Posted by Emily Hua, Co-Founder and Managing Partner on July 30th, 2020.
If you’ve followed our blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that we like to create high-value content on some of the leading topics in the biopharma industry. Today, I want to shift gears and write a bit about Blue Matter as a company and its culture.
We’re growing rapidly, always engaging with potential new team members and striving to create an amazing workplace for our team. In this short article, I’m going to describe why our “People First” culture is so important to us. Then, in a series of upcoming articles, we’ll be giving you more details on how we truly live our culture here at Blue Matter.
People First
Many consulting firms—as well as a host of other companies—rightfully talk about how their people are their greatest assets and how they foster strong teams. We feel the same way. With Blue Matter though, there is a critical difference: We set out to create a “People First” culture from Day One and we live it every day.
From the very beginning, we wanted to build a successful company where we could work on the most exciting business challenges and be very happy while doing so. Our definition of happiness stems from our values and the very basic, but fundamental belief that how we treat each other is more important than any project. The quality of our thinking, and the people behind the thinking, is paramount.
Because our philosophy of People First is so core to our mission, it’s always part of our decision-making equation: Is it good for the business? Is it good for the team? Every important decision we make, whether big or small, includes the impact on our team and culture. More often than not, the answer generally goes like this: “If it is good for the team, then it is good for business.”
What Does a People First Culture Look Like?
Consulting is a people business. Frameworks, methods and even innovations can be replicated, but it’s the people and the culture that are a company’s true differentiators.
At Blue Matter, what we say and what we do are the same. A People First Culture:
- Starts at the top but must be inclusive. The entire team, from the newest member to the most seasoned Partner must truly want the best for everyone in the firm. Everyone is in it together to foster an open, inclusive, and positive working environment.
- Permeates all critical business decisions. We are constantly improving our benefits, incentive compensation model and revenue targets, as well as how we decide whether to take a project, how to staff a project, how we track our employee happiness, how we train and develop the team, what team building events should we host, etc. The list goes on. The impact on our team is always central to our decision-making process.
- Makes it personal. We place a high value on personal relationships and the trust and respect that is needed to maintain those bonds. Blue Matter puts a strong emphasis on providing opportunities to engage with team members outside of the work environment through social activities, volunteer activities, and more.
We are protective of our culture and are preparing for ways to ensure that it is maintained as the company grows. We are excited for the challenge and want to hold ourselves to higher standards to show what a happy and motivated team can really do.
Stay Tuned…
Over the next few months, we’ll write more articles about our People First culture. You’ll learn more about how we work to help team members stay happy and motivated, how we protect our culture and keep it healthy, and how all of this effort helps team members develop as individuals and as teams. See you next time!
