The Joys of Working in a Team - Centric Organization

This year, it will be the 10-year anniversary of me moving to the magical city of Mumbai. My journey was similar to many non-Mumbaikars who land hereand get bitten by the bug that makes us fall in love with this city. I am grateful to this city for a million reasons, to name a few - my independence, friends like family, my life partner and an enriching work experience. Over the span of 10 years, I have stumbled upon many organizations and have had the opportunity to be a part of many who offer a range of cool services to their clients. Now when I look back at my career journey, starting as a Junior Copywriter, then a Content Specialist, Sr Associate Content Creator, and currently Director - Creative Strategy at Lemon Yellow, there is a clear demarcation between organizations that were teame-centric and the ones that were not. Through the years of hopping, skipping and jumping from one organization to the other, I realized that very rarely did I feel truly excited to get to work. By saying this, I do not mean to say that I hated my job entirely or that my work did not make me happy. Sure, I felt that tingling sensation in my body everytime I tapped on the keyboard frantically to write an article; every time I had to come up with a tagline my mind got an instant dose of adrenaline, and every brainstorming session made me feel happy nervous! But to be honest, these were just a few instances in the day that I looked forward to. Having said that, I did not look forward to getting to my work desk, or I was never truly excited on a Thursday night to go to work the next morning. Until last year, when something unreal happened! I'm using the word ‘unreal' on purpose because what I am going to write next might be unbelievable to many. I bumped into the workplace of my dreams. Here are the top five reasons that make my current organization one of the most team-centric companies.

1.Vision & Mission Driven: No matter where I worked before, never have I felt a deeper connection with the company's vision and mission statements as I do now. Though I came across many inspirations in my past organizations, I never had the clarity of where the companies were headed and what was the mission that I contributed to. Whereas in Lemon Yellow, every single employee knows exactly what they are working towards and that drives us to get to our work desk day after day.

2. Team First Approach: It is extremely important for business owners to understand the importance of valuing the people who make the organization. There is a common notion, especially in start-ups, that once you hire an employee on a payroll they automatically become a slave to the organization. Apologies for the rather harsh term, but I am sure many reading this will absolutely relate to it. A line from our company oath says, “One team with one vision and one mission…” Here, it is always team before individual success. If we succeed it's a team effort and if we screw up it's a collective responsibility. This feeling of unity and togetherness lack in most of the organizations.

3. Community Building: I cannot stress enough on the fact that a lot of businesses forget that everyone is looking for a sense of belonging. If you fail to create that for your teammates then how do you expect them to stick around in your organization for a longer period of time? Building a community takes more than organizing a few celebratory events around the year. When a company starts thinking “How do I make my teammates feel comfortable and inspired every day?” you can tell that it is headed in the right direction.

4. Work Culture Focused: It is one thing to think of work culture as a crucial part of an organizational structure and another to make it the core of your organization. The latter is what happens in Lemon Yellow. It is extremely focused on work culture, which forms the core that perfectly holds everything together. What is a company's morning routine like? How organized is it on an administrative level? What are the core values of the firm? How aligned is everyone with each other's work and thoughts? These are some questions that maybe a good start towards defining a company's core culture.

5. Betterment of Each Other: How often have you come across a workplace where all your colleagues want is to help you make progress? A space with no back-bitting, no groupism, no trash talking...sounds unbelievable right? However, this is quite easily possible if the company owners make it a point to nurture the minds of every team member with positive and harmonious thoughts on a daily. Here, we are not only encouraged to set professional goals but also personal ones. In a nutshell, Lemon Yellow is a dream that has taken the shape of reality. As our founder Mr. Sameer Bhambere always says, “Change your thoughts, change your destiny.” Every reality was once a thought and team LY is the best example of it.