Trust, transparency, insightfulness
At the beginning of the year, we launched a values process for our work community, the purpose of which was to crystallise our guiding principles in the form of values. We had identified certain characteristics of Bliccianism - ways of doing work, of being part of a team and of thinking about work. In addition, through continuous positive feedback focused on strengths, we had identified certain core strengths that characterise our team members. We wanted to bring these traits and behaviours together to describe who we are at Blic and how we work. The values work helped to strengthen our company culture and in the future it will be easier for our new employees to become part of our culture.
In the values process, it was important to us that everyone's voice was heard equally. We kicked off the values process in February with a kick-off meeting to reflect on our strengths, behaviours and values with all our staff. Before the values process could move to the next stage, the teleworking period brought on by the crown began. Our internal values workshop was one of our first virtual workshops and served as a good practice for the future. At this stage, we had selected three core values from the many responses, which were repeated in many of the responses. We set out to reflect on how these values - trust, openness and vision - are reflected in our working community, our work with clients and our relationships with influencers. Once we had managed to crystallise in groups what each value meant from a different perspective, we had a number of further internal discussions to ensure that our values were descriptive, relevant and felt right for us. You can find out more about our values in the company section of our website.
We are pleased with the outcome. The values are comprehensive and give you a picture of who we are and how we work. They dictate our culture and guide our daily decisions, big and small. They act as a Code of Conduct - something each of us can draw on in our work when making decisions and working with clients, stakeholders or as part of a team. The values guide us internally, but are also reflected externally through our work.
Blic's values were put to the test early on when, even before the values process was completed, the interest rate virus epidemic shook up the business environment, forcing Blic employees, customers and decision-makers to work remotely and find new ways of working to replace the old. It was a pleasure to see how our strong company culture and flexible values have held up well in these extraordinary times, when we no longer meet face-to-face with each other, our customers or our decision-makers on a daily basis.It is clear that maintaining a good working culture is more challenging than ever and requires the whole team to make a successful contribution. But so far we have managed to work according to our values, and partly through our values we have also managed to find new ways of working in exceptional times. This will also be important in the "new normal" of the future, which will be characterised by flexibility and adaptability.
Heidi Fransila
The author is Head of HR at Blic, for whom values are an essential part of a well-functioning workplace.