A winning formula to create a connected and diverse organisational culture

News

Author: Kristy Battista, CTO Global | GM Australia, Allume Energy

Throughout my life, creating environments that generate connection and inclusion has always been a theme. Whether it was being the person that made the new soccer teammate feel welcome or providing opportunities for inter-department connection in the workplace.

I have realised in recent years that I love to create environments that give people the opportunity to thrive; fun, lots of laughter, inspiring, empowering, open-minded, and full of regular feedback. There are two key drivers within this:

  • A palpable environmental culture; something that is evident and people feel deeply connected to and a part of; and,
  • An environment that supports diversity and equality of opportunity for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic background or anything else that makes you who you are.

As Allume was growing, questions arose: how do you successfully marry the two drivers together? Would having truly diverse teams still support building a culture that everyone would be aligned with? Or would everyone be so different that there was not enough commonality to create that connection?

And then it hit me. An organisation that builds its culture around core value alignment unites people around a common cause. And the beauty of alignment on values rather than background, hobbies or lifestyle, is that you open the door to a diverse mix of people who still feel connected.

Allume Energy’s mission is making rooftop solar accessible to all and in doing so reducing carbon emissions and energy bills for people in apartments. Therefore the key values for those that work at Allume Energy are conservation of the environment and using their talents to solve problems that truly matter to the world.

As a team, we came up with a set of company values that drives our approach to business, product development, how we prioritise our work, and how we collaborate as a team. They are:

  1. Have the courage to create, the passion to persevere, and the diligence to deliver.
  2. Solve problems that matter.
  3. Share the power.

I am so proud of the diverse, driven and supportive team we have created at Allume Energy. One where we appreciate our individual similarities but also differences.

We currently have six women and ten men, born in seven different countries: Mexico, China, UK, Colombia, Turkey, Ecuador and of course, Australia. It did not take a tick box recruitment system to achieve this. For every single position, we have hired the strongest candidate for the role.

Maybe just as like attracts like, diversity attracts diversity.

For more information on Allume Energy, visit https://allumeenergy.com/.