equal contributors.
As we have shared goals instead of individual ones, we share success equally - regardless of seniority, tenure or contribution. For example, the annual company bonus model is equal for all employees, as everyone receives an equal payout if the shared goals are met.
Support
For us, the ultimate goal is to ensure our community is a place where everyone can and will ask for help when needed. By helping others, everyone is helping themselves as well.
We want to ensure that Roadies can trust, and know, that they always have someone to turn to and that they can support each other. Knowing whom to turn to is key to fostering a safe and supportive environment for all of our Roadies.
Highlight
Why healthy work culture isn’t just about the sunny side of life
When I joined Columbia Road, one of the first things that I found exceptional was the Friday morning's feeling-sharing session. I don't recall sharing my feelings openly in my previous jobs in a situation dedicated to that. It felt pretty challenging, as my strategy in work life had been to keep my feelings to myself.
Culture is not something that happens apart from you. Every single Slack message or conversation you have with your colleagues is the culture in the flesh.
Juuli Kiiskinen
Society has taught us to leave negative feelings out of work to be successful, because who doesn't love an ever-positive champ who can put on a smile no matter the situation? It's too bad that feelings are not like coats that you can hang outside before entering your workplace.
People who work in the tech industry love to refer to Google in how they do things, so why not trust Google also with this one: Google did a study already back in 2015 to learn what makes a Google team effective. They discovered that psychological safety was undeniably the most important of the five dynamics.
2015 was seven years ago, and the world looks very different today. That being said, the need and importance of psychological safety have never been this high in individuals, teams, and societies.
Our partners
