The More Than Training Company and I had a joint kick-off for the autumn on Friday 18.8. and we reflected on the values that describe us. After much deliberation, the values we chose were
- Boldly vulnerable
- Me
- Towards Growth
In a previous blog, Jaakko already talked about the birth of the ”We” value and now it's my turn to talk about the last and, for many, perhaps the most boring one - Towards Growth.
I don't think I've ever worked in a company where the value wasn't, in one form or another, growth, profit or, quite frankly, euros. It may not always have been recorded so openly, but in the background it is there, underneath a small layer of polished paint. That is why my own attitude towards this value was initially very negative - it is not really a value worth touting everywhere.
But then something clicked in my own thinking. Aiming for Growth is not the same as Aiming for Profits or Aiming for Success or Aiming for Economic Independence. At More Than Training Company, Aiming for Growth is broken down into several, sometimes very different, entities.
- Towards Growth as a Team
Jaakko has already illustrated this nicely with a story where you are only at the finish line when the last one is at the finish line. This story warmed us up at our kick-off and we found that it also describes our own thinking so strongly that we made it a value in its own right, even though it is also linked to the Towards Growth value. So we are not just a collective of lone wolves, we are working together for collective growth. A good example of this is also the way we work in different collaborations - nobody knows everything here (or anywhere else), so we do all our bigger collaborations as a team and at the same time ensure that the lessons are passed on internally to new people.
- Towards Growth as an Individual
We are all entrepreneurs and it is everyone's responsibility to make sure that as individuals we also learn, succeed and contribute. This also requires living out the 1st value of ”Bravely Vulnerable” - genuine growth only happens when you understand your own weaknesses and strengths. Janne is a great example of this for us - he is a real long term leader and professional, but despite this, as an individual, he is interested in me because he feels it helps him to grow further. And that's great to see, even as a younger scientist.
- Towards Growth with Customers
We're not just our own lonely group of people who enjoy fiddling with new doctrines and theories, but we do this for and because of our clients. Our customers also pay us to work together on this journey towards growth - which in the big picture means growth for them in many different areas, not least significantly in the very last line of the income statement.
- Towards Growth as a Company
Well, okay, yes, we are thinking about our last line. Guilty as charged and so on. We have a strong will and vision for ourselves as More Than Training Company, also in the sense that we see opportunities to truly operate in the international arena in a way that means mutual benefits - for clients, for us as individuals and, of course, for the More Than Training Company as a whole. This also gives us direction as a company - what we need to do in terms of volume, who we need to do it for and what kind of things we need to do with them to get towards the growth we want.
The best thing about these and our other values is that, despite all this, they are genuinely true. I mean, really, we live by them in the company already, so this list of values is not a to-do list or a card full of wishes to send to Santa Claus, but a description of our everyday life and the way we work together on the same issue. So we live our values day by day, week by week, month by month, so that together we can be on the road to growth, from the young to the experienced.
