Character & Culture…
Our values are the things which we believe in and aspire to – they are expressed in our character & culture…
We believe in a progressive revelation with respect to values, i.e. our values are not going to stagnate or stay the same forever with no progress or forward momentum but like a clear flowing stream they will reveal more clarity and definition over time whilst remaining true to their Source… ?
Uniqueness…
We believe that everyone has unique passions, skills, abilities, motivations, and drivers…
We want to discover the unique makeup of each one of our team members and in understanding what makes them tick, give them the best and most fulfilling experience with us that we can…
Dreams…
Sounds corny but we want to make our team members’ (and Clients’) dreams come true (within the parameters of our vision and values)…
We believe in dreams and the power of dreams…
Understanding…
We believe that understanding why someone wants to do something is more powerful than simply knowing that they want to do it…
Family…
We believe in family and want to involve the ‘significant others’ of our team members in the diversity of work which we will endeavour to complete…
Equality…
We don’t believe in holding someone’s race or skin colour or appearance or background or personal beliefs against them when we consider them to join our team – we just want to know that they resonate with and aspire to our vision and values…
We also don’t believe in paying people (who do the same job) differently because they are ‘male or female’ – we believe in pay equity – we also value the diversity of approaches brought by men and women to the workplace and believe that the combination of these approaches brings balance and completeness…
Permanence…
We believe in unconditional acceptance, training for improvement and a commitment that once you join us – as long as we remain a ‘going concern’ and have work to complete – that you can stay as long as you want to whilst holding to our vision and values…
This means that while with us you don’t have to be looking over your shoulder wondering whether you’ll be replaced by some ‘newer model’ as this is not the way we roll…
Loyalty…
Loyalty, in a word, is what we aspire to model amongst ourselves, we don’t believe anyone will ever be ‘pushed out’ or replaced but each will be fostered, nurtured and encouraged to grow and flourish in their area of gifting and creativity…
Growth…
To achieve this we believe in growth and in creating sister offices wherever needed so those with the same skill set won’t ‘clash’ or inadvertently ‘compete’ in one office but each can have the freedom to develop – having said that we are also perfectly OK with people continuing on an ‘even keel’ and not growing or developing as such or climbing the ‘career ladder’ but just flourishing in their chosen area and maintaining solid performance – everyone is different – and ambition or contentment are equally accepted – basically everyone is given the freedom to be who they want to be…
Focused Training…
We are focused on our vision and values – whatever ‘on the job training’ with respect to the ‘soft skills’ and ‘technical skills’ further to the training our people have already received in these areas before they join us will be provided in accordance with our vision and values…
Forgiveness…
We don’t believe in condemnation and we do believe in forgiveness…
This works both ways – no one is perfect…
Boundaries…
If it were to ever happen that we were to employ someone who agrees to our vision and values but then at some point down the track ceases to agree with our vision and values and after discussing this ‘about face’ with them they confirm that they have no intention of agreeing with our vision and values moving forward then in that situation we would need to terminate our relationship with them as team members (we would still care about them as people)…
Hopefully, this will never need to happen…
Positive Outlook…
We don’t believe in ‘put downs’ or in a sarcastic or cynical outlook on people or life…
We believe in a positive outlook on people and life and endeavor always to exist to make a change in our sphere of influence…
Making Things Right…
We believe in honesty and in fixing our mistakes when we make them along with apologizing when we don’t treat people or our Clients right…
When we’re wrong we want to always admit that we were wrong and then offer a solution to fix the issue…
We always want to do right by people – whether they be our people or our Clients…
Fairness…
We believe in fairness to all…
We want every decision we make to be able to seen to be fair should it ever hypothetically be brought out into ‘the full light of day’, i.e. if we ever had to ‘give an account’ for how we had made a decision we would want to have both a rational and intuitive basis for this which we could share – this is a safeguard for us – to always do the right thing…
Welcoming…
We want the atmosphere we ‘pervade’ to be a welcoming atmosphere to all – where all who come in contact with us feel ‘at home’ and that they ‘are home’… ?
Unity…
We believe in unity across all cultural and language boundaries…
We encourage and yearn to see team members join us from ‘every nation under heaven’…
And even to have team members stationed in ‘every nation under heaven’…
There is something very cool about having different nationalities all working together – a real ‘buzz’… ?
Definitions…
A culture is established by what we allow to be practiced…
Our character is what we are on the inside, our culture is what we practice on the outside…
Both are necessary to paint a holistic picture of who we are…
Affirming & Uplifting…
We have a zero tolerance policy with respect to bullying…
We do not believe in bullying…
We do not believe in micro-managing…
We believe in encouraging and valuing everyone…
Permission Giving…
We are permission giving – if you have a good idea and it’s the right time to implement it and there are funds available to do that then we will say, “Yes please and you can lead the charge!”
We believe in releasing our team members to be the best expression of themselves that they can be…
Agreement…
We believe in unity in decision making…
We believe in coming together for team meetings and hearing every voice in the room with no pressure on anyone to either ‘say something’ or ‘not to say anything’ but just hearing what everyone is thinking – every idea being equally valued – and seeing what resonates with us and then making decisions after hearing ‘the room’…
Mentoring…
We believe in mentoring and helping each other to develop – if we know something and another team member wants to or needs to know that, then we believe in sharing our knowledge with our team member…
Profit Sharing…
We believe in profit sharing and have a bonus system in place to share superprofits between all our team members on the basis of hours worked over the course of the financial year…
Freedom & Confidentiality…
We don’t believe in ‘trapping’ our team members with ‘non-compete’ or ‘exclusivity’ clauses but we do believe in confidentiality from our team members regarding all the work they complete for us…
If a team member wants to leave then we want to support them in that decision and make that transition as easy for them as possible…
Honouring…
We do believe in honouring our team members and giving recognition, praise, and appreciation to each one for the input which they have and the contribution which they are making…
Job Security…
We offer unlimited unpaid annual leave, unlimited unpaid sick leave, and unlimited unpaid bereavement leave – we do this to encourage our team that no matter what life brings them – either happy times (like a honeymoon for example) or sad times (like the death of a loved one) that we are here for them and will secure their position for them so that when they are ready to come back to work they still have a job to come back to…
Family…
We believe in family and believe that Transparency exists to be ‘one big happy family’… ?
No Fear…
We don’t believe in fear or that fear is a valid or healthy or sustainable long-term motivator for improved performance in the workplace…
Our aim is to remove fear from the workplace and establish trust in its place…
Balance…
We also don’t believe that overwork is to be rewarded or encouraged…
We believe in balance and believe that our team members should work at a level (think jogging a marathon in 4 hours versus sprinting a marathon in 2 hours) where they could happily continue doing so ‘day in, day out’ for the next 50 years without either breaking a sweat (i.e. burning out) or becoming bored (under-performing)…
Priorities…
We believe that family is (or our significant others are) more important than work – if there’s a family emergency or something in our team members’ personal lives which needs to be attended to then we’d rather our team members attended to this than sitting in at work worrying about it or being consumed by it (no focus there) – it just makes sense and gives value also to our team members’ family members or significant others knowing that we’re encouraging our team members to put them first…
Internal Wellness…
We believe in ‘mental health days’ where similar to the above or even for purely personal reasons our team members can take a ‘mental health day’ when they are genuinely feeling ‘down’ or have just had a breakup or news of sickness in their extended family or need time to make and act on an important decision like buying a car or house or selling a house or just when their cumulative life experiences catch up on them and they need to go to a friend for a chat and a cry…
Valuing…
We believe in valuing our team members and being a support to them as members of our Transparency family…
We believe in team bonding events – hopefully, we’ll add a number of options to our repertoire over time… ?
Hard Work & Accuracy…
We believe in hard work and doing things right ‘first time’…
We would rather delay a deliverable – whenever this is in our power – than submit something which we know is incomplete…
Always Learning…
We believe that we never arrive…
None of us no matter how much we know or how long we’ve been alive will ever know everything but we want to keep on learning…
Never stagnating, always flowing…
Lasting Relationships…
We believe in lasting relationships with our Clients – we would happily continue working for a Client ‘forever’ if mutual respect and recognition exist between us – and we’re receiving on time payment of our invoices… ?
Innovation…
We believe in ingenuity and creativity…
Cause Focused…
We believe in focusing on the big picture and spending our time on what will ‘make a difference’…
Catalyst & Voice…
We believe in being a catalyst for change – not for change’s sake but when there’s something that needs to change, to make things better…
We believe in being a voice which can be rallied around…
An example of a different approach to life and work…
Collaboration…
We believe in collaboration and bringing different companies with similar interests together to achieve ‘big things’…
Generosity…
We strongly believe in benefitting all those in our sphere of influence with measured generosity (i.e. generosity which we can sustain)…
We believe in conducting outreach activities using a portion of net profit each year…
‘Living Wage’…
We believe (we’re only starting off down this track at present) in offering the option of a ‘living wage’ (instead of the traditional salary approach) where we start to take into consideration all the things which pertain (as we said at the outset, coming full circle) to an individual team member’s life, i.e. their location, their age, how many dependent children they have, the ages of their dependent children, whether their spouse or partner is working, whether they have other dependent relatives, when we set their ‘remuneration package level’ and start to contemplate making them a ‘bundled’ offer (based on local accommodation costs, student loan repayments, local cost of living) which we can realistically envision setting them free from the financial stress of ‘making ends meet’ (especially if their spouse or significant other is also a team member) and potentially setting them free to concentrate on their work and fulfilling their purpose in life…
The ‘living wage’ concept is a work in progress for us presently (watch this space) – it will work for those who want to live comfortably in a stress-free manner rather than becoming ridiculously rich by climbing the ‘corporate ladder’…
People…
Our bottom line, when it is all said and done, is that our character & culture reflect a deep respect and love for people, all people, everywhere – an honouring and valuing of every person (whatever stage of life they are at) – every person is either a potential team member or Client – we are here for our team members and for our Clients – we are here to be facilitators of every individual’s (including our own) enjoyment of life – the whole of life, Living by Design… ?
Andrew J Horton
09 August 2018
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