Katie Jansen is CMO at AppLovin. AppLovin fuels the growth of many of the world’s most popular mobile games and game studios.
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What do Slack, Twitter and Trello have in common? They all started as side projects.
Back in the day, Google had a 20% time policy that gave Googlers the bandwidth to hatch innovative projects that ultimately led to the creation of Gmail, Google Talk and Google Maps.
Although Google has phased out this policy, other tech companies have adopted this concept. LinkedIn has InCubator, a program for its engineers to develop their own ideas, and Apple has Blue Sky, which allows employees to devote time to their own projects.
The Benefits Of Bringing A Little Passion Into Your Workday
Of course, most side projects may never evolve into some of the world’s most recognized services or brands, but they can boost employees’ happiness and creativity. Studies show the undeniable benefits of employee happiness: Happy employees are 12% more productive.
Allowing employees to spend some of their time at work on their own related projects also may lead to attracting new talent. One report revealed that 78% of millennials “believe it’s important to have a side project that could become a different career.”
Evolving Your Passion Into Something That Benefits Your Company
When I joined AppLovin in 2012, I started to incorporate my passion projects into my workday. Since I’m in a male-dominated industry, I want to help more women in tech and give back to the community.
Over time, I saw opportunities to turn both projects into bigger endeavors by rallying the right people and leveraging their skills and passions as well. Their involvement helped establish AppLovin Cares and FemLovin. Through both of these groups, we’re able to reach and inspire more people.
Today, AppLovin Cares is integrated and branded into our company culture and has grown to over 100 members. FemLovin has gone global, with our company’s offices around the world embracing inspirational female-driven events.
The path to growing your passion project is different for everyone, but here are some ways you can expand your presence at work and help your company grow in new ways.
Prove Value And Rally Others, But Have A Plan
Initially, I spent time mentoring female employees in the company, but I encountered challenges; essentially, it became difficult to scale. I wanted to reach more people and transition the one-on-one efforts to make an impact for a larger audience by creating an environment for opportunities and connections for the women in our company. From these efforts, FemLovin was born.
Your plan should highlight the why, and how it will benefit your team and, in turn, the company. If you need to rally other stakeholders or colleagues, be ready with actionable steps to help mitigate questions and concerns.
You may want to include:
• Why you’re a solid worker and a team player: You meet deadlines and get projects done, so taking on this passion project would not affect your current workload. Include how frequently you will spend time on your project, and for how long.
• How the team and company as a whole will benefit: Showcase efficiencies that your project builds, take the time to show your company how building a mentorship program can grow employees into stronger contributors, or establish how your project improves your corporate brand.
• The results: Always take the time to show real results. If you win an award, see growth in an employee or launch a new project, take the time to tie it back to the initial project.
Establish A Culture That Embraces Passion Projects
If you’re a leader in an organization, consider setting aside some time to talk to your team about what interests or ideas they have to grow the business. This gives them a chance to share what they enjoy doing outside of the 9-to-5 and may offer insight into what kind of individuals they are. You can start with a simple Google Docs questionnaire and follow up with a team meeting to discuss and get the ball rolling.
Before AppLovin Cares became official, getting employees to volunteer for worthy causes was the easy part. The difficult part was establishing an infrastructure to expand and level-up our efforts. This included team delegation to handle specific tasks, such as creating an intake form for other employees for donation or volunteer ideas. It also entailed building guidelines around requirements and what employees could expect after they submitted a request.
Over time, we branded our philanthropic efforts as AppLovin Cares and created a leadership community to drive the creation of a dedicated page on our website, as well as a Slack channel to keep the momentum going.
What Projects Bring You Joy?
Passion projects are often about giving people the time, permission and resources to do something different. Creating this kind of environment tells the team it’s okay to develop their interests and enhance their skills.
Cultivating a culture that allows employees to explore their interests and skills outside of their day-to-day workflow may provide a greater sense of ownership and dedication to the team and company.
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Author: Katie Jansen, Forbes Councils Member
