By Meta Careers
Joana L. leads the Software Engineering team for Publishing Solutions in Facebook’s London office. She works to take care of Facebook’s audience network by monitoring advertisements on our network, debunking the public’s perception of our brand safety, and discovering the complex needs that vary between each business advertising on the platform. Here Joana discusses how Facebook’s culture of open communication helps her remain inspired and constantly growing.
I get bored easily. That’s why it was so refreshing to join Facebook, where every day is different. There’s always a new challenge—something new to create, and you’re surrounded by intelligent and thoughtful people who support you along the way. But what really stands out to me is the fact that at the core of our culture is open communication. I see it day in and day out, through collaboration across teams when problem solving, the practice of delivering direct and constructive feedback, and the open dialogue around gender bias—all of which have inspired me personally to grow and be a better leader.
I’ve realized Facebook’s mission to build community and bring the world closer together starts with us—the employees—and through open communication, we’re able to own this mission everyday. The product of this culture is a highly successful and productive work environment.
Driving Innovation Through Cross-Functional Collaboration
In my experience, no matter what office you work in, from London to Menlo Park, Facebook’s culture of open communication remains the same, and it also paves the way for innovation. For example, if someone identifies a problem or an inefficiency, they can openly raise it and develop a task force with team members across Facebook to build a solution. I’ve found that people across various teams are always interested and eager to jump in and help where they can. We simply create a post on Workplace (our internal collaboration and communication tool), and engineers will volunteer and collaborate to solve the problem. We don’t see ourselves as different teams; instead, we see ourselves as one big team.
What I’ve found helpful when working cross-functionally across teams is really embodying the idea of being a true leader. People will follow you if you have great ideas, provide support, and give opportunities to others. Collaboration is key, so if you like to give orders, this isn’t the place for you. Instead, we build connections; if you’re working with someone new, it’s never awkward—you can just grab a coffee and get to work.
Fostering Growth Through Direct Feedback
I didn’t always see the value of open communication; it’s not natural for me. During my first week at Facebook, I received constructive feedback that set me off guard. I felt like providing such direct feedback seemed forced and would limit my ability to express openly. In reality, it has created the exact opposite a culture that feeds itself. Everyone here has good intentions; the more open, positive, and respectful of ideas you are, the more you feed into the culture, and it eventually becomes natural. I’ve grown tremendously through Facebook’s culture of providing direct and constructive feedback. I’ve learned to be open here and I’ve realized that feedback is a gift.
I’ve even taken this lesson and applied it to my personal life. I strive for open and positive communication outside of work and noticed the positive impact it’s had on relationships with those around me. I’ve taken the framework that Facebook gave me and it has truly changed me as a person.
Challenging Gender Bias With Open Dialogue
When dealing with touchy subjects like the lack of diversity in engineering, open communication can be tricky. I’m continuously inspired by how hard everyone here works to be open and vocal about the ongoing gender bias in this industry. There's obviously a lack of women in engineering, but Facebook provides a large amount of support and education on how to deal with biases and diversity, which goes beyond gender. It’s not uncommon for people to ask me openly if I felt they had a bias when communicating with someone. And they want an honest answer! They want to be able to recognize it, so they can learn from it. At Facebook, it’s not about being perfect; it’s about being aware.
This problem is definitely not solved, there are still few women in engineering or management, but our entire team has this sense of initiative to do our best to fix it. We may not eliminate the problem entirely, but we’re focused on creating an environment in which we can talk about it openly, and ultimately drive change.
Building a Better World Through Education
Facebook’s culture of open communication allows us all to learn new things and challenge ourselves everyday. There are many problems to tackle at Facebook, and I wouldn’t come here assuming I know it all. With new challenges, comes access to incredible resources and endless opportunity for growth. This thirst for knowledge stems from my strong passion for education; I believe that only through education will we finally bring tolerance to the world.
At the essence of every person at this company is the idea of educating ourselves to create a better world, and I think that mindset bleeds into our daily work and how we communicate with each other. We’re all incredibly diverse, coming from all across the globe, but we share a vision of making the world a better place. To truly have open relationships and communication, you must first achieve tolerance. I build at Facebook because each and every person here is working towards just that.
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