Trust and Courage are Essential to a Strong Team Culture

by Keith Sprochi on July 2, 2020

Editor’s Note: This post was originally shared internally. With the author’s permission it is shared here so that prospective coworkers understand what makes Sonatype special.

I have been squawking about preserving the Sonatype culture for a few years now. I think that the Sonatype culture has two main ingredients: trust and courage. One thing that cemented my decision to work at Sonatype was a blog post that Mike Hansen wrote, which talked about trust being an essential ingredient for a company with remote employees. At some point after I joined Sonatype, Mike recommended the book “Turn the Ship Around!” which had courage as a central tenet. I have realized over time that the principles of trust and courage are two of the things that make the culture at Sonatype the best of any company that I have been involved with; but I have come to understand that embracing the principles of trust and courage on a daily basis is not easy, especially during a pandemic.

What is Trust?

In this context, trust is being able to count on your team, your manager, and by extension all of Sonatype, to support you. Support comes in many forms. Support can be helping to balance out the workload when things get out of balance. Support is a flexible schedule that enables you to maximize your focus. Support can also be the expectation of being treated with decency and respect in both personal and professional situations, particularly when it comes to sharing ideas and/or vision for current and future work.

What is Courage?

In this context, courage is being able to make decisions with the best information that you have available at the time. In many ways, courage is trusting in yourself to do great things when needed. Courage is also being able (Read more...)