Values Behind Asking Questions

The culture at Now What Research is something that I would never expect to find in a work environment. The values surrounding the organizational culture is expecting hard work with a creative twist. They value dedicated craftsmanship without the straightedge tone that I am used to writing in for college courses. This has been a challenge to get into that mindset, but an exciting opportunity to show some outside-the-box thinking that I’m not accustomed to. Building upon this, the norms that exist within the workspace are in-line with their held values. People are very relaxed when it comes to meeting times, arrival and departure times, as well as how they converse with one another. As long as the work gets done and is up to the caliber that is expected to be delivered by the company, every thing else is up to the individual worker. For instance, when I had a deck due at the end of the week, my team and I were in the office by 8:30 am working until 10:30 pm every night that week. However, those that had dispersed phone calls and proposals came into the office around 10:00 am and left before 6:00 pm. They know when work needs to get done and they are committed to it, something that I admire in my co-workers. However, this took a while to get used to. I was self-conscious that leaving before 6:30 pm made me look like a lesser than worker. It took some courage to find confidence in my work to know that when I finished my final project of the day, it was okay to go home for the remainder of the night. I would get nervous that turning in an project before the clock struck 6:00 pm meant that they would assume it was bad work. Once I started getting positive feedback, this fear went away. I am now confident with what I turn in and hav adapted the norms of my co-workers. In terms of the way my co-workers interact with both myself and between others, it is a very informal tone. I know I can walk into the kitchen and pick up a casual conversation with anyone. Meetings are more of brainstorms and phone calls include both clients and strategists joking back and forth with one another. For these reasons, the culture surrounding Now What Research is something that I believe is incredibly unique to their company.