Core values: Our search for who we are

Our team is growing fast. Soon we will be with more than 40 team members! The bigger we get, the more important it becomes to know who we are and what we stand for. The more clearly we can express this the easier it is to act upon it and for the outside world to identify with it. It gives everyone tools to make choices. Very important because we are becoming more and more self-managing. That is why we have taken a critical look at our core values and have renewed them. We have not been renewed, but our core values have. They just moved towards us.

Below are our new core values. Four words that reflect what we stand for and what we consider important as individuals and as a company. A process has preceded it. I will explain that later in this blog.

THE NEW CORE VALUES

APPROACHERS

We are go-getters. We approach tasks pragmatically and we get to the end result. In doing so, we take initiative and responsibility. We tackle new things with energy and decisiveness.

RUNNERS

We work hard for our customers, end users and each other. This means that we think along, come up with solutions and help each other. We are open to questions and feedback. We ask for help and offer it.

Together we work hard for our end users, to ensure that their needs are met without friction. And therefore also those of our customers.

PS: we also literally run fast, with each other and for charity.

RIGHTDOORZEE

We didn't fall on our mouths. We are honest and direct with each other and with our customers. If something can be done better or smarter, we will communicate this immediately. We don't beat around the bush and are straight to the point. That way everyone knows where they stand.

OPEN

Our culture is open and transparent. We think it is important that everyone feels at home in our team. That everyone feels comfortable in their place. Comfortable enough to joke and speak his mind.

Our work pace is high (partly due to the first two values), but we find it just as important that we have fun together. Running together, playing ball, game nights or going to the pub. This ensures that we are there for each other and that we form a team.

In addition, Open provides the space to stop now and then and take a critical look at how and what we do. As specialists in our field, we want to continuously improve and optimize.

WHY NEW CORE VALUES?

We already had three values, namely: involved, result-oriented and expert. Excellent core values… for an insurer. No team member could list the values like that. So it didn't stick. Probably because they can't identify with it and because the values aren't unique enough.

We have drawn up our old core values based on the question: “Who do we want to be?” and “what matters most to customers?”. The first question does not provide core values, but aspirational values. These are values you want to develop. Now I don't want to say that we don't act according to these three values. But they could be sharper, more unique and more inspiring. Everyone, new to our team or for years, should be able to dream them. Not because we have to, but because we are proud of it.

HOW DID OUR NEW CORE VALUES COME ABOUT?

To define our new core values, we asked ourselves the following questions:

Who are we?
How do we work?
From what passion did we start Coffee IT 7 years ago?

Through a number of brainstorming sessions with different compositions, we created word webs to answer these questions. Each composition has done this without prior knowledge of the previous session. In this way we could clearly see which points the team thinks alike.

Then we also held a Coffee IO session about our employee branding and the recruitment process. A Coffee IO is a Friday afternoon session where we think about an organizational issue with the entire team. During this session, everyone indicated what they like about our vacancies and what they miss. We have taken this with us to put it next to the ideas from the brainstorms.

The last step was a knowledge sharing session with the whole team in which we presented the new core values with different cases. So that everyone knows and understands them. This is how we propagate them all consistently. New customers and team members will quickly feel welcome.

NOW IT'S SHOWTIME

Now we have to apply them. Every activity we undertake must be based on our core values.

Coffee IT is increasingly becoming a self-managing organization. We expect everyone to have an entrepreneurial attitude. The four new core values, Approachers, Running, Straightforward and Open are everyone's arguments for actions. Let's go!