Renée, our dedicated People and Culture Lead for the past 3.5 years, shares her ongoing journey of building a superhero team and nurturing an open, connected culture at Aimforthemoon.
This is her story.
My Journey to Superhero Team Building
Transforming Strengths into Superpowers at Aim
10 years ago, when Aim was just founded, I stepped into the Aim office for the first time. I was immediately struck by the contagious energy and passion of the entrepreneurial community. I knew then and there that this was the place for me. And here I am, lucky to have been a part of this entrepreneurial journey for the past 3,5 years.
One of the goals I set for myself when I started at Aim was to build a connected team with an open culture where everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves, fostering growth both individually and as a team. I made it a priority to bring our team closer together and foster a culture of feedback. I even turned to the power of AI to achieve this goal.
As a possible solution initially, I thought about creating skill assessment baseball cards to get insight in each others strengths, weaknesses and skilss, but a talk with one of our partners Leonard, introduced me to the Clifton Strengths Finder. This tool focused on highlighting personal strengths,rather than weaknesses revealed each person’s unique DNA of capabilities.
The Clifton Strengths Assessment helped us to identify our unique combination of talents and strengths. But why stop there? With the help of ChatGTP, we turned our strengths into “Superpower Strengths.” For example, my strength of “Restorative” became “Healing Touch Scan,” while “Developer” became “Skill Builder.” We even came up with our own SuperHero name, origin story, and alter ego.
Next, we asked Midjourney Discord to imagine an avatar to represent our superheroes. The result was a set of characters that perfectly embodied our strengths and personality. It transformed into a fun team-building experience, filled with laughter and a sense of togetherness.
This process not only highlighted our strengths but also revealed blind spots within the team. Addressing these blind spots became crucial, and we translated them into ‘kryptonite’, enabling effective support among team members. These ‘kryptonite’ areas were linked to personal growth and individual development plans, reinforcing the idea that recognizing weaknesses is as important as celebrating strengths.
This experience taught me the importance of adapting our approach to the company culture and team dynamics. The superhero format worked wonders for our team, but it only worked because we put a lot of energy and effort on building an open and safe culture. Without it, team members might hesitate to provide feedback.
An open and supportive culture therefore emerged as a fundamental aspect. Without such an environment, team members would hesitate to provide constructive feedback or support one another’.
In the following weeks, I noticed that knowing each other’s Super Strengths directly helped us in our day-to-day work. When superhero Nexus (a.k.a. Roxy) needed input for the VR project she is working on she immediately asked Superhero Spark (a.k.a. Jelte) for his Ideation Super Power to come up with innovative out-of-the-box ideas.
And here we stand—our very own team of superheroes, thriving in an open and connected culture where we feel free to express ourselves! This was a goal I set for myself at the beginning of my journey at Aim, and it has now become a reality.
Team-building activities like this give me so much energy and remind me why I love my job. Seeing tangible results, fostering a culture of collaboration, and witnessing the collective growth of our team are the reasons I’m passionate about my job at Aimforthemoon.
