Our purpose and values lie at the center of everything we do. How we hire, how we fire, how we communicate, collaborate, deliver work, and interact with our clients. Everything!
Right from the start, back in 2018, we wanted to define our Purpose and Values. We needed a North Star to guide us while our business and team grew.
We wanted this to be the result of co-creation, not a top-down decision. We spent a good part of our first-ever company off-site meeting brainstorming and debating on what they should be.
How we came up with our purpose:
In answering the fundamental question, âWhy do we exist as a company beyond financial gain?â we sought to pinpoint what drives us daily, what ignites our passion, and what pushes us to give our best.
This introspection wasn't simple. The response needed to resonate with the original reason the co-founders established REBORRN. Yet, it also had to ring true for all employees.
How we came up with our values:
In this instance, we addressed the question, âWhat is our desired culture?â To define our values, we aimed for a number between 3 and 5 to ensure they'd be easily memorable.
Beyond just a title and brief description, we outlined the specific behaviours we expect to see, turning abstract values into tangible actions.
Most crucially, we determined the over-statements. These serve as a potent tool, guiding us when faced with dilemmas.
This is what we came up with:
đ€Â Our Purpose
To constantly find better ways for the world to work.
đ€Â Our Values
Our work must have an impact. It should make change happen. It should deliver results for our clients and our clientsâ customers. To have impact we must simplify. We believe that great work is better than perfect work.
Impact is not measured by the volume of work we produce, or the hours we put down on a specific task. Itâs the opposite actually, how we can deliver the biggest possible value with the minimum possible effort.
Behaviours we value:
- You accomplish amazing amounts of important work.
- You demonstrate consistently strong performance so colleagues can rely upon you.
- You focus on great results rather than on process.
- You exhibit biasâtoâaction, and avoid analysisâparalysis.
Overstatements:
Impact even at the expense of billings from non-essential client engagements.
We are and will always be the underdogs. We will try harder and push forward despite the difficulties. Against all odds. To do this we need to be brave, to challenge the system, to never play safe. We need to find unconventional ways. Not be unethical or bend the law, but to imagine places where nobody has been before. Even if sometimes we may need to reinvent the wheel.
đ When we stop feeling as the underdogs of an established system, it means we need to move on, our job is done there. Long story short: REBORRN should be in a constant state of exploration (vs exploitation).
Behaviours we value:
- You always approach things with a David mentality exploring ways to beat the Goliaths of this world.
- Thereâs always a better way to do things, and you are up for it.
- Underdogs are not arrogant. You always think as the No2 challenging the industryâs status quo.
Overstatements:
Exploration approach even at the expense of higher profit margins.
We give a f*ck. We donât accept the âthis not my jobâ mentality. If someone spills coffee on the floor, we pick-up the mop and clean the mess. We care about our clients, we care about results, we care about our coworkers and the place we work & live, we care about ourselves. We constantly try to make things better and whoever interacts with us, knows we care. We believe that our Purpose is above our Teamâs interest and our Team should be above our personal interest.
Company > Team > Self.
Behaviours we value:
- You seek what is best for REBORRN, rather than whatâs best for yourself or your group.
- You are egoâless when searching for the best ideas.
- You make time to help colleagues.
- You never say, "It's not my job"; it's always your job.
Overstatements:
Care even at the expense of your personal goals.
We like being open, honest, and sincere. We put candor before politics and rounded talks. We know that being straightforward and truthful is not easy. We choose to do it because itâs hard. Because it has the most impact on the shortest time period. Because it makes ourselves, colleagues and clients better. Being candor doesnât mean being rude or harsh. We always deliver news with empathy, but we make sure we get our point across.
Behaviours we value:
- You are known for candor and directness.
- You are nonâpolitical when you disagree with others.
- You only say things about fellow employees you will say to their face.
- You are quick to admit mistakes.
Overstatements:
Candor even at the expense of being likeable.
We are curious by design and want to improve by getting better every day, even if itâs just 1% better. We always try to find better ways to do things. We experiment. We empower others to learn by trying. We like change, not for the sake of change, but because itâs essential to stay alive. We are awake and young in mind. And we know that shit will happen. Thatâs why we give ourselves permission to fail.
Behaviours we value:
- You learn rapidly and eagerly.
- You seek to understand how our clientsâ business work even if itâs outside our scope of work.
- You are broadly knowledgeable about business, technology and data.
- Even if you are top of your class on your domain, you never stop learning new things.
Overstatements:
Curiosity even at the expense of efficiency.
How we ensure that everyone lives and breaths by our values.
Our values serve as our North Star, guiding our daily work lives and every decision we make. Here are a few ways we make this happen:
- We place values at the heart of our recruitment process.
- We use behavioural-based questions to understand whether our candidates align with our values.
- We explicitly detail them both during the interview and in our offer letter.
- We uphold our values throughout the interview process. For instance, since "candor" is one of our core values, we ensure feedback is provided to all shortlisted candidates.
- We discuss our values during the first week of the onboarding and take the time to give examples of how we live by them in our day-to-day lives.
- We have a gamified recognition system where anyone can provide positive feedback when they see someone nailing a value. This feedback is instantly and transparently shared through Slack on our company channel. (RoMo)
- We ensure that every decision and every initiative is connected to our values and we explicitly communicate that. For example:
- We decided to end a very profitable collaboration with a client because we felt that we were creating no impact.
- For two years, before a recent change, each of our All-Hands meetings was dedicated to one of our values, with the agenda shaped by it. For instance, during the "curious" All-Hands meeting, we shared best practices, and in the "candor" All-Hands, we exchanged feedback with one another.
- We organised an internal unconference event themed after our âunderdogsâ value. This is the brief that we gave:
đ
Hey Underdogs, get ready to shake things up! đ
REBORRN's first-ever unconference is all about daring to disruptânot just the industry but ourselves too. Think you've got a game-changing way to organise, sprint, scale, or even give feedback? Well, it's time to let your audacious ideas loose! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to not only challenge the status quo but to offer up alternative solutions so mind-blowing that they'll ignite fiery debates. So bring your boldest, most out-of-this-world concepts, and let's turn the tables on "normal." Time to explore uncharted territoriesâbuckle up, it's going to be a wild ride!
- When we need to let someone go, it will most probably be because of a misalignment with our values - and we communicate that internally in a transparent way.
- We practice candor in all shapes and forms. With our clients, with our managers, and with our colleagues.
