Instawork has a big goal: By the end of 2022, they want connected businesses and hourly professionals to fully staff more work shifts through their platform than ever before.
Anthony Waite knows that to reach that lofty mark, every employee at Instawork needs to own the process and become a leader for their teams. “Although I am not in a leadership position, I lead by example by constantly raising my own standards,” he said.
Instawork’s digital marketplace bridges the gap between supply and demand to help businesses staff up across the food and beverage, hospitality, and warehouse and logistics industries while currently providing over one million workers with access to both temporary and permanent hourly roles.
As a preferred partner account manager, Waite’s responsibilities include driving revenue across his book of business while providing a great client experience for all of his accounts. But beyond meeting and exceeding quarterly goals or reporting on his client engagements, Waite strives to lead by exemplifying Instawork’s core values across his role.
Instawork's Core Values
- Empathy, Trust and Candor: “Being empathetic helps build trust in our community and company, and fosters successful decision-making.”
- Always Be Learning “We learn eagerly, from different teams within and outside the company. Respectful debate makes our company stronger.”
- Act Like an Owner: “We have a strong ownership mentality. Every person on the team has the potential to make a huge impact.”
- Bias for Action: “We practice high-velocity decision-making, despite encountering ambiguity frequently.”
Empathy, Trust and Candor
For Waite, leading by example isn’t a one-way street — it’s a reciprocal approach to support between colleagues.
“I make myself available to my peers whenever they need,” he said. “There hasn’t been a week when I haven’t needed help with something new, and all my peers and leaders always make themselves available to give a helping hand. I do my best to do the same.”
Feeling secure to ask for and receive help is an outgrowth of Instawork’s commitment to empathy, trust and candor. The core value contributes to building a sense of psychological safety at work for Instawork employees. According to the Center for Creative Leadership, psychological safety is “a shared belief held by members of a team that others on the team will not embarrass, reject or punish them for speaking up.”
The role empathy and trust play in building a secure workplace might be more immediately apparent, but candor is just as crucial. “Psychological safety at work doesn’t mean that everybody is nice all the time,” said David Altman, the Center for Creative Leadership’s chief research and innovation officer. “It means that you embrace the conflict and you speak up, knowing that your team has your back and you have their backs.”
Waite agrees. “I build relationships with the people I work with and am open to others’ ideas and suggestions because it’s essential for us to be able to communicate with candor. That comes with comfort on the team,” he said.
Always Be Learning
With that grounding, Instawork employees have the freedom to learn and experiment together.
“As a start-up, there are still many ways to do one thing,” Waite said. “With that, I work to share what works best for me when I collaborate with a team member, so they can take what I do, apply it to their own process and hopefully expand their skill set, too.”
Act Like an Owner
Leading by example and taking ownership of one’s work are inseparable, and Instawork encourages a sense of autonomy across every team.
For Waite, success as an account manager relies on taking personal responsibility for his work and his accounts. “I act as if all the accounts I manage are my own business,” Waite said. “I take quick action when an issue or task comes up.”
Bias for Action
Waite has spent time and energy building meaningful, collaborative relationships with his colleagues. These relationships have helped develop a strong work ethic shared across teams.
“Anytime I open up a conversation with a client or a coworker, I lighten the mood with a bad joke or ask about their interests, how their day is going or fun things they recently did,” Waite said. “This helps me connect with the people I talk to and give the conversation some color. When I am able to accomplish that, people open up and share their ideas, pain points, and honest suggestions with me. With that thorough understanding, I am able to work hard while staying productive, which helps build the credibility that will lead to a blossoming relationship.”
Sharing the drive toward hard work and high performance leads to success for everyone involved — Instawork colleagues, business clients and the professionals using the platform every day. This “bias toward action” and results-oriented approach have set up Waite and the Instawork team to meet their 2022 goals and to grow as the company continues to surpass expectations.
“Working here will teach you to be adaptable as you will be part of a company that strives to get better every day.”
According to Waite, a passion for hard work, learning and growth will help make any new employee successful at Instawork. “You’re joining a high-tech, high-touch company. Whatever team you join, you will be in a collaborative and fast-paced environment surrounded by peers willing to give a helping hand,” he said. “Working here will teach you to be adaptable as you will be part of a company that strives to get better every day.”
