Celebrating the everyday heroes that keep our company human

At Atlassian, our values guide what we do, why we create, and who we hire. Atlassians, as our employees are called, bring those values to life every day by putting customers first, working openly and transparently, and always playing as a team.

Ultimately, it’s about staying human, even when you’re running a business. We asked a bunch of Atlassians, on all different types of teams, to nominate their own personal everyday hero – those folks that strive for the human touch and live our values out loud – even when those efforts sometimes fly under the radar.

Let’s celebrate those humans behind the heroics, and how they’re bringing our values to life in their everyday work. First, though, take our quiz to find out your teamwork hero persona.

Raising the bar

Many Atlassians called out colleagues who acted as a proverbial rising tide, lifting all boats around them by setting an example and being agents for change. For some, this looks like “constantly raising the bar” on the quality of work they’d collaborated on, or “always seeking new information and providing meaningful information to others,” but manifests in other ways too. One Atlassian called out a friend as “the kind of person who makes you just want to be better,” while another admired that their colleague “utilizes deep knowledge of Atlassian’s business and teams to bring about positive change.” Still another appreciated her coworker’s “smart, energetic, and positive, yet realistic” approach to collaboration.

Perhaps the purest hallmark of a true Everyday Hero is that natural inclination to shine as an example for others in their social and professional spheres, demonstrating their best selves and taking the time to show others the way.

A champion for others

Many submissions also expressed appreciation for both formal and informal acts of encouragement, from mentorship to growth opportunities to birthday acknowledgments. “It’s comforting having a role model like him to take advice from, and I heavily value his opinion on things,” said one engineer. And a product marketer said of her nominee, “I wouldn’t have had half as much exposure, experience, and opportunities to add skills to my toolkit without her… she constantly went above and beyond to find and create new opportunities for me to grow.” On a more personal level, others appreciated that their hero “makes sure every person feels special and celebrated every day” and “ensures everyone feels valued and celebrated, even in the smallest ways,” whether that meant baking birthday treats or

Given we’re a B2B company, Atlassians have a strong tendency towards customer advocacy – and it’s a quality we admire in each other. Hero nominees were celebrated for building customer-centric programs, keeping customers top of mind, and in general serving as “authentic representations of our [customer-first] culture.”

Leading with empathy and generosity

At the core of these quietly heroic acts, our nominators recognize a “radically human-forward,” “empathetic, thoughtful,” “compassionate,” and “selfless” approach to teambuilding and collaboration, and generosity in sharing knowledge, time, and resources for the benefit of their colleagues. These are some of the key hallmarks of good business, contributing to a sense of psychological safety on our teams and empathy in customer service alike.

Inspiring and uplifting those around us, sharing knowledge generously, and going out of our way to brighten someone’s day all contribute to an environment of compassionate collaboration – and keep our ever-growing community human-centric and values-driven.