Authenticity

In continuation to my previous post about our Core Values -- Authenticity, People Centricity, Customer Focus, Complete Ownership, and Continuous Improvement -- I’ll expand each Core value in a separate post, and explain what it means for us at TO THE NEW. 

Starting with the first one - Authenticity. 

Authenticity is the very basis that all our other Core Values are built upon. For us, authenticity is about valuing diversity and accepting people the way they are - with all their strengths, weaknesses, and eccentricities. We want our people to bring their authentic selves to work & not carry the burden of trying to be somebody they are not. This also means that we do expect everyone to say what they mean and mean what they say in all interactions. In nutshell, we encourage & expect everyone to be authentic. 

Let me share 3 big reasons for why Authenticity matters so much at TO THE NEW.

1. The first and the foremost reason is that it frees our people from conforming to a particular way of thinking and wasting energy trying to be somebody they are not. This encourages them to bring their unique strengths and passion to work, hence providing them a more fulfilling & satisfying work environment. All this translates to better performance & better results. Plain business sense, in my opinion! 
2. Secondly, it allows for more meaningful & genuine relationships to be created in the workplace. 
3. Lastly, it encourages open communication allowing more ideas to bubble up which ultimately helps us in becoming a better workplace for our employees, or becoming a better partner for our clients. 

We take great pride in having an environment & culture where Newers can: 

• Admit their mistakes & weaknesses
• Openly share their point of view 
• Question status quo 
• Ask questions & suggest improvements

Let me share a story to demonstrate how we practice authenticity in our day-to-day life & decision-making at TTN. 

#CoreValueStories

A few years back, we thought of automating some of our internal processes. We were growing at a rapid pace, and a suite of applications was required for managing the existing processes as well as for scale. It was a build vs buy decision and we started evaluating different options in the market.

After going through an extensive shortlisting process, the team decided to proceed with one of the leading products in the market. This product was also listed in Gartner’s magic quadrant. We were quite confident and happy with the choice we made. What could go wrong?

With all the excitement, we started our implementation journey, which also involved data migration of the past 8 years. After about 8 months of extensive exercise, we went live with great fanfare. After 3 months of the rollout, we gathered feedback from the Newers; and the response was not as encouraging as we had expected. 

The implementation team took the feedback and discussed the feasibility of improving the core product. However, as it was a Global Product, there was not much we could do in terms of getting all of the feedback points addressed. After a very thorough analysis of the current situation, the implementation team admitted that the current solution was not working out, and any further investments in the same solution would not result in the desired outcome. 

They did not come up with reasons or excuses to work-around or manage the feedback, instead, they admitted that it was simply a wrong decision taken by them. They didn’t indulge in blame-game or tried to rationalize their mistake. We discontinued & abandoned the current solution, learned from it & moved on. We then decided on an alternative approach which ultimately worked out really well for us later. 

At TTN, authenticity leads our core values pack. I admit that it's hard (and sometimes not practical) to be authentic 100% of the time. Authenticity does call for “speaking your mind” - but not at the expense of others. While we strive to be authentic in all our communication & interactions - with internal & external stakeholders, we do ensure that we are not being insensitive or disrespectful towards any of our colleagues or clients. 

Authenticity is possibly the hardest value to practice in real life, but it is only being true to ourselves that has helped us reach where we are today.