As a Talent Manager, I'm fortunate to be able to speak with both current employees and potential candidates about our work and culture. One common theme that always comes up in conversation with Ranglers is how much they love that we prioritize our speaking culture. Similarly, whenever I share that we have a prominent speaking culture with potential candidates, there's a palpable excitement. So, what does having a speaking culture mean exactly?
At Rangle, it means everyone has the opportunity to speak at our weekly Lunch and Learns, participate in webinars, lead workshops, host meetups, or speak at conferences in Toronto and around the world. In fact, hosting meetups, such as AngularTO, ReactTO and VueJS has created opportunities internally for Ranglers to take the stage and share their learnings. This focus on knowledge sharing has played a key role in how Rangle first developed, and has continued to be a cornerstone of Rangle culture today.
How does this Impact the Employee Experience?
Not only do we strive to provide speaking opportunities, we also offer a support system. We encourage each other so Ranglers can feel confident when it comes time to present. That can mean having a colleague listen to your speech for feedback or collaborating on a topic you're not totally confident with. Our culture of public speaking brings our team closer together and helps us level-up.
Take Jordon McKoy, for example. He's a developer here at Rangle and recently gave his first talk at our ReactJS meetup in July:
Public speaking at Rangle extends beyond meetups and conferences. It has also created opportunities internally for employees to lead workshops and meetings. Lauren Suh, a Rangle Developer/Product Designer, shares the impact our culture of public speaking has had on her professionally and personally:
How does Rangle help employees upskill?
To help Ranglers to improve their public speaking abilities we host Toastmasters in our event space on an almost weekly basis. This initiative is thanks to an introduction from one of our Business Quality Analysts, Erick Dimistracopulos. As part of the program you have the opportunity to attend the meetings and if interested, join as an official member. Plus, employees even have the option of using their conference budget to cover the annual dues. Here's what Erick had to say on introducing Toastmaster to Rangle:
Having a culture of public speaking isn't the only way we help facilitate a culture of knowledge sharing. Rangle hosts drop-in blog writing hours. Our in-house content marketing specialist, Amy Statham, helps our team to have a quiet space to develop ideas. While it's still relatively new, it has become a place where employees can go for dedicated support on crafting an impactful blog post. Plus, a lot of Ranglers have started out blogging and turned their writing into speeches. Blogging can be a powerful gateway into developing ideas that turn into impactful talks!
Conclusion
There's encouragement and support to be found at Rangle for anyone that has an interest or is looking to level up their existing skills. The most significant value is that this builds the confidence of our teams. Whether it's in front of a select number of colleagues or diving in at one of our company-wide Lunch and Learns, our culture of public speaking encourages Ranglers across all departments to get involved.
Want to learn more about the culture at Rangle? Read how a donut improved our culture, or about Rangle, Toronto, and Artificial Intelligence.
