We constantly hear how important it is to build trust in a company. To achieve it, we invest a lot in various activities to establish connections between staff and build trust. All this in order to increase performance at work and receive good project results.

Looking at the development and performance of our company over the years, we have reached a point where we believe that trust-building is sometimes overestimated and what we really need is to build a system of connections that come together and coexist continuously. This is called trust -maintenance! Instead of the initial stage where a trusted team should be created, you can collaborate with a company that has already passed that stage and turned into a team of mutual trust.

When a company grows, both in terms of staff and customer requirements, changes grow with it. Changes occur in all areas of action including finance, human resources, developers, designers, etc. Some leave, others come, and a whole system of movements, shifts, and changes is created. If the focus of the company remains on building trust, then this process means investment, expense and the results can be variable, as is the trust-building process itself.

Analyzing this situation, we at Kutia turned our attention to creating a system that works even when team players change. We want the company chain to function smoothly and then when someone new joins the team, he joins this system where trust between colleagues is inevitable. Therefore, our team has recently been joined by the HR manager whose main task is to ensure that this chain of trust remains strong and stable. We are constantly trying to discover and test tactics that help us in the trust-maintenance process. So far, these are the things we want to share with you:

1. Encourage self-time management for your team

This is an issue we have addressed in one of our previous blogs. The bottom point is that as long as our team members finish their tasks, we shouldn’t worry about how, when, and for how long they have worked. They know best when and where they are the most efficient. Trust their guts!

2. Seek for improvements, don’t just ask for them

Let’s be fair, we all want the best performance of our company! And honestly, there is always space for improvements. There might be a situation when someone can’t meet the obligations they agreed on. While it is important to talk it through and draw appropriate conclusions, there’s rarely a need to show disapproval or look for punishments. We trust each other that we all strive to deliver our best but we’re also humans that sometimes fail. It’s more important to look for improvements than to play a blame game.

3. Be vulnerable 

Asking for help and being vulnerable to help are two of the most important things to do in trusting teams. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is not showing trust in their team when a mistake is made. Not pointing fingers at one another and the freedom to speak openly about problems, challenges, and mistakes one should face, helps build trust. When your team sees you are open with your vulnerabilities, they will instinctively be more open with their own. A team that is not afraid to talk about their imperfections can reach the highest levels of performance.

4. Take things from the middle, not the beginning 

Starting things from zero points is not always a good idea. Sometimes, it is better to show new team members that they are a part of a system and not always they have to consider everything from the beginning. They need to adapt to the process and become vulnerable to ask, join and share. 

Kutia has supported the integration for the drejt.org platform by enabling donors to purchase packages at maxiks.shop. This platform aims to help families affected by acute poverty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Through this platform, donors will be able to select families in need and use local e-commerce platforms to buy monthly pre-packaged foods and/or food coupons.

Maxi Supermarket has integrated its platform in drejt.org to enable donors to buy packages on their sites that will then be delivered to families in need.

We are happy that we as Kutia in cooperation with drejt.org and maxiks.shop are making a significant contribution to society and we encourage donors to become part of such a contribution!

There are thousands of speeches and articles talking about the importance of being a solution-oriented person. These reasons are very strong and definitely influence a mindset that seeks to lead to the solution challenges that arise.

However, today we want to talk about the importance of empowering such a mindset through a company as a whole. We believe that whoever is reading this article has seen our name in different projects. Not necessarily related to software solutions only. 

Just as any other company, we have responsibilities and tasks ahead of us. Our commitment is focused on the smooth running of internal processes. However, we attach great importance to solving problems and challenges that are not necessarily related only to our technical work. One such example is our initiative to bring Beetroot Academy to Kosovo. This is an example of a solution-oriented mentality.

How?

We saw the need for professional training in the field of IT, with a curriculum that is proven to be successful. So, we didn’t stop ourselves with the thought: “We don’t have enough IT professionals, this is a problem!”

Instead, we thought: “We don’t have enough IT professionals, we need a solution and we are the ones who can do something about this”. Thus, we gathered our strength and managed to turn this problem into a solution. A solution that brings benefits to our society, companies, and young people who want to start a career in IT.

Another example of such a mentality is the well-known project “Ga Ga Këngë për fëmijë”. This is an example of how personal experience plays a very big role in creating options instead of just complaining. In this case, the lack of educational channels in the Albanian language made us turn such a challenge into a solution.

The launch of this project is playing an important role in the language development of the Albanian language in children as well as facilitating the work of educators, teachers, and parents.

As our name implies, we try to go beyond our limits every day and get out of the box. We believe that focus and consistency are the two main keys to success. However, we encourage all of us as a society to orient ourselves towards a mentality that does not focus only on personal gain. We strongly believe that if every member of our society develops critical thinking about the issues we face every day, then together as a whole we would offer solutions to many problems. The contribution, knowledge, and the will of individuals must be united into one and together- much can be done!

Running a company vs being a member of a company are two completely different things with separated responsibilities. However, there is a fine line in between. There are elements that define us as individuals with different characteristics, regardless of the position one holds in the company. 

We have together build a culture that puts the human aspects in focus. That’s why we constantly strive to become more aware of the strategies to help us as a company stay on track. Not only in delivering services but also for keeping a positive atmosphere in our offices. 

We know that for a team to function as a whole, it needs to unify some rules and tasks that everyone has to complete, besides the professional tasks. Therefore, each of us chooses different ways to manage time to complete the tasks ahead. We want our employees to give their best at delivering good work and become flexible in different situations.

With that in mind, we give attention to the quality of work. Additionally, we are not interested in knowing if someone is 10 minutes late or leaves early. For us, it is important that each member finishes their own work in the best way and our projects deliver the expected results to clients.

What our team members think:

I just started my journey as an HR in Kutia and I can tell the difference of the company culture from different places that I’ve worked before. As a Human Resources Officer, I appreciate the fact that people here are released from such a tracking system. I see that it helps people to come to work relaxed and with a positive attitude! This is one of those cases that educates the employees to manage their own time without paying too much attention to logistic details.

For me, this is one of the most positive things as part of the company culture. I am very influenced by the fact that we are free to manage our own time, something that helps me to be more productive in my workday.

Personally, I think that at the moment there is no need for a check-in – check-out system. I believe that it adds a little fear/embarrassment to everyone. That is not a way to increase efficiency at work. I hope that we all have plenty of personal awareness not to depend on such a tracking system to increase our mood or effectiveness at work :). 

Not having to check-in and check-out is a positive thing. It lets us manage our time and know the importance of quality over quantity.

Parking issues in a dynamic city like Prishtina sometimes affect both the management and employee side of a business. Limited parking spots are the most common problems that companies face. 

For example, at Kutia we only have 7 parking spots and the morning routine gets a little competitive! 

That’s why we gathered to talk about this issue and discuss different options we might use in order to overcome this daily challenge. All team members proposed different solutions. Rather than some technical changes we mentioned, we agreed that there should be some behavioral changes in this case. 

We decided that 3 are the most effective solutions for this problem:

1. Carpooling

This means both cost savings and social benefits of sharing rides. Having fewer cars on the road means reduced Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and improved air quality. Carpooling offers a win-win-win proposition for people, the planet, and your pocketbook. Also, this routine helps to strengthen personal and professional networks between team members.

2. Company bus

Come up with a map of all employee’s addresses and have a shared bus only for our company’s team members. Decide the route start and finish point. Besides the parking solution, this eliminates the traffic stress in the morning for all drivers. The route from home to work would be a reflection time:).

3. Differentiation

Analyze where every team member lives and make a list of people who live far away and have difficulties coming to work without their car. Differentiate them from team members who live nearby and create a solution for both parties. 

For many people, the process of drinking morning coffee is different. In European countries, this process is fast, smooth, and on foot. In the Balkans and especially in Kosovo, morning coffee creates a completely different mentality. This process does not simply mean consuming coffee as such. It is an important part of the day that unites all people to communicate with each other and share different opinions. Not necessarily related to work.

In Kutia, our morning atmosphere is very pleasant. From the entrance of the building, you can hear the sounds of voices communicating with each other while the pleasant aroma of coffee pervades all offices. With laughter and a lot of positivity, this morning period makes us start the day in the right way. It creates a sense of relaxation and cooperation that helps us get ready for the tasks that await us during the day.