Tahzoo was founded upon these core values. Our Core Values are a promise we make to each other. Each of us must keep the promise every day. Internalizing and demonstrating our four core values is a performance expectation as essential to any job as professional knowledge, skills and abilities.
If you CARE about your customers and you care about your employees, you’ll have a company worth caring about.
We hire for CHARACTER over capability.
We hire INTERESTING people who are interested in CHANGE.
We believe in the marketplace of IDEAS.
This Charter is a guide to understanding the spirit and intent of our core values, so they can serve as daily guidelines for our actions and as a filter for making decisions. The simple question is: does this action or decision demonstrate our core values? Rather that laying out a set of rules and regulations, we prefer our employees to embrace and internalize these four core values. We are convinced that everything that is important to be a successful, happy and confident professional will follow.
Let’s have a closer look at each of the core values to explore what they actually mean and what kinds of behavior they’re meant to inspire.
If you CARE about your customers and you care about your employees, you’ll have a company worth caring about.
Every other core value stems from this one. For Tahzoo to be a great company, we need to take great care of one another. Every great team, whether it is in sport or in business, has one common thread: a high degree of trust and commitment to one another. This is just as important across teams and levels as peer-to-peer. It must remain at the heart of every decision.
Some ways in which we can demonstrate CARE:
As colleagues:
Imagine what the other may be experiencing, their challenges and wishes; show you understand.
Be available to those who need you, especially to further a common goal but even if there’s ‘nothing in it for you’.
Listen well, and communicate in a way that is helpful and promotes understanding.
Respect! The feelings and perceptions of others are important. Before arguing, try to understand their perspective.
As leaders:
Get to know your employees, their needs and ambitions.
Help employees to be great and hold them accountable to be the best they can be.
Provide regular and meaningful performance feedback.
Constantly seek to understand how you can help your employees enjoy more success. Seek, welcome and incorporate their insights about this!
Toward clients:
Really listen, to hear their needs.
Maintain appropriate boundaries so that our clients’ best interests are served without your own taking the spotlight.
Toward your team and Tahzoo:
Be alert and responsive in every way you can.
Be in service to the greater needs of the team as much as your own.
These things (among others) are not appropriate:
Communicating in a manner that could reasonably be perceived as dismissive, condescending, arrogant, cold, judgmental or inappropriately aggressive.
Behavior that could reasonably be perceived as selfish.
Deliberately ignoring others.
We hire for CHARACTER over capability.
Character is the measure of how deeply we stand by our values, especially when it’s not easy to do so. Character is also the measure of our uniqueness; it defines us in relation to other people. Every other value is supported by this one.
Some ways in which we can demonstrate CHARACTER:
As colleagues:
Be worthy of trust.
Say what you believe, do what you say.
Share responsibility; do not blame others just to defend yourself.
Care more about communicating with courage than “keeping the peace” by not upsetting anyone.
Don’t take the ‘easy’ way unless it’s the best one.
Don’t try to be ‘right’ all the time. Consider and encourage other perspectives.
Strive to do things right the first time, but remind yourself and others that learning from mistakes is more important than blaming.
As leaders:
When you’re worried, be genuine while committing your presence to helping your team through a challenge.
Treat every person with respect, regardless of ‘station in life’ and whether they are in a position to help you or not.
Toward clients:
Do everything in your power never to under-deliver on commitments.
Take nothing personally – instead, take ownership to create solutions.
Credit the team, not just yourself!
Never assign blame; promote understanding and empathy by presenting a balanced and true explanation when necessary, staying neutral with regard to judgment and conveying passion about fixing what’s wrong.
Toward your team and Tahzoo:
Bring the best of who you are and what you know forward; always contribute your best.
Step forward when you see something go wrong.
Tell the truth even when you think it could hurt you.
Take responsibility, especially if something goes wrong; ‘be there’, and try to help.
Learn from mistakes. It’s ok if mistakes are made; be sure to fix them and discuss afterwards how to prevent them from happening in the future, without blaming.
These things (among others) are not appropriate:
Misrepresenting the truth or regularly causing confusion (deliberately or not).
Hiding mistakes.
Confusing arrogance, bluntness or self-righteousness with character.
We hire INTERESTING people who are interested in CHANGE.
Our business is constantly evolving. Embracing change can be scary but it is the surest way to grow! Do work you feel passionate about and, we believe, you’ll also be more embracing of change. Building upon the previous two core values, it takes character to be resilient in the midst of change, so that our best characteristics remain constant throughout!
The interesting challenge we are working on is how do we create a company that encourages people with different backgrounds, disciplines and perspectives to work together collaboratively on behalf of a customer? See it’s so much easier to hire a bunch of likeminded people and ask them to work together, however; the best companies, leading 21st century companies are the ones that bring many perspectives together… the best results and decisions are made by teams that work all sides of an issue. What is the idea that you’re working on? How are you seeing your time at Tahzoo as an opportunity to explore and deliver a big idea?
Some ways in which INTERESTING individuals welcome change:
As colleagues:
Adopt a learning mindset; always look to incorporate new knowledge into your approach.
Go the ‘extra mile’ to deliver the very best.
Read and share books and podcasts to keep you informed and current in your areas of interest – career-related or not!
Pursue hobbies that energize you and ignite your enthusiasm.
Don’t let fear of making mistakes, or not looking like an expert, stop you from trying new things!
As leaders:
Be an energizer – share enthusiasm.
Bring out the best in others by seeing it and holding them to it.
Help others see possibilities rather than problems.
Toward clients:
Convey interest in their business, and excitement about the outcomes you’re helping to create.
‘Go the extra mile’ to be available to your clients, and to deliver quality work.
Toward your team and Tahzoo:
Have fun! Don’t reserve that for when the workday is over.
Refrain from negative gossip. Change can spark fear and insecurity; be a force for optimism and a spokesperson for opportunity.
The best way to be interesting is to demonstrate interest. Ask questions with the goal of understanding other perspectives and learning new things.
These things (among others) are not appropriate:
Negative gossip or excessive venting.
Withholding effort for any reason.
Resisting change because you (usually wrongly) feel it conflicts with your own interest.
We believe in the marketplace of IDEAS.
Curiosity is our foremost feature as a company. Ideas should be generated and shared constantly. Leaders should be inspiring, and we should all be leaders in this way!
We need to be a curious organization where ideas can flow around freely. It is our belief that if we can build and maintain strong, inspiring working relationships, then we can ask teams from around the globe or with many different disciplines and backgrounds to work together to create new ideas. In this way we can always be addressing the leading edge of the marketplace and holding our position as a premium brand company. If we maintain and grow this ethos across Tahzoo, we’ll be a great company to work for and we’ll have ample opportunity to do meaningful work.
Tahzoo should be a platform for all of us to learn and change. We have the opportunity to solve really interesting problems, explore different aspects of our thinking and ideas, all while helping our clients be successful.
Some ways in which we can stimulate the marketplace of IDEAS:
As colleagues:
Watch, read, listen to sources that are relevant to you. Learn from them.
Share what you learn! Use Yammer, and every other opportunity, to stimulate discussions and promote a learning mindset. Our Tahzoo Worldwide Innovation Day is a great example of this.
Play a strong role in developing our collective competencies, by actively participating in the Centers of Excellence.
As leaders:
Take time to really listen to, and consider, ideas!
Lead your meetings in such a way as to encourage reflection, and a sharing of perspectives & ideas.
Build a diverse team and keep the diversity alive by fostering appreciation for each other’s differences.
Encourage employees to use any free time (‘bench time’) to develop ideas.
Toward clients:
Clients should feel they are participating in a creative process led by brave and insightful thinkers.
Toward your team and Tahzoo:
Ask questions that lead to insights, and better ways of doing things!
These things (among others) are not appropriate
Behaving as though you already ‘know it all’ (through your words or demeanor).
Refusing to sincerely give new ways and ideas a try.
Withholding contributions for any reason.