“We’re a family” - you’ll hear this in a lot of organizations, companies and agencies.

But not at SimplePlan. Instead, we model ourselves on sports teams — ones that continuously work towards becoming ‘a dream team’.

Here, we’re not a family - families are emotional, transactional and sometimes downright dysfunctional. They are about unconditional love despite bad behavior. Families are optimized for harmony. Family members work with each other to make sure everyone’s needs are being met, no matter how nonsensical. We’re none of these things.

Sports teams, on the other hand, are optimized for performance. We want to be better each year, each week and each day as compared to the previous. The pursuit of this goal is what makes a dream team.

And a dream team is one in which all of your colleagues are extraordinary at what they do and are highly effective collaborators. The value and satisfaction of being on a dream team is tremendous. Our version of a great workplace is not free lunches, fancy offices, fun Fridays, or pool parties.

<aside> 💡 Our version of a great workplace is a dream team in pursuit of ambitious common goals, for which we are ready to put out all the stops.

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It is on such a team that you learn the most, perform your best work, improve the fastest, and have the most fun.

Everything that applies to a sports team applies to us. Each team member must continuously work towards improving their skill-sets. We must work together as a team to amplify our overall performance. If a team member has a temporary lull in their performance, others should try to fill in the gaps. If the lull is permanent, we must look for appropriate substitutes.

<aside> 💡 No one in the team is above critique. No one in the team is above reproach. And all of us hold each other accountable.

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To have an entire company comprise the dream team (rather than just a few small groups) is challenging. But we must pursue this goal with consistency in words, actions and purpose.

The above means that we have to foster collaboration, embrace a diversity of viewpoints, support information sharing, and discourage politics.

Given our dream team orientation, it is very important that you communicate frequently and freely with each of your team members in the service of our common goals. You must feel free to check in with your manager(s) and you must not shy away from asking hard questions so long as they are in the service of the common goal.

While our teammates are fantastic, and we work together very well, we know we can always do better. We strive to have calm confidence, and yet yearn to improve.

<aside> 💡 We suck compared to how great we want to become.

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