At some companies, ‘culture’ is a buzzword. But at the following employers, values translate into real decisions, impacting everything from employee recognition to cross-functional work.
Take Enova, a financial technology company, for example.
“Living our values isn’t just something Enova talks about,” PJ Colucci, a marketing senior associate, said. “It is something peers and managers see and reward.”
At FieldPulse, a software company for field service teams, employees who live out the company values earn more than recognition — they set themselves up for future promotions, too.
“Four of our seven current sales managers started as account executives or business development representatives,” Dave Mayer, head of sales, said. “High performers don’t just get recognized, they grow here.”
Built In spoke with tech professionals from seven companies who shared an inside look at what makes their company cultures more than just lip service
Featured Companies
Enova International is a financial technology company providing online financial services through its machine learning-powered lending platform.
Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values. What changed as a result?
Enova has a strong set of values. Two I identify closely with are “best answer wins” and “top talent and teamwork.” On the marketing team, we’re constantly iterating and optimizing based on the latest campaign data. I appreciate the constant learning that takes place. Upon assessing the mail program when I started, I noticed an opportunity to market our products more effectively in our direct mail letters, built a data-driven case for it and led the transition and implementation of the new strategy. It had a game-changing impact on response. And while I’m proud of it being the “best answer,” a multi-team effort pushed it across the finish line.
What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect?
I approach cross-team work as a partnership. I collaborate cross-functionally daily and believe everyone wins when Enova wins. Before I ask another team for support, I learn their needs, constraints and priorities. This fosters a partnership built on trust and mutual respect, enabling us to focus on finding the best answer. Once we’ve landed a win, I make sure to acknowledge everyone involved. That recognition inspires us for the next challenge and creates a sense of camaraderie.
How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric proves it works?
Enova has a great internal recognition platform called Spotlight. When a colleague goes above and beyond, I leverage Spotlight to thank that individual with points while sharing their accomplishment and impact with the broader team. That visibility sets a clear bar for what great work looks like and gives credit where it’s earned.
We’re a company with incredibly talented people, so we find wins every day. Every now and then, though, someone’s work stands out enough to earn special recognition. Enova’s executive team presents awards, including the Quarterly Values Awards, which recognize employees whose recent work has best embodied each of Enova’s five core values. Winners receive exclusive swag and a bonus and the person whose efforts best exemplifies our values throughout the year earns the annual All-Star Values Award, which comes with a larger bonus. I earned a Quarterly Values Award and that recognition reinforced that living our values isn’t just something Enova talks about; it is something peers and managers see and reward.
Flywire is a global payments enablement and software company, providing digital payment solutions across education, healthcare, travel and B2B sectors.
Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values. What changed as a result?
I value clear and consistent communication with my team. And as a company, we highly value global collaboration, which is one of our company values. As one recent example of how this all works together in practice, this year, we started to hold a monthly All Hands meeting for the entire global travel team. We bring together sales, relationship management, product management, data analysis, marketing and engineering for these events, held in our global offices and on Google Meet. After a brief product roadmap update, four or five different members of the team share a five-minute look at something they’re working on.
There are two things that I think have worked well because of this approach. One, it collectively builds understanding and respect for the work each member of the team is doing to help travel grow. Two, we tap different people every month — so many members of the team are getting an opportunity to share their work and knowledge, not simply the usual suspects. This broader knowledge sharing and visibility benefits every person on the team and the business.
What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect?
Being clear on the expectations and trusting the team to execute on them. We set four key pillars at the beginning of the year, with clear go-to-market priorities and product initiatives and trust each functional leader to set OKRs within their individual teams to achieve those objectives. At Flywire, OKRs are tracked in software and revisited often, to calibrate and ensure we’re on track to meet the goals, or shift if necessary.
How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric proves it works?
A former boss of mine would often repeat the phrase, “gratitude without acknowledgement is not gratitude at all,” and this has helped shape my approach to leadership. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture, but I believe callouts to teammates can really help boost morale and motivation. The monthly Travel All Hands meeting has been a good channel to recognize people for their work. Given the opportunity to talk about something they know and care deeply about, people generally shine and feel good about that. I also regularly recognize people’s work in meetings and Slack channels. As far as proof that it works, I can’t point to something definitively, but I will say that our team has a high retention rate (Flywire does as a company in general).
Circle is a global financial platform.
Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values. What changed as a result?
I joined a few months ago as Circle's new head of people and the first thing I noticed: Every other department had scaled, but people was still firefighting, almost literally. People partners didn't exist. It was generalist HR support: Show up once something's already on fire and hope the fire doesn’t spread while we work on putting it out. We built people partners as strategic advisors instead, from scratch, embedded in their own teams, to spot the smoke before it turns into a blaze. That's long-term thinking, one of Circle's core values: We're building a function meant to last for years. It's also trust and autonomy, another core value, in action; managers let a partner into the real conversations and partners run with their own human-first judgment. And it only works because of growth together, the third value here. Partners give managers the honest, no-frills feedback that actually moves a team forward. We're only a few weeks into rollout, so no fancy metric yet, just vibes (great vibes, but I don't have a dashboard for that). What I do notice already is that managers pulling partners into conversations early, on their own, unprompted.
What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect?
We have three founders and they're in the weeds with every team (like, actually in the weeds, not a founder-cameo once a quarter). What keeps us rowing in the same direction across 30-plus countries and every time zone is a genuine love for the product and for the mission behind it — helping the world connect and transform. That's the glue. The habit that makes it functional is documentation and over-communication. Write it down. Share it broadly. Give the whole project visibility. No gatekeeping, no secret club. We don't track this with a dashboard (I wish I had a cool dashboard). What I notice is that way fewer "wait, did anyone already answer this" messages and a lot less scrambling to catch up on a decision made while your time zone was asleep.
How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric proves it works?
We make recognition peer-to-peer and 360 sideways between teammates, up from a report to a manager, down from a manager to a report, whatever direction the good work happens in (it's a little feral, goes wherever it wants). Circle also has some of the kindest, most thoughtful people I've worked with. It's not unusual for someone to message another person directly just to say a presentation blew them away. We genuinely like each other and that's most of the magic right there. That's what makes it fair, everyone gets to do the noticing, not just whoever has the org chart's blessing. I don't have a metric for this one (I promise, better systems are coming). What tells me it's working is shoutouts landing from people two levels removed from entirely different departments for work that would never make a formal review. When someone in design thanks someone in finance for catching a mistake, that's the real signal.
Golden Pet Brands is a pet health and nutrition company.
Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values. What changed as a result?
Obviously, when holidays roll around we have quite a few people take time off for vacation. And something I really value and respect is making sure that when my team is offline and on vacation, they are truly offline and away from the computer. So before they are out of office, I connect with them on any outstanding projects or tickets. Recently, we had a last-minute bug right before our Fourth of July sales that needed to be fixed and the person who initially put in the ticket for the campaign was already out of office but still responding to Slack messages. I reached out and told her to get offline and I would make sure the problem got fixed. Sure enough, myself and my team were able to fix the issue before the sale went live and my employee was able to log off completely.
She came back from her vacation and said it was the refresh she needed. For me, that is exactly the result I want from my team, to know that they can step away and take a break and work will still carry on without issues or complaints.
What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect?
One thing I love to do regularly that helps keep cross-teams moving and working together is to present performance metrics to relevant departments. During company all-hands, I share brand growth, channel growth and customer growth. I try to present any downfalls without blame or pressure, but instead talk about it in a way that gives everyone a sense of ownership with items they can do or focus on — be it specific brands, landing pages or pitch ideas. People who attend these meetings often tell me the reports clearly show how every team has a part and it gives them a clear understanding of how the company is performing.
Outside of those regular performance metric reports, I encourage my team to be as clear as possible and to really think about their audience and message before sending tickets. A ticket for a video editor is likely going to be a “different language” than a ticket to a web developer or design request. When tickets are clear and understandable, it lessens the amount of time to completion and encourages trust within the different teams.
How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric proves it works?
I recognize my team by pushing them to apply for any companywide “Win of the Weeks,” even if it isn’t a big money-earning win. A win is still a win! I also think it's important for those wins to be presented by the individuals themselves so everyone on those larger calls can directly see who is helping to make an impact at the company (only if they feel comfortable to present of course!).
I also try to be as honest and upfront with my team as much as possible by setting realistic expectations when it comes to paths to promotion or feedback to help them grow into the next stage. Fifty percent of my direct reports have been on my team for more than two years and one-third of my department has received a promotion within the last year.
If someone on my team isn’t quite ready to lead a full team, I encourage them to mentor new employees as part of our mentorship program or to look into hiring an intern. If someone on my team is regularly making small mistakes, I encourage them to take their time and to not rush if it isn't necessary. Overall, I want to give my team the feedback they need to become the best versions of themselves because it’s what I would want!
FieldPulse is a platform for field service teams that helps service businesses manage their workflows.
Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values. What changed as a result?
We made the decision to raise the performance standard across the sales organization as we scaled. Not in response to a gap, but in anticipation of our growth.
At a growing startup, every person plays a critical role in shaping the future of the company. As we scaled quickly, we recognized that maintaining our momentum required evolving the way we operated. The same drive and execution that got us here would need to level up for where we’re going. We established a simple principle: 100 percent to goal is the expectation, not the exception. This was about creating clarity, ownership and alignment across the team as we continue building the next chapter of FieldPulse.
We anchored this standard through leadership first, ensuring it showed up in how we inspect pipelines, enforce KPIs and coach to outcomes. The impact was immediate: tighter execution, improved forecast accuracy and more consistency across teams. High performers leaned in and managers elevated how they drove accountability.
Most importantly, it reinforced a core value: As the business grows, the standard has to grow with it. Scaling isn’t just about adding people, it’s about leveling up how the entire system performs.
What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect?
Relentless transparency.
Every motion across the business has a clear owner, defined handoffs and explicit escalation paths. No ambiguity, no silent dependencies. If something changes, the team knows immediately.
But transparency only works if it’s operationalized. Our sales leaders spend roughly 90 percent of their time coaching and inspecting work in real time, ensuring nothing stalls between teams. That creates constant visibility into where deals, projects or initiatives are breaking down.
We track the impact through day-over-day performance metrics, like pipeline progression, stage conversion rates and cycle time. When transparency is high, friction is low and you see it immediately in speed and consistency of execution.
The habit isn’t just communication. It’s making work visible enough that problems can’t hide.
How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric proves it works?
For FieldPulse, recognition should be earned, visible and repeatable.
We operate with full transparency across the sales organization. Performance metrics are consistently published, wins are called out in real time and recognition happens in the same public channels where work happens. That ensures everyone understands what “great” looks like.
We’ve built clear, objective promotion paths (account executive to senior account executive, senior account executive to leadership), removing ambiguity around advancement. On top of that, we reinforce performance through structured recognition, like monthly “Juggernaut” awards for top closers and President’s Club for elite performers.
The metric that proves it works is internal mobility and retention. Four of our seven current sales managers started as account executives or business development representatives. High performers don’t just get recognized, they grow here.
When recognition is tied to clear outcomes and consistently visible, it drives both performance and belief in the system.
SentiLink is a fraud intelligence company, providing financial institutions and fintechs with purpose-built solutions for identity verification and fraud prevention.
Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values. What changed as a result?
One of the biggest decisions I made recently was replacing our twice-yearly performance reviews with alignment check-ins. We wanted performance management to reflect our value of “follow through” — making feedback an ongoing commitment rather than something that happens a couple of times a year. Monthly conversations create more opportunities to recognize great work, address challenges early and keep development goals moving instead of waiting months to course-correct. The shift has made performance discussions feel more actionable and less stressful because there are no surprises. Managers have better visibility into employee growth, employees receive more timely coaching and we’re able to make better-informed decisions around development, promotions and performance. It reinforces the idea that supporting employee success isn’t an event, it’s a habit.
What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect?
One habit that’s made a huge difference is introducing "hotspots" and "hotspot reviews" for key cross-functional initiatives — short-term priorities that are critical to company goals. Every executive reports on hotspot progress weekly, which forces early conversations about blockers, dependencies and tradeoffs. Then, once a month, we review progress with a broader leadership group so everyone understands how work connects to company priorities. The value isn’t just accountability; it’s creating alignment before problems become delays. We track effectiveness by watching how quickly blockers are surfaced and resolved, whether hotspots are completed on schedule and whether teams can clearly explain how their work contributes to company goals. The process also reduces duplicate work because priorities stay visible instead of living within individual teams.
How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric proves it works?
Recognition is everyone’s responsibility, not just a manager’s. Every week all hands begin with “True SentiLinker” shout-outs, where employees recognize peers who’ve demonstrated one of our company values in the past week. That makes recognition visible across functions and ensures we’re celebrating the behaviors that drive our culture — not just the biggest wins. Managers reinforce this in their regular one-on-ones, but peer recognition gives us a much broader view of impact that leaders might otherwise miss. We track participation by looking at the volume and distribution of shout-outs across teams and values, ensuring recognition isn’t concentrated within a handful of functions or individuals. Combined with employee engagement feedback on feeling valued, it gives us confidence that recognition is both meaningful and equitable while continually reinforcing the culture we’re building.
HERE Technologies is a location data and technology company.
Name a recent decision that clearly reflected your values. What changed as a result?
One of the recent projects that I implemented with my team was an AI powered triage platform. Rather than continuing to solve issues traditionally and manually, I chose to invest in building an AI-powered triaging platform that addressed the root cause. Working closely with engineers, product owners, and stakeholders, we built a solution that reduced manual effort, improved issue routing and helped to significantly improve your issue triaging process. It encouraged teams to work smarter together, reduced manual effort and significantly improved our mean time to resolution. So, what I value most is seeing an idea evolve into something that makes everyday work easier for others and creates lasting value beyond a single project.
What habit keeps cross-team work moving — and how do you track its effect?
I've learned that the best collaboration starts with listening. Before jumping into solutions, I try to understand each team's priorities, constraints and perspectives. That shared understanding helps build trust early and makes it much easier to align on decisions as the work progresses. I also believe in keeping communication simple and transparent, whether through design discussions, regular check-ins or shared documentation. Over time, this habit has reduced unnecessary back-and-forth and helped teams move with greater confidence. I see its impact through faster delivery cycles, better engineering KPIs and stronger adoption of the solutions we build together.Great collaboration starts with listening and ends with shared success.
How do you make recognition fair and visible — and what metric proves it works?
Recognition has the greatest impact when it's timely, genuine, and focused on the people behind the work. I try to celebrate contributions as they happen — whether someone solved a difficult technical challenge, helped another team or quietly removed a blocker that kept everyone moving forward. Making those efforts visible during demos, retrospectives and team discussions reinforces that success is always a shared outcome. While recognition isn't something I measure with a single metric, I see its impact in stronger ownership, increased collaboration across teams and the willingness of people to step forward and help beyond their immediate responsibilities.
People do their best work when they know their contributions truly matter.
