Sail On: The Second Chapter

Last year, on the day after April Fool’s Day, I wrote that I had heard the word “unprecedented” used daily. At that time, we were approximately half a month into lockdown, COVID-19 changed the world overnight, and we didn’t know how long the shutdown would last. And this was no “April Fool’s.”

As I reflect a year later, “resilience” is now a routine part of our vernacular. I am proud of how quickly we adapted to a fully virtual company nearly overnight, but we also adopted a new rally cry across the organization—#SAILon. SAILon has become our foundation, a grounding phrase of resiliency and support. We’ve been creative about new ways to support all of our stakeholders- customers, partners, and our crew. With recent dialogue about how the 9-to-5 workday may be dead and a division on when to return to the office, our culture and our engagement strategies will continue to serve us, no matter what we face.

With 2021 full underway and COVID-19 hopefully ending its vice grip on the world, here’s how we are going to continue to #SAILon.

Leading with the 4 I’s

We #SAILon by leaning on our values.

At SailPoint, we intentionally stepped back in the last year to evaluate how we would need to make changes. Time and time again, I leaned on SailPoint’s’ Four I’ core values—Impact, Innovation, Integrity, and Individuals—to help me in my decision-making. As Mark says, there is great humility in listening. Taking that advice to heart, I have been more intentional about listening to the crew and hearing other voices with differing perspectives. This means having difficult but productive conversations intended to move the needle in the right direction. We did this in 2020, and we will continue to do this moving forward.

Reimagining Work

We #SAILon by always hiring and retaining the best.

Over 2020, we saw opportunities to transform and improve on many fronts, especially when hiring the best people for our crew. As we grow and support our team inclusively, we are intensifying our talent strategy around Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging by:

• Attracting more diverse candidates through a location-agnostic hiring philosophy in the US
• Programmatic university recruiting for an inaugural “SailU” this summer (including recruiting at historically Black colleges & universities (HBCUs));
• Free2Focus plan (two-hour times block, two times a week that are meeting free) and;
• Pay equity reviews to ensure fair and equitable compensation.

Future Use of our Offices

We #SAILon by modernizing our physical offices.

Our identity is our work, not our cubicles. COVID-19 has presented an opportunity to rethink the office space. This year, we’ve repositioned our offices for future use and asking the crew to engage in our offices through a different lens.   

We spent the second part of 2020 repurposing our office space in two ways –  a place to collaborate and innovate in person with other crew members; and as a place to do independent high-focus work away from home. Our crew makes the most impact when they have the autonomy to make their own decisions that work for the individual, their family, and their work. The coolest part about this (for me) is that our crew can book their workspace ahead of time with a click on their phone through a free desking approach. If you had told me ten years ago, we would use an app to book workspace with a free desking system; I wouldn’t have believed you. But here we are, and it’s working.

I cannot wait to see how we continue to improve, how we work together, and how our business grows this year. #SAILon