A Q&A with Paul McNally and Stephanie Stephney

Our values are more than a static set of words. They guide how we act, how we operate, and how we apply innovative solutions to connect with others.

We sat down to chat with Stephanie Stephney and Paul McNally —two of our "Value Ambassadors" (a dynamic group of employees identified by leadership to take part in the process of helping us determine our company's core values) to get their unique perspective on what our values mean to them.

Why is it important that your workplace has defined values?

Paul: I think at the center of providing elite services you must have a core mission and values that are tied to things well beyond revenue and profit margin. That’s where Maximus’s values drive our performance. Ultimately, at Maximus, it is about helping the government serve civilians and doing so in a way that is efficient with superior quality. We can only arrive at those results by internally striving to instill our core values and then create a workforce that is aligned with those values. A company is only as good as its people.

Stephanie: Employees are more likely to make the right decisions to help the company achieve its vision and goals when employees know what a company stands for and provide a sense of belonging when values are aligned.?

Which value is most important to you and why?

Collaboration is the most important value to me because without teamwork we can’t accomplish our mission.?

Paul: Customer Focus – government policy and its associated programs and projects aim to improve the wellbeing of its civilians. By prioritizing our customer’s focus and becoming superior stewards of the work we do, we are able to better tap into our five other values. It is a bit of chicken in the egg as all of the values are important, but by starting a customer focus, we can better drill down to arriving at our other values as far as what it takes to achieve customer focus (collaboration, accountability, respect, etc). ??

Stephanie: Collaboration is the most important value to me because without teamwork we can’t accomplish our mission.?No one person can achieve our company goals – we have to do it together, we have to collaborate.

Can you share an example of a time someone you work with exemplified this Value?

Paul: I have too many – but something that resonated with me early on was from Evan Davis. He said, “even if it means the company loses money, there are situations where we will do what’s best for the customer.” He gave me and others 3-4 instances where he prepared letters/speeches explaining specific situations that required Maximus to perform an out-of-scope service for the customer without requesting additional funds. Those explanations were for Bruce Caswell and our then Max Fed GM Tom Romeo and how they immediately supported Evan because our organization is committed to doing what’s best for the customer, not what’s best for Maximus. We want to create longstanding relationships where customers know they can rely on us in the toughest of circumstances.

Stephanie: I recently had the opportunity to participate in an interview and hiring process for a department within Maximus that I do not belong to. Collaborating across our organization to bring the right kind of person into Maximus was a highlight of my employee experience.?

What did you learn from being part of the Values working group?

The different value perspectives and why all of the values have merit in creating a great organization.

?Stephanie: Maximus truly cares about the people in this organization and the work that we do for our clients; our values reflect that.? I am so proud that I was part of the team that brought these values to light.

Paul: The different value perspectives and why all of the values have merit in creating a great organization. In many respects, we can’t have a customer focus without hiring a workforce that aligns with values such as accountability and compassion.