A company with a purpose
At least once a year I like to go through a what I’m calling a ‘State of the company’ review that answers questions as if we are starting this company from anew. It should be noted that what I try to avoid is being generic. Avoiding those scenarios like meaningless, adjective-heavy mission statements and over generalized goals that don’t “walk the walk”. If we don’t take these values with us and live and breathe them, what’s the point? And beyond all that, I want a company that stands for something. It is a wonderful exercise that brings what we do back to its roots and I’d like to share with you guys what I’ve been working on.
What kind of company do you want to build?
Our company is expanding in both services and people. We are getting into software development now and want to provide the same high level of software services as consulting services do today. If we look at everything we do (technology audits, risk assessments, security testing, community platforms) all of these services common denominator is rooted in education. Our services provide more of a coaching experience than the judging people or organizations. So our vision/mantra/belief is all tied together in the phrase,
“Service through education.”
It’s short and sweet but with meaning. Everything we do ties back to this mantra.
What are our shared goals that everyone in the company exudes?
Next step is establishing through every single person in our company what we belief in. I see this as a ‘sales-side’ of the company. Not from the getting deals standpoint but from the ‘this is how we’re built’ standpoint. To say it in another way, it’s our Commandments.
- Quality service regardless of client - We treat everyone, regardless of size of organization, the same way.
- ‘Our word’ should mean something - Many people today don’t let a handshake or a verbal promise be a commitment to something, we do.
- Honest but realistic - We want to shoot people straight but also temper it with realistic expectations due to their situation.
- Give openly - We want to better this world so giving openly will always open more doors than close them.
- It’s not what ‘I’ accomplish, it what ‘we’ accomplish - We know this isn’t all about us, this is about the success of our clients and their customers.
- Success is defined by happiness, not $$$ - I’m most proud of this one. We define success based off of our clients and employees happiness, not by the size of the paychecks. This is why ROWE thinking excites me so!
I’m in the middle of this exercise and have started at the company level and I’m now working on the business levels and then down to the product level (then lastly, people level). Each level down gets easier due to the foundation the previous level left before it. I’d would LOVE to hear your feedback to this and how you are helping your company become a world class organization.
3 years ago
Wearing multiple hats in business, especially small biz, is not anything new and has seemingly become a part of my everyday routine. Some days more than others, of course. Today was one of those days, however, that I really noticed how much hat dancing was going on. Here’s a quick ‘stream-of-consciousness’ breakdown of the day for me.
