Do you really have time to sit down and think about something as abstract and theoretical as "company values"? What for?
When you start a new company, there are a million things you need to get right, and fast: address a real pain point, come up with a valuable solution, define the right product, get a top-tier team, raise funding, acquire customers... the list goes on.
And you need to juggle all of this simultaneously. No one knows your company or your product, and you're probably working with limited resources.
So, do you really have time to sit down and think about something as abstract and theoretical as "company values"? What for?
We've all seen the "Mission, Vision, Values" statements of big corporations and how their employees treat them—as just another painting on the wall without any real meaning.
Most startups I've seen ignore this step for as long as possible, focusing on the tactical things: revenue, team, operations, funding. I get it.
But here's the thing: if you get your values right, it can turbocharge you and your company in incredible ways.
Values matter
Values shape every aspect of your organization: what you prioritize, what you avoid, how you reward people, and who you hire or let go. Most importantly, they offer clear and consistent guidelines for everyone—from investors and clients to team members—on where to go and how to get there.
Values are the rules of the game. Clear rules make it easier to grant freedom because everyone understands how to play. Without clear rules, you risk people following divergent paths, wasted time, and frustration.
With well-defined values, you can be transparent when hiring, reducing potential mismatches. Everyone knows what to expect and what is expected of them.
Whether you acknowledge it or not, your actions communicate your values. You might as well sit down, clarify them for everyone, and ensure consistency in upholding them.
Setting your values
When defining values, be careful! It's very easy to set the wrong incentives and create a toxic culture. Take your time to consider all implications, how you communicate them, and how you enforce them.
Avoid making generic statements that could apply to any company, such as "be excellent" or "always provide the best quality." People will ignore them, and they are not truly helpful. Use values to define who you are and, almost as importantly, who you are not.
Once you set your values, refer to them constantly and be explicit about them. Back up your decisions with values whenever possible, and strive for consistency.
If you realize something went wrong or you change your mind, adjust the values. Values are living things and will evolve over time.
Don't have too many values or overly complicated ones. People should be able to remember them by heart.
Our values
In our case, we spent significant time and effort defining ours. We came up with four core values, each with some clarifying details:
领英推荐
Tukki's values in practice
Maximize long-term value
We always seek to prioritize long-term goals, clients, and building capabilities. Every discussion and decision we make keeps this top of mind.
However, this requires judgment and criteria. These priorities don't always take precedence; sometimes, we need to go against our general guidelines.
For example, there are times when a new feature is needed quickly, and there's no time to do it the proper way. We might take on technical debt or shortcuts to deliver a feature urgently because it adds the most value in that moment.
Similarly, we might realize our operations team is inefficient and decide to build a capability to improve the process, even if it means temporarily sidelining client requests. In the long run, this benefits all clients and can be the obvious decision.
Often, it's clear what to prioritize, but if there are questions, we always prioritize long-term goals, clients, and building capabilities.
Remain lean and scrappy
Working more hours should never be the default answer. Prioritization is always the first thing we think about. What are we doing that we could stop doing? Is this new feature really necessary? Can we create an MVP that gives us 80% of the value with significantly less effort?
There’s always a creative way to get something done. Yet, our first thought often complicates things unnecessarily. By forcing ourselves to prioritize and maintain a "make it happen" mentality, we achieve great results. Necessity truly is the mother of invention. Working with scarce resources forces you to be creative and focus only on what adds clear value. Just as working more hours should never be the default answer, hiring more or spending more money shouldn't either.
Be independent and accountable
I hate chasing team members. I never check if someone is online at any given time. Many team members have asked me about expected working hours or if they could leave for a few hours for personal matters and work later. My answer is always the same: If I need to control whether you work or not, or if you are working at a particular time of day, then you probably shouldn't be working at Tukki. We trust you to work your best for the company. When you don't, it becomes evident quickly.
There are some things that are unacceptable to us. Phrases like "that was not in the task" or "X told me to do it that way" are not valid excuses. We expect all our team members to think. Understand why you are doing something, and if you don't agree, raise your hand and let us know. Own your work. Even if the specifications or instructions were wrong, you are the owner and have the right—and obligation—to think critically and challenge them if needed.
Finally, our "red face test": We don't want team members asking permission for every little thing like going out for a few hours or spending money on something. If I ask you about what you did and you blush, then it's probably wrong. If you don’t, then it’s probably right. And if you have questions, refer back to the previous point: raise your hand and ask.
Enjoy the journey
If we don't enjoy life, we're doing something wrong. It doesn't matter if Tukki is successful, we all earn a bunch of money, and our clients are extremely happy. If we are unhappy while achieving that success, the price is too high. There's nothing more precious than being happy and enjoying this gift called life. Having an environment where we have fun, grow, and enjoy what we do is non-negotiable for us.
Living your values
Defining your values is the easy part. The hard part is living them. How do we do that?
We tie everything back to our values and make this explicit to the team every chance we get. Why do we choose to do this initiative? Because of this value. Why didn't we do that other thing? Because of this other value.
Be warned, defining your values and not following them is much worse than not having defined them at all. Once you state them, you better live up to them.
Marketing Manager ? Rewriting the rhetoric.
7 个月Time is of the essence for founders... I'm glad YOU found the time though!