The Hyperakt Way

Behaviors that drive our culture:

• Empathetic & Kind: We respect listening as our greatest tool. We prioritize making one another feel heard and seen. We do our best to understand everyone’s worldview and to act in ways that respect those differences. We advocate for one another, both emotionally and professionally.

• Calm & Flexible: We are gentle with one another. We adapt to hiccups and challenges with an understanding that shit happens and that we’re all doing our best.

• Brave & Honest: We question norms and ask why. When we mess up (and we will), we own it. We take the time to apologize, educate ourselves, and heal from whatever harm we caused. We freely take breaks from conversations that involve our personal identities before it becomes too taxing.

• Welcoming & Inclusive: We share our experience and knowledge freely with each other and with our broader community. We foster new connections with the goal of providing opportunities to anyone who might be interested in designing a better world.

• Collaborative: We build on one another’s ideas. We think the process is just as important as the result. We partner with clients and communities to create experiences that are meaningful. We collaborate with humility, courage, and openness.

• Beginner’s Mindset: We approach each project with curiosity because our clients deserve that commitment to innovation. We experiment, accept failure, and welcome feedback.

• Passionate: We really care, and we’re not afraid to let it show. We approach work with excitement, joy and curiosity.

• Accountable: We hold people to high expectations. We address impact, not just intention when holding people accountable for their behavior and words. We must constantly push ourselves to be better advocates and allies. We accept the differences in everyone’s journey towards personal awareness and growth.

• Optimistic: We believe there is hope. We work with people who show us better ways of being and opportunities for a more just future.

Unacceptable behaviors:

• Toxicity: We will not tolerate any aggressions, microaggressions, stereotyping, toxic power dynamics, or displays of white privilege.

• Presumptuousness: We will not make assumptions about one another or take one another’s perspectives for granted.

• Avoidance: We will not ignore hard but necessary conversations or rely on only those with lived experience to make change or do the work.

• Competition: We will not create a culture of competition or encourage ego-fueled work habits.

• Defensiveness: We will not react with stubbornness in the face of constructive criticism

• Fear of Change: We will not close ourselves off to new ways of working or thinking.

• Perfectionism: We will not lose sight of the big picture or sacrifice progress over perfectionism.

• Condescension: We will not be patronizing to someone in a different part of their journey—we are all still learning.

• Virtue Signaling: We will not pay lip service, only talking about change and never taking action.

• When possible, bring problems up with the individual 1-1.
• Surface problem behaviors not personality traits, make your feedback concrete.
  • What happened?
  • How did it make you feel?
  • How would you like things to be in the future?
  • What kind of response or action are you looking for from the individual right now?
• Find an ally or advocate who can help you so you don’t have to bear all the responsibility.
• Don’t remain silent!
• When you address a problem, also use it as an opportunity to educate with kindness.
• Assume good intent, but demand accountability.
• Do not facilitate a culture of blame.
• Elevate to leadership when necessary.

Use a “warm watchout” if corrections to language (example: pronouns, ableist phrases) are needed. Example in use: “Hi X! Warm watchout that X phrase shouldn’t be used for X reason. Thank you for not using it in the future! Let me know if you have any questions.”