How can you tell a company lives by its values?
Like many companies, Clarasys lists its values on the company website. This gives people an idea of our priorities and what’s important to us.
But how can you tell these values run right through the company and how can we evidence this?
We have 8 values that are integral to the way we work and communicate with each other:
- Trust and be honest
- Collaborate
- Listen
- Respect
- Deliver quality
- Commit
- Love your work
- Coach
And we know these are hard-wired into our culture because of the following:
Employees tell us what our values actually are
Ask five people what their company values are and the majority will struggle to tell you what they are. At Clarasys it would be pretty hard not to know our values as they’re present in the way we treat each other, our training, and in our ways of working. Frequent team objectives on projects are along the lines of “working collaboratively” or “ensure high quality deliverables”. Our work always embodies some, if not all, the values.
Our values are included in internal processes
We have something internally called “kudos” which is an electronic note you can publicly send to a colleague to acknowledge something they’ve done well or helped you with. Alongside the kudos, we can also assign which values were demonstrated. Not only does this system promote a positive environment of encouragement, it also identifies the values the colleague embodies. In addition, at the end of each month, the data gives us a breakdown of the values we portrayed and how well we, as a company, are living them in our day-to-day work.
Our values are apparent in everyday conversation
We are always sharing ideas and are encouraged to:
- Ask a colleague how they tackled a situation similar to the one we’re experiencing on a project
- Ask our coach for advice on how to approach a specific scenario
- Discuss best next steps with a client after carrying out a discovery piece
To ensure all these conversations are as productive and conducive as possible, we endeavour to listen and be respectful and honest with all those involved to get the best outcome. These are values we follow to ensure we are delivering the best quality and to solve situations appropriately.
We use our values as a framework for who we hire
It’s no accident that everyone working at Clarasys finds the values easy to adopt. Not only do we want someone with the skills for the job but also someone who will fit in and contribute to the culture we work hard to build together.
Clients use the values when giving feedback
As consultants, client feedback is incredibly important to us in order to help us identify what we’re doing well and where we can develop. When asking clients what they like about working with us, we have been told we offer “honest and direct opinions”. We have also been told “all consultants I have ever dealt with are high quality and deliver good value” and we are “really engaged, [worked] as part of a team”. Our values are there to help guide how we deliver and when we hear feedback like this, we know we’re on the right track.
If you would like to hear more about our values and culture, or you think you have what it takes to be a Clarasys consultant, please get in touch!
This post was originally written by: Stephanie Helness
