Building company culture: Interview with Kate Prokhatska
Building company culture is a process that requires a lot of vigour and enthusiasm. That is not what most company founders think about at the beginning of their journey, such as raising funds and hiring personnel. But even in these first steps, the culture is already born. It starts with you as a founder setting the first stone in the eventual wall you will build, filled with memories, struggles, happy moments and everything that makes your business your own.
We sat down with our Co-founder & CEO, Kate Prokhatska, and discussed what that path was like for her and giftmall, what lessons and secrets she can share for the future founders, and how she manages it all today.
giftmall’s path
How did you become a co-founder & CEO of giftmall?
This story is as old as time. I was studying to become an educator, but wasn’t sure it was a career path I wanted. Later, I pursued a degree in business economics to understand the business world inside and out.
The idea for giftmall came to me after I worked with a startup that built a gift card service for SMEs. There was potential to provide gift cards to businesses to motivate clients, employees and partners. I saw the gap in the market and decided to fill it with giftmall.
In 2013, I hired a couple of people, rented a warehouse for gift cards and pulled up my sleeves to work. Our mission was always to make corporate rewards and gifts simple, accessible and effective for users and businesses. We started operating on the principle I strongly believe in: win-win partnerships.
Win-win partnerships mean everyone wins in this relationship, whether our partner, client or user. We are not leaving the communication table until everyone is satisfied with the outcome.
Was there something specific that impacted giftmall’s culture?
The thing that impacted how we operated the most was that I always tried to build relationships with people through emotional intelligence and understanding rather than control and pressure. At some point, I realised that the culture is supposed to be about people whose values align with mine.
Processes or rules of the company are all good until you face the first understanding crisis, when your manager cannot get what you’re trying to tell them. When hiring my team, I pay a lot of attention to the cultural fit instead of just professional skills. The values we develop and follow in the team include empathy and trustworthiness, transparency and reliability, flexibility and agility and empowerment and transformation.
In our team, we are empathetic towards every stakeholder, and that allows us to build trust, both internally and externally. We are transparent in our communication and cooperation principles, which contribute to our reliability. My team members adapt easily and are flexible in their work as much as possible. We try to empower our clients, partners and users so that they can grow on their terms.
Learn more: giftmall’s philosophy: how our values affect our work
Such turning points usually occur during times of growth and development. As a leader, you have to consciously shape the culture, or it will shape itself, and there is no way of knowing what happens next.
How would you describe giftmall’s culture today?
Today, our culture is strong. I don’t mean the physical strengths, but character strengths. People in my team can face their mistakes, admit and fix them right away. They take responsibility for their work and rely on teamwork to achieve personal and corporate success. My team is willing to support me and each other and help in times of need. This list can go on forever.
One story that showcases giftmall’s team strength is when one of our team leads was left without a team during the hottest time of the year. She not only survived tough times on her own but also built her department from scratch. It now flourishes because she assessed the situation and made the best of it.
Another story was when another team lead found her client to be a fraudster who defrauded the company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thanks to her dedication and hard work, we have earned many times more and even expanded into new markets.
My team faces challenges, adapts and comes back stronger than ever before. I’m proud of them and of what I've built with giftmall.
Being a leader: Kate Prokhatska’s journey
How do you hold yourself accountable to giftmall’s values?
Holding yourself accountable is easy when you have your life principles and goals straight out. In my opinion, we can only build a true-to-self business if we know what we believe in and implement it in our work. For many years, giftmall’s values and principles were sort of ‘in the air’ rather than written down and remembered.
That is why I hired people on a gut feeling that they would align with those values and translate them into their work. That way, the decisions they will make will align with the company’s goals. Crises, challenges, victories, even product-building – it was all supposed to align with what I thought to be true. That’s why it is so much easier to have those values on paper, so that you can clearly communicate them outside.
We have a couple of scenarios that allow us to practice our values in the real world. The first one is when a customer accidentally overpays or we make a mistake, but the customer doesn’t notice. It adds extra work to sort it out, do the maths, admit the mistake if it’s ours and communicate the situation. But we never leave things as they are since we are transparent and value our clients greatly.
Another example is the holiday season, specifically the end of the year. It’s the most stressful time for everyone, including my team members. Sometimes, a client or partner can pour their frustration or exhaustion onto everyone around them. In that case, we stay calm and empathetic and try our best to find a solution that works for everyone.
How do you ensure your managers follow the culture you set up?
We have a strong feedback culture, and I just listen to it. Along with internal feedback, many of our processes are based on business and client feedback. Customer feedback reflects the team and product. In that feedback, I can see whether my managers actually understand and translate our core values.
Do you have any advice for the leaders who want to build a strong company culture?
I have a couple, actually. Let me share them here.
1) Hire the best people you can find: People have the most influence on your company’s culture. Hire people who work well with others, can positively impact the environment and can literally translate your values. The team dynamics rely heavily on the leader and how they interact with their team – don’t mess up the hiring.
2) Be the change you want to see: The culture is shaped by the leader’s behaviour. Your daily actions impact how your employees will work. I regularly participate in day-to-day operations like meetings, order processing and helping in the warehouse. This shows my team that I’m not just their boss but a colleague who understands their struggles. Thanks to this, the team feels that I can be relied upon, that I am close by and involved. And it moves on down the chain, towards their peers and customers.
3) Build strong relationships: I've been working with my core team for over five years now. We faced difficulties, celebrated victories, learned from our mistakes and achieved results. Good relationships take time and effort to build, but they will bring your business so much. Your team is what makes things happen. The truth of a good leader is this – you give them purpose, but they can survive without you. So show them how much you value that.
4) Stay empathetic and calm: In a stressful situation, stay calm under pressure. These situations shape and test the culture, showing its weaknesses and what should be tweaked. Every challenge is a lesson, don’t ever forget that. Listen to your team and become their stronghold.
5) Don’t forget about performance and execution: It’s easy to fall short when it comes to performance, especially for young startups. Great vibes are important, as we understood, but the whole point of building a business is to make money. Follow those numbers, make progress reports, and you’ll be fine.
I would also advise future leaders to believe in themselves and trust their gut feelings. You already know what kind of company you want to build, it is rooted deep in your consciousness. You task it to figure it out and start translating it into your work. The internal culture always reflects its leader. It is as unique as you, and it changes along with you, so learn something new from the leaders in your field every now and then.
And another thing is: stay vigilant but flexible. Culture changes with people and times. The world is vast and full of wonderful things, so try to change along with your business as well. You might find many surprises if you just listen to the people around you.
We thank Kate for sharing her insights and can’t wait to see what she is up to next!
