TradeLink News
18.5.2022

Defining the North Star of our Culture

In the last few months, we have grown ten-fold and have developed greatly on all levels - our team, our customers, and our product. It is high time to capture these in our new Company Values. Developing the values was an intensive process with many valuable ideas and diverse perspectives - which we would not want to miss. 😊

It was particularly important to us that we formulated our values clearly and precisely. We wanted to showcase memorable values that everyone remembers quickly, values with which one identifies as an individual, a team and all together as a company, and values which are reflected in our daily actions.

What values mean to us 

For us, values are a reflection of our daily culture. They are the cornerstones of our daily interactions and inform all actions. We are convinced that a joint commitment and understanding of our values has a positive influence on our success, builds up our team spirit and promotes personal development.

We developed the values together with the team

At the beginning of the value creation process, we asked ourselves the questions:

  • Who are we as a company and who do we want to be?  
  • In which environment can we develop personally and perform optimally as a team?  
  • How do we want to appear and be perceived externally towards customers, users and partners?  
  • What exactly makes us unique?

Team session at Offsite 2022 in Italy

It was important to us to involve all employees in the process. We used our off-site company event in Tuscany as a kick-off and got our first thoughts and ideas.
The result: A colourful patchwork carpet that showed how diverse we are and yet, share common ground that inspires us. In several subsequent virtual workshops, the various ideas of the team were summarized and brought to the point. And voilà, we have found the four values that capture the essence of TradeLink:

Growth Mindset

We're on a crazy ambitious path to building the world's supply chain collaboration layer and we embrace the thrill of every new challenge along the way. We know that you value personal growth as highly as we do and that - like us - you want to have the greatest imaginable impact on this world. So, if you're also aiming and pushing for the stars, we'll invest in you to get there and celebrate each success with you along the way.

Trusted Team

We're creating a world of frictionless collaboration and that starts in our team. Working together, we act with empathy, ensure everybody feels heard and full-heartedly get behind a decision once it's made. Above all else, we trust each other. So, we share information openly, broadly and deliberately - transparency always wins. We invest in helpful and timely feedback delivered with empathy, review decisions together and embrace failures openly as valuable learning opportunities.

User Obsession

We're in the business of making life easier for real people: our users. We are doing something truly ground-breaking - building the first end-to-end supply chain collaboration platform - and the only way to get there is by being deeply user obsessed: never assuming, honestly curious and always in search of their Why. We appreciate that our users put a lot of trust in us for their daily decision making, so we pay this back by seeing the world through their eyes and always putting them first .

A Borderless World

Logistics and supply chains are inherently global and so are we. TradeLinkers are spread across more than 30 cities around the world, sharing a single remote-first work environment and sense of belonging with a close collaborative culture driven by impact. Beyond the limitations of borders, we are openly welcoming the greatest characters from all origins, orientations and identities to build a truly impactful team - second to none - and make the world a more equitable place along the way.

How do we live our values in everyday life?

  • Company retros and regular pulse checks, in which we, as a team, reflect on current company-wide processes, obtain individual feedback, and derive measures
  • Whether it's an OKR workshop, all-hands, team meeting or 1:1 - we meet in Gather Town, our virtual office. It gives us proximity to our colleagues and offers us the opportunity to exchange ideas quickly and efficiently.
  • Team events - Whether it's twice a year with everyone together in a breathtaking location or in our monthly virtual social events, we enjoy our time together and get to know each other even better
  • Regular feedback meetings between employees and managers for continuous personal development
  • "Lunch & Learns", in which a team member presents a specific topic or expertise from his everyday life and answers questions
  • Weekly All-hands as a start to the week with updates, successes and teachings from all teams

Gather Town: our virtual office

  • Quarterly OKR ́s at both company and team level, which we develop in a half-day workshop and use as a basis to define and achieve goals and milestones
  • Bi-weekly "testing" sessions, in which our software developers present the new features, and the entire team conducts individual test cases and gives feedback. This keeps us all up to date on new developments and ensures that the tool is intuitive and easy to understand - for everyone
  • Close exchange with our customers. We listen to them, show empathy and accept feedback with open arms
  • Event of community and customer events to connect our customers but also the entire logistics industry, to transmit valuable content and to promote exchange with each other.
  • Team and topics specific communication channels in Mattermost to continuously share knowledge, gather feedback, share information and celebrate successes
  • With our "TradeLink Faces Book" everyone presents themselves from their personal side, shares interests and special features. In this way, we discover similarities and can learn from each other - even beyond work topics
  • and much, much more ...


Become part of our team!

Do you identify with our values and also want to become a game changer? Do you want to make a big impact? Then we look forward to receiving your application!

Check out our Careers Page for vacancies and apply today!

Don't see any vacancy advertised that fits your experience? Then feel free to send us an unsolicited application!

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