Team Member Story: How Culture Brings Comfort

Life looks different these days. My wife is Dr. Darke, so she still needs to go into work. My kids, like many of you, are my newest office colleagues—often crazier than my normal work colleagues. But despite the unknown lurking outside my front door, I’m still finding more reasons to smile, be thankful for our heroes, and feel as confident as ever. 

Because just like you, I’ve got a unified Rocket team behind me.  

A Rocket team that is thoughtful, understanding and passionate about this family of companies. For me, I am exceptionally grateful for having work to do and a team to work with. 

These days, while being on a Rocket team means sitting in our homes, and sometimes involves video conferencing from your children’s playroom, it still means having the opportunity to work with team members who bring their best to everyd ay.  

Even though my day-to-day environment may have changed, I’m constantly reminded that this team has a core belief system we can all lean on and a culture that "gets it."

During the past few weeks I’ve seen a group of team members lean in on our values and company culture, and it made me recognize how our culture acts as guideposts to tackle problems faster.

Our team members noticed an immediate need for our clients hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Specifically, Aisha, Jamie, Dan and Matt led a group designed to create a deferment process and put other loss mitigation programs in place, giving our clients the necessary breathing room to get through this crisis.  All of them focused on what was the right next thing to do. And even though we were discussing a very serious, timely and heavy topic, I couldn’t help but feel uplifted.

There were no titles or egos thrown around. Only collaborative conversations, quick responses, and an ideal, client-centered action plan. The energy in our "remote room" was astounding as team members lived our values. 

Rocket culture and its values show up everywhere. As the team demonstrated, it's not one thing we do, but rather the million things we do. Together we've created a space - even miles apart - where we can still support one another and weather the storm—in a way I haven't noticed anywhere else.

In moments of crisis, I’ve found comfort in knowing that what’s important, and what should be worked on, becomes crystal clear. We have team members who share their voice and execute on getting things done. It doesn’t matter where you’re located during this health crisis. And it doesn’t matter whether your solution is “perfect” every time. What matters is using the principles and people in your toolbox to lean on and fight with.  

This upheaval will pass, it doesn’t make our environment any easier to navigate. What does make things easier, even enjoyable?

A true team committed to doing the right thing.

- Colin Darke, Chief Compliance Officer