Respect

At Method, we visualize RESPECT as

We establish RESPECT by

• Taking time to listen, ask questions and understand someone’s point of view.
• Being open to, encouraging and valuing new ideas, opinions and processes. Making it safe to speak up.
• Allowing people to speak freely and be fully heard.
• Providing regular, open communication, especially from management.
• Being prompt and responsive to deadlines, requests and work products.
• Showing gratitude, appreciation and recognition of others.
• Going directly to the individual to discuss a concern instead of escalating.
• Publicly praising and privately correcting.
• Admitting mistakes and treating them as learning opportunities rather than outright failures.
• Assuming positive intent from others when we receive comments, feedback, questions or actions we do not fully understand.
• Asking for input from others when making decisions, creating processes or making a change.
• Seeking to understand other people’s needs.
• Offering to help others, even when not requested.
• Being mindful of body language and tone of voice. Eye contact conveys attentiveness, and speaking calmly conveys openness.
• Using manners and courtesy in simple ways – greeting others, saying "please" and "thank you" "good morning" when you start the day, "have a good evening" when you end the day.

We see DISRESPECT as:

• Ignoring and unresponsive to calls, emails and other communications.
• Interrupting another person and talking over them.
• Being dishonest.
• Rude, dismissive or condescending tone of voice and body language.
• Gossiping in any form.
• Blaming others.
• Dismissing other’s opinions and ideas.
• Micro-management.
• Lack of concern for another person’s time or boundaries.
• Impatience and short-tempered reactions. Lack of emotional control.
• Excessive or unnecessary escalation of issues.
• Ignoring rules and processes that have been established.
• Making assumptions about others instead of seeking to understand first.
• Presuming ill intent from others when we receive critical or opposing comments, feedback, questions or actions.
• Lack of ownership of mistakes; lack of apologizing.

Trust

At Method, our idea of TRUST looks like:

We build TRUST by:

• Following through and doing what we say we will do. Integrity.
• Keeping commitments and promises.
• Transparent, regular, open communication across the company and with customers.
• Being responsive to requests, deadlines and the needs of others.
• Listening to and understanding other’s opinions and needs.
• Offering help, even without being asked.
• Consistency in behavior over time; being reliable.
• Being knowledgeable and competent in our work.
• Meeting deadlines and being accurate in our work.
• Showing empathy, vulnerability, compassion and understanding.
• Honesty.
• Humility; acknowledging areas where we ourselves struggle and ask for help.
• Acknowledging our own mistakes and taking them as opportunities for improvement.
• Making time for another person’s questions, comments or ideas.
• Maintaining confidentiality and privacy.
• Creating a safe environment when others express opinions, suggestions or concerns.
• Being aware of and having concern for people’s lives outside of work.
• Giving and receiving feedback aimed towards improvement.

We LOSE TRUST because of:

• Being inconsistent between what we say and what we do.
• Acting against company values.
• Unresponsiveness, delays, lack of follow-through and not meeting deadlines.
• Not owning up to mistakes.
• Gossip.
• Blaming, disparaging others or acting on assumptions.
• Dismissing other’s ideas, opinions, questions or feedback.
• Inaccuracies; providing incorrect information.
• Failing to communicate regularly and openly.
• Deflecting responsibilities and passing the buck.
• Negativity and presuming negative intent from others.
• Breaches of confidentiality and privacy.
• Not offering help; not supporting the needs of the team.
• Conflict avoidance and failing to deal with known problems.
• Lack of clarity regarding expectations or responsibilities.
• Favoritism.

Caring

At Method, we believe CARING is:

We demonstrate CARING by:

• Making time to listen, with the intent to fully understand.
• Being genuinely concerned for others’ well-being inside and outside of work.
• Asking questions and being curious about others’ opinions and situation.
• Offering help and rolling up your sleeves, particularly when another person is struggling.
• Acknowledging and appreciating the value and contributions of others, especially in public.
• Taking everyone ideas into consideration.
• Getting to know people on a personal level, remembering the little things, and supporting each other in and out of the office.
• Being kind.
• Patience.
• Walking in an office in the morning just say "good morning"; do the same thing for remote workers.
• Paying compliments.
• Encouragement, positivity, and expressing confidence in others.
• Investing in training, mentoring and professional development.
• Making social time for the team, having fun and celebrating.

An UNCARING environment feels like:

• Being unresponsive to calls, requests, follow up or bids for help.
• Lack of communication, transparency or feedback.
• Making interactions all about business; impersonal.
• Brushing off concerns; being dismissive to others.
• Rudeness.
• Apathy, lack of urgency, doing the bare minimum.
• Lack of empathy for others.
• Negativity.
• Sarcasm.
• Blaming other people.
• Gossiping.
• Lack of appreciation or recognition for contributions.
• Having a chaotic or disorganized environment, planning or processes.

Excellence

At Method, EXCELLENCE means:

We pursue EXCELLENCE by:

• Striving to be better every day, continuously improving and putting forth our best effort.
• Accuracy in all that we do.
• Learning from mistakes and sharing those learnings openly.
• Not being satisfied with the status quo; going above and beyond the basics; exceeding expectations.
• Working together, as teams and colleagues that understand we are all interdependent. Relationships across teams.
• Creating efficiencies throughout the company.
• Creating proactive solutions.
• Maintaining consistency where consistency is needed.
• Challenging ourselves and others to grow and improve.
• Holding ourselves and others accountable.
• Training, cross-training and professional development to broaden our capabilities and flexibility.
• Leaning in to help, even when not asked.
• Bringing expertise to our roles.
• Communication that is open, honest and transparent.
• Collaborating with others, valuing differences and taking advantage of others’ experience and expertise.
• Openly sharing feedback, knowledge and information.

Things that UNDERMINE EXCELLENCE are:

• Delays
• Re-work
• Not speaking up
• Doing things because they have always been done that way; complacency; outdated traditions and "the old ways"
• Inaccuracies
• Inefficiencies
• Breaches of confidentiality
• Not fulfilling agreements
• Lack of follow up
• Noncompliance
• Disorganized processes, teamwork or communication
• When others take credit for your work
• Lack of feedback to improve
• Lacking tools or information to be successful
• Negativity
• Attrition of customers or employees
• Lack of collaboration with others; lack of interdependence
• When we do not coordinate our efforts or are misaligned on goals

OurCulture

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Overview

Understanding How Culture is Shaped by Values

Culture makes an enormous impact on our company’s performance, whether it is measured by employee turnover, client retention, profitability, growth, outcomes, efficiencies or reputation.

Culture is a force to be reckoned with — it is resilient, and difficult to change without consistent intentional effort. While not easy, culture can be purposefully "engineered" to a desired result. Four factors contribute to a healthy culture:

Shared Vision

Culture change must begin by everyone sharing the same picture of what the desired culture looks like. It’s hard to work towards something if the goal is unclear. A desired culture is shaped by the core values of the organization. It is made real through dedicated, intentional conversations amongst employees about what those values mean and how they play out in daily life. What beliefs and behaviors tell us we are living our values? What attitudes and actions tell us we are acting against our values? Once we can confidently answer those questions, we have our foundation to start shaping the culture we desire.

Signals

The momentum for culture change is largely a leader-driven phenomenon. In the absence of top leaders engaging in continuous "signals" to employees, culture is unlikely to change. Signals are observable behaviors by leaders that demonstrate how to act and what is important. They reflect a leader’s beliefs and have a profound effect on those around them.

Examples

• Actions that reflect (or go against) company values
• Who leaders choose to spend time with
• What leaders recognize with positive feedback
• What/who leaders reward
• What leaders mention as opportunities for improvement
• How leaders spend their own time
• Deciding who is a hero and who is worthy of telling stories about
• Making clear what leaders DON’T accept or tolerate

Anchors

Anchors are the means by which signals are embedded into the workplace, through systems, processes and practices. Think of anchoring as hardwiring the desired culture into the organization by making anchors "the way we do things around here."

Examples

• Who and how we recruit
• How we conduct orientation
• What and how we perform training
• Performance feedback and reviews
• Compensation, rewards & recognition
• Structure of meetings
• Protocols
• Town hall agendas
• Reporting and data
• Budgeting process and resource allocation
• Socialization
• Diversity and inclusion
• Promotions

Deputies

A loose definition of culture is "what happens when nobody is looking or when the boss isn’t around." Culture is the sum total of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of all employees. As such, all employees are partners in supporting a desired culture. The responsibility for nurturing, reinforcing and protecting the desired culture belongs to everyone.

Empowering or "deputizing" employees to be agents of the culture establishes informal leadership expectations. An empowering conversation from a leader to the team might sound like this: