Quinn Humphrey – Organizational Culture Blog

When I started my summer internship with Bionica Labs, I didn’t know what to expect. I had been told very little about the company prior to walking through the door and was very much in the dark when it came to knowing what I’d actually be doing. I had prepared myself for the worst, however, I was pleasantly surprised and have been enjoying my time with the small company.

During my first week, I sat down with my supervisor to cover some ground rules. Unlike the proto-typical work environment I had pictured, Mr. Boutwell informed me that Bionica was a very relaxed company. Instead of a hard starting time in the morning, I was free to come and go from the office as I saw fit. In addition, I would be creating and brainstorming my own projects with Boutwell and could freely go about my assignments without a ton of oversight or co-workers hassling me for updates. This was surprising at first and I was a little put off by the relaxed atmosphere. However, I’ve come to embrace this work freedom as it has allowed me to be creative and brainstorm at my own pace. I’ve also found that this work structure is great because it doesn’t allow me to get stressed about minor tasks and instead focus on the larger picture and what I’m working toward accomplishing. 

Boutwell is the same way with the rest of his team. Although most of them work virtually, he is always in high spirits and isn’t solely focused on the needs of the company. The culture at Bionica is very open and welcoming while also relaxing and innovative with new ideas being thrown around every day. It is exciting to be a part of a collaborative as well as a creative group of people while also improving my own skills and experience.

My work during the first week consisted of going through market reports and creating a foundational baseline for the wearable health market and getting an understanding of where Bionica fits among their competition. I also started brainstorming new ideas for a re-model of their website. As someone from the younger generation, Boutwell feels that I have a much better understanding of how a younger audience will perceive and react to online content. Although tedious, it did give me enough insight into the market environment Bionica is currently in and some approaches to better situate the company after my internship concludes.