The word you’re looking for is “transparent.”
You’re looking for this word because you value companies with leaders who are accountable and unafraid to get into the nitty-gritty when it comes to delivering bad news. This word describes the job descriptions you like best, those that contain salary ranges. It’s also what ensures you know exactly what a company stands for and what its goals are before your application is even submitted.
These four Colorado tech companies have made this trait a core part of their cultures and how it makes a real impact on their employees’ day-to-day work.
Tortuga AgTech is a robotics company that makes autonomous harvesting equipment.
Please describe the transparent practices in place at Tortuga.
At Tortuga, we prioritize transparency through our “speak up, listen up,” value. We strive to foster an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions. This isn’t always fun — hard conversations are hard — but by speaking up and listening up, we can move forward as a company, make sure everyone feels respected and build trust. We encourage open dialogue in weekly tech talks, one-on-one meetings with managers and biweekly founder town halls, all of which are opportunities for direct, respectful conversation.
Recent external challenges have helped us demonstrate our transparency. During our fundraising process, our CEO shared details regularly in Slack and in live conversation about the pipeline and feedback from investors. When startup banks started collapsing, our CEO shared regular updates on how we were navigating the crisis and ensuring we would make payroll. And, during town halls or other public forums, team members often ask leadership the hardest questions so that everyone in the company can participate in difficult but healthy conversations about startup life.
At Tortuga, we prioritize transparency through our “speak up, listen up,” value.”
Why were these practices implemented at Tortuga?
In addition to aligning with our core values, these practices were implemented to foster a culture of trust and collaboration. When employees feel heard and understood, they are more likely to be engaged and invested in their work. By creating a safe space for open dialogue, we can surface issues and challenges early and address them proactively. This also enables us to celebrate successes and achievements as a team, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose. By being upfront and honest about our successes, challenges and decision-making processes, we can build trust and credibility with those who are critical to our success.
We understand that transparency can be uncomfortable and challenging, but we believe that the benefits far outweigh any short-term discomfort. Lastly, as a startup, we recognize the importance of agility and adaptability. Being transparent about our goals, priorities and challenges enables us to pivot and iterate quickly in response to changing circumstances. It also helps us stay aligned as a team, ensuring that we are all working toward the same objectives.
What are the outcomes of this level of transparency? What employee feedback have you received about these practices?
In our most recent pulse survey, we heard from employees who told us, “I appreciate the transparent communication about the fundraise, SVB collapse, etc.,” and, “Really appreciate the transparency from [CEO and co-founder] Eric and the rest of leadership during the SVB fiasco. That was awesome and it was clear how much you all care about the team and making sure we were in the loop.” In addition to hearing positive feedback, we’ve seen a few key outcomes from practicing transparency.
It has led to increased employee engagement and buy-in. Our team feels that they are a part of the decision-making process and are trusted with important information about the company. This sense of ownership has resulted in increased motivation and a very high retention rate. Transparency has enabled us to identify and address potential issues before they become larger problems. By fostering open communication and an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up, we’ve been able to address concerns and implement changes that improve our overall culture and operations.
Companies use SambaSafety’s software to monitor and mitigate risk with their driver fleet as well as to provide training.
Please describe the transparent practices in place at SambaSafety in detail.
Though many states are already enforcing rules and laws around job postings that include both posting all opportunities available along with their respective salary ranges, we have made it a standard practice regardless of which geography we are sourcing talent from. To us, this signals to both current and future employees that we’re intent on protecting against discrimination in the workplace and that we prioritize equity.
Though SambaSafety has always prided itself on transparent business practices, we have put our money where our mouth is, so to speak, by investing in tools that promote transparent communication, allow all Sambans visibility into each other’s work and that empower them to connect, align and take action. One particular tool, Lattice, helps us to display and interact with our goals. Its shared and public nature gives it its power and drives accountability and sets the stage for open, candid and rich conversations about work. Lattice also allows our team to request feedback from anyone in the organization. Access is important, and we do our best to create channels for greater communication.
We have put our money where our mouth is by investing in tools that promote transparent communication.”
Why were these practices implemented?
Our “why” for implementing these practices is two-fold. First, as a data company we know that information is powerful, so we make it a point to apply an information sharing and data lens to all that we do. Having the right information at the right time can have a positive effect on our social, psychological and emotional wellbeing, and that often translates to happier and healthier employees and great quality work outcomes.
Second, these practices support our core values of teamwork, accountability and impact. Thoughtful and considerate transparency practices inherently foster connection. Similarly, transparency is intrinsically linked to both accountability and impact as it promotes better governance and demands elevated attitudes, behaviors and work products. Further it is important that our people know how we are doing as a business, whether things are good or we’re facing challenges. This helps drive better decisions in their work.
What are the outcomes of this level of transparency? What employee feedback have you received about these practices?
The outcomes of these practices, so far, have been received well and considered positive. We continue to receive feedback on ways to improve, but getting that feedback in and of itself signals that we’re moving in the right direction. We want to continue to foster a sense of safety, connection and empowerment, and transparent practices are helping us move the needle in that space!
Crafted is a product development consultancy.
Please describe the transparent practices in place at Crafted.
We make it a top priority to be a very transparent organization. Right now we are culturally, financially and organizationally transparent.
First, we are culturally transparent by allowing our team to define who we are as a business, what values we embody and what our core DNA is made of. This is specific to each discipline of product design, product management and engineering but then also at the broader, all-Crafted level.
Second, at the financial level, we believe that the entire team is more empowered to make the right day-to-day decisions if they understand how those decisions impact projects and the overall business. We regularly share engagement financials and overall company financials with our team.
Lastly, we are organizationally transparent by being very candid about the state of our business, our engagements and expectations for the future. Again, we don’t feel that you can have empowered employees by hiding pertinent details. We are better together and with a shared view.
Why were these practices implemented?
When I started Crafted, I knew the most important thing was building a tight-knit team that would trust and support each other. Initially, being a very small consultancy, I wanted to be very direct with the first employees I brought onto the team. It was important to me that they knew what they were getting into, how I planned to run the business and what the upside and downside could look like. This ensured I only hired people who were along for the ride. This practice of transparency still exists today as we approach 25 employees.
The other reason this has been important to Crafted is because we believe in empowerment for our people. In order to empower people to make all the right choices and tradeoffs, you have to give them as much information as humanly possible. We trust our people to be mature adults who can handle the good, the bad and the ugly. We understand that people are not blind to what is happening and hiding things only makes the overall situation worse. By putting all the cards on the table across all team members, we build a stronger strategy for Crafted to succeed.
What are the outcomes of this level of transparency? What employee feedback have you received about these practices?
This transparency has a direct impact on shaping Crafted into a stronger business and team. Our client projects have better results when we openly share successes, challenges, budget constraints, timeline pressures and more. The team knows that by collaborating and building a strategy with a full set of data, we will map out a better course of action. Internally, our finances and stability are directly impacted by each team member knowing how healthy we are with money, projects and pipeline. This knowledge helps the team chart the right paths to successful outcomes for both Crafted and our clients.
Our finances and stability are directly impacted by each team member knowing how healthy we are with money, projects and pipeline.”
It also helps us retain employees because they feel like they have a say in how we operate. They know they can learn about running a business and what additional decisions have to be made across the board. I know we will continue to run Crafted in this transparent way and that it will drive more successful outcomes.
Enterprise companies use zLinq’s software and services to implement, optimize and manage communication services.
Please describe the transparent practices in place at zLinq.
We build transparency into our communication cadence both as a team and on a one-on-one level. On a team level we have weekly check-ins, which help keep the organization on the same page as we openly share how we are doing across multiple channels. At a higher level, biannual kickoffs feature a fully open review of all our financials, including stock information. Finally, we put an emphasis of results through relationships and use personality assessments that provide transparency into the human aspect. We use an app and team activities to reinforce the learning and we reinforce team cadence with one-on-one activities.
We build transparency into our communication cadence both as a team and on a one-on-one level.”
These include quarterly scorecards, which provide transparent and bidirectional feedback between employees and the company. We also have quarterly skip-level meetings, too. Our stock calculator gives employees data on our current valuation, and that information is discussed one on one with me. Each new hire also has a culture alignment call before starting as well as a cultural overview with me post-hire to ensure expectations are clear. Lastly, we do quarterly Gallup employee engagement polls and openly share the results so zLinq’ers have visibility to the team’s feedback.
Why were these practices implemented?
We implement transparency practices because we truly believe that transparency creates engagement and engagement is a must for a company to be successful. We also constantly adjust our processes and methods as we grow. Transparency is also foundational for two of our core values: get results and build trust. You can’t get results if you are not transparent on where you are and where you are going. Sharing information honestly and openly also creates trust. As a CEO, I have observed many leaders and all the successful ones lead from a place of transparency.
What are the outcomes of this level of transparency? What employee feedback have you received about these practices?
Being transparent has allowed zLinq to double in size every year since inception. Besides getting stellar results, our Gallup engagement scores have been above 92 percent every quarter and transparency plays a big role in that. I do a 30-day checkpoint with new hires and regularly hear that transparency is a differentiator of zLinq’s culture.
There is a concept called the effectiveness equation where “E=Q*A squared,” or “effectiveness = quality of an ideal times accountability and acceptance.” It refers to the fact that even if you have a 100-percent great quality idea but it ranks low on acceptance by employees, the effectiveness will be way below 100 percent. Transparency is a key force in the effectiveness equation.
