As Metal Toad grows, I've found that I have less time to be involved in the day-to-day delivery of code and customer interactions. This shift in responsibilities is normal and expected, but as it happens it's important to make sure that the company vision and values are properly communicated to all of the new people who come on board as well as the existing team members.
So over the past few weeks, I have been asking myself: what makes our company special? What does the amazing staff already at the company believe in and strive to deliver? What do we want to continue to be known for? The resulting corporate values statement is what I came up with:
Corporate Value Statement
The following list of core values reflects what is truly important to us as an organization. These are not values that change from time to time, situation to situation or person to person, but rather they are the underpinning of our company culture. By maintaining these core values, regardless of how large a company Metal Toad becomes, we can preserve what has always been special about our company. These core values are the soul of our company:
- Respect
- Curiosity
- Help
- Create great experiences
- Provide Value
Respect.
Respect goes beyond treating people politely. It means we value other people's experience, opinions and act by listening first. At Metal Toad we believe respect is not just fundamental to business, but to living in the world. We may not always agree, but we will always be respectful.
Curiosity.
Curiosity is what drives Toads to seek out and share knowledge and to be brave. Our curiosity pushes us on a never-ending adventure seeking out the world's best and trying new things.
Help.
Everyone who comes in contact with us should leave with something, whether an employee, a peer, a customer - or just a stranger in need.
Experience.
The best thing we can deliver is great experiences. This should always be a central goal of any project.
Provide Value.
We strive to deliver the best we can within the budget given. We don't over-engineer or spend money on things that are not valuable.
So why am I posting this on the internet? I believe corporate values shouldn't be a document that is simply checked off a list. It is something that needs to be lived and held up to the world so they can measure us against it. I welcome any feedback on it and will return to it on a regular basis to make sure we stay on course as the months, years and decades go by.
For prospective customers or workers who feel like these values represent what they believe in and/or would like to see - come talk to us. For companies that may be in a similar place - what do you believe in?