“Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.”     Earl Nightangale

Going to work everyday should be far from a chore, it should be the reason for you to jump out of bed in the morning. (Flash back) Seven years ago I finished high school and like quite a few of my classmates at that time, investment banking was on everyones mind. So when everyone was applying to B school programs I decided that I would take some time off before university and get a glimpse into what investment banking would be like. I interned at one of the larger investment banking firms and it didn’t take me very long to figure out that we were not a very good fit. Thats when I changed my majors and decided I needed to find something else. I am in no way downplaying careers in finance, its just that each one of us are unique and are motivated by different factors and environments, finding one that suits your personality is essential.

As startups grow larger we have to make sure we maintain similar environments that sparked the creativity in the first place. Two companies come to mind which have done a great job of keeping the balance in check, they are, Google and IDEO. Both highly creative companies which focus on the environment for their most important asset…their people. Creating and focusing on an environment which fosters creativity and inspires, enables people to think out of the box without fear and builds loyalty. It becomes easier to work as a team when you can communicate and help each other reach his/her goals. There is nothing worse in my opinion than having a ton of ideas on how to improve a service or product and not being given a platform to express them.

I am an advocate of keeping communication among the teams I work with as candid as possible. Knowing each others goals and roles enables us to do whatever it takes to help our group mates to succeed in reaching their targets. Make the motivational environment of your organization a key metric to be constantly measured. What is the morale level of your team?