Running a growing startup, where strategies are always shifting and employees wear many hats, can be a challenge. More challenging is trying to build a world-class team without sacrificing an aligned company culture and values. Employees at TrackMaven, a three-year-old Washington, D.C.-based startup providing real-time, data-driven content marketing insights to a growing client base, understand this firsthand.

In spring 2015, 15 employees took part in DISC and motivators assessment training through TTI Success Insights, all in an effort for employees to better understand themselves and fellow colleagues for greater organizational success. Caitlin Fitzgerald, TrackMaven’s director of sales, said the fledgling startup regularly hosts off-site team-building initiatives, but noted the assessment training was valuable from a number of standpoints and “overexceeded our expectations.”

“I think the most valuable piece for us was better understanding the unique characteristics of our colleagues and managers, and why they approach their work in the manner in which they do,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s about sharing a focused, united vision of what you’re trying to build.” In particular, Fitzgerald explained how assessment training provided a window into better understanding how to communicate with colleagues who don’t possess the same behavioral makeup. She noted TrackMaven places employees from different but complementary departments in neighboring workspaces to enhance performance and productivity. “We’re always focused on building a winning team and culture, so it’s just natural as we grow and bring on new employees to focus on teambuilding and teamwork,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s helped make dramatic improvements in having employees better excel and understand one another.”

With the recent hire of the company’s new chief revenue officer, Fitzgerald said she made a point to share her TriGraph™, a breakdown of her DISC and motivators profile in graph form, with the incoming executive. This less traditional on-boarding exercise to get better acquainted with one another paid off immediately, she said. “It was a fantastic jumping off point for me, whereas I feel like it would have taken us a longer time to get acquainted otherwise,” Fitzgerald said. “But by taking a look at the assessment report, we each had an understanding about how we should communicate with one another. It was really helpful.”

Realizing how important employee satisfaction is to company performance and profitability, TrackMaven offers a number of perks, including unlimited vacation time, catered lunches, and cell phone and gas reimbursement, that particularly satisfies the mindsets of today’s Millennial generation. But, more than anything, Fitzgerald said, “it’s about creating a workplace experience like no other.” “Because a lot of our team is young, we’re constantly looking at new ways to incentivize them,” she said. “We’ve quickly realized it’s not money that motivates our employees; it’s being recognized and connected as part of a successful, driven team and achieving something together.”