Making it happen: It’s hard work to create values that matter

Whatever our work is, I believe we all want to have our work matter and to be a part of something bigger, while being recognized for our individual contribution and impact. One of the best ways to achieve that objective is to confidently understand and contribute to a shared vision and set of values.

Establishing values for an organization requires insight and alignment to a greater vision and is frankly challenging work; but I can’t say enough about how necessary it truly is. And when work like this lands right, it’s immensely powerful – employees will more intrinsically recognize those values, immediately understand them, and instinctively adopt and live by them. All in the name of driving growth and progress.

I’m proud to say that we recently announced our new organizational values at Mativ . We recognize that clear and distinct values help unlock our capabilities and unleash growth individually and as an enterprise. We know it is important that our values become a part of who we are as a team and organization. They become a part of our Mativ DNA and guide how we work, prioritize, and lead. It was important to me that we kept them simple, descriptive, actionable, and specific to us.

We operationalized these values to serve as:

• A guide for how we work together to achieve our ambition
• Our business beliefs, principles and how we make the decisions that define us
• The ideals, customs and norms of our Mativ community

At the end of the day, these are our own words and ideals, unique to Mativ within our industry yet understood across our audiences – which is especially important for us as a global company. Simply put, our values define us.

I’d love to walk through each of Mativ’s values to characterize what they mean for our organization, how they help us unlock our future ambition, and why they’re right for us.

I. Prioritize Safety

It starts with safety. Employee physical and mental well-being is imperative for our success. It is a simple but powerful statement that will drive how we make decisions, work together and embrace the differences in one another.

For Mativ: Safety always comes first. We place the health and well-being of people and communities before everything else. As a manufacturing company, we can’t underestimate the importance of physical safety and well-being. But being safe also means we are there for and support each other, as well as create an inclusive culture where everyone feels respected, included, valued and heard.

And that doesn’t stop internally – the safety and well-being of our local and global communities matter too. We take responsibility to ensure our workplaces, products and services are safe for employees, customers, communities and the environment.

II. Be Curious

Curiosity drives innovation.

I touched on this in response to a Forbes article last year , but it still holds true for me that results and strategic execution don’t happen without innovation. And innovation doesn’t happen without an inherent curiosity or desire to think about “what could be.”

For Mativ: We approach every day with an open mind to learn, improve and grow. Our success lies in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Innovative ideas come from everyone and everywhere, and that’s why we commit to trying something new every day.

III. Have a Voice

To nurture curiosity, we must create an environment of mutual respect, entrepreneurialism and collaboration. Last year’s merger couldn’t have happened without these things.

For Mativ: We speak up – and challenge one another respectfully – to find the best path forward.

Some of the ways we use our voices:

• Operate with an additive mindset and style of contribution
• Be mindful of others’ time and advocate for the best use of yours
• Make space for people to feel comfortable sharing their POV without judgment

IV. Win With Customers

Customers have an important voice, as they inspire how we work and what we make. They are why we’re here and why we do what we do. ?

For Mativ: We succeed when our customers succeed. We embody a service mindset with an unwavering commitment to do what’s right for the customers – because it is also right for us. We also recognize we have many internal and external customers, depending on the function we perform.?We are here to support their success.

We thrive by building relationships, living up to our commitments and always coming to the table with solutions. It is imperative that the spirit of our culture be seen and felt by our customers.

V. Make It Happen

In other words – action and accountability.?Speed with discipline.?We can and should move quickly, but that does not mean recklessly.

For Mativ: We do what’s right, even when no one is watching.

We own our work. We control our destiny in the face of uncertainty. We have a strong bias for action and when we stumble, we recognize it is part of the learning process, we pick each other up and we continue to move forward – together.

What We Do as Leaders and How to Bring Values Forward

These are our 5 values – simple but universal and uniquely us.

I’m proud of what we’ve established for ourselves, but I also recognize that values will and should be different in different organizations. The takeaway here for leaders is that values have to be specific to you and your organization. They should feel personal. It is important to do the hard work alongside your team to make them distinct. The payoff for your organization’s and your employees’ growth will be immense.