Inside an Award-Winning Company Culture: StrategIQ's Journey to Success on Happy Teams

Digital agency StrategIQ earned a spot on the Sunday Times Best Places to Work list. On Happy Teams, CEO Andy revealed their employee engagement strategy, drawing from business principles found in books like "Traction" from Gino Wickman and concepts like Maslow's hierarchy of needs.   "Every business has to have a strong training culture. Every business has to have a wellbeing culture. You have to have a strong leadership team, have to have clear values," he says. But after an unsuccessful application last year, they discovered gaps in their workplace culture: "We hadn't put enough time and effort into things like, the package that's sat around the wellbeing and additional stuff that I think employees expect now."   The agency implements innovative team development through personality profiling and motivational mapping. "It helps us understand how to communicate with people that are opposite to you," Andy explains. "There's no right or wrong. It's just, we are who we are. It doesn't mean to say I'm a good communicator or a bad communicator if I'm red, I'm green or blue or yellow."   This organisational transparency shapes their company culture. "Everyone's profile is visible to everyone in the company in our staff room. We have a massive wall up, all dedicated to insights and everyone's profile is plotted on the wall," Andy says. "The language is really ingrained. Everyone, when they join, gets their own profile."   The employee engagement approach succeeded, StrategIQ achieved their Sunday Times listing. But Andy acknowledges their workplace culture isn't universal: "Being as transparent as we are and being as ambitious as we are, what I guess I think I've realised is there is a certain type of person that can come into the agency and handle this level of transparency, handle this level of intense coaching."   Discover how to build an award-winning company culture on Happy Teams, where Andy shares StrategIQ's complete transformation story.