A company’s values are like the steering system of a vehicle. They make sure the revved-up engine is speeding in the right direction. They answer the questions: Why are we in business? Why are we going to work every day? What binds us to one another, to our clients and to the community?
They define how we, as a team, operate, behave, and interact on a day-to-day basis.
thinkstep-anz sells services and software. We are a business that – like any business – needs to be profitable. We help other businesses to succeed sustainably. Depending on your business, our services support you to stand out from your competitors, reduce your business risk or attract, engage and retain talent. We pride ourselves that we’re good at what we do.
But behind all our technical expertise and business know-how there is a beating heart that brings everyone at thinkstep-anz together as a team that strives to have a positive impact.
But how to pick values that work?
How do ‘Diversity and Inclusion, Leading performance, Partnership, People and the Environment, Trust and Integrity sound? Or how about ‘Respect & Fairness, Honesty & Integrity, Transparency, Empowerment, Accountability and Passion’?
Both are two strong, decisive sets of values we can probably all agree on. One set comprises the values of one of the largest oil companies, the other of a sustainability firm. We won’t make you guess, which ones were ours. (It’s the second set.)
During our team days in March, our thinkstep-anz team came together and discussed our existing values. While there wasn’t anything wrong with them, most of us felt they weren’t specific enough to tell our story. We also wanted to make them more personal and use the plain English language we’ve become known for. Together, we discussed what makes thinkstep-anz the company it is. We made sure everyone could have their say.
Then we hunkered down and thought about how we could describe better who we are as a team and why we are in business. This is what we came up with:
Our refreshed thinkstep-anz values
We are a team of good people who work to have a positive impact.
- we care
about our team, our work, our clients, community and the environment. - we’re ambitious
and give our best for our clients and our business so we can all succeed sustainably. - we build connections
between people and organisations, challenges and solutions, purpose and profit. - we do what we say
by sticking to the plan, being open and communicating when things change. - we keep learning
so our team, business and clients can thrive in a changing world. - we share our knowledge
with clients, governments and industries so we can have the greatest impact. - we are positive
in the way we approach our work and talk about it.
Why do values matter?
There’s a lot of evidence that value-based leadership and decision-making help you to attract staff and customers and are good for business. But where the magic happens is when the values become an organisation’s culture that everyone lives every day.
With refreshed values that feel true to who we are, we will continue to set our clients up to succeed sustainably and inspire them to keep achieving more.