Chief Executive Story engages CEOs to understand their thoughts on company culture, innovation, personal stories, observations, and more. Chief Executive Story tells leaders’ stories, in their own words, to provide a channel for communication centred around CEOs as the chief storytellers.
JCurve Solutions CEO, Stephen Canning, talks to Chief Executive Story about his perspective on company culture and values. The below excerpt talks about values which JCurve Solutions put in place.
I’m all about growth: growth in customers, growth in staff numbers, growth in revenue, and even personal growth. I’m a lifelong learner, always trying to expand my knowledge and capabilities. Those are the things I’m passionate about and that’s what’s driven me during my three years as CEO of JCurve Solutions (ASX: JCS).
Our growth has been underpinned by a very sharp focus on our culture and values. I think it’s fair to say that three years ago, the company had been through a difficult period and we had a lot of work to do to turn it around. Our journey started with defining JCS’s culture and values. We worked with the team to get really clear on what our core values were. Not our aspirations and not generic terms like ‘honesty’; that’s just table stakes. Culture has to go beyond that. We needed to understand the behaviours that we wanted to see in all of our staff, our DNA if you like.
So, what did we come up with?
We agreed on three core values: “Act as one”, “Above the line”, and “Make it happen”.
“Act as one” is our version of teamwork, but to us it means much more than that. It means supporting each other, helping each other, celebrating success together, and speaking with one voice.
“Our journey started with defining JCS’s culture and values. We worked with the team to get really clear on what our core values were. Not (just) our aspirations… Culture has to go beyond that.”
“Above the line” means our people live above the line of choice, exhibiting behaviours like accountability, ownership, and responsibility. Below the line behaviours are blame, excuse, and denial. Our values have become part of our language. Around the office you’ll hear people say, “Well, that was below the line.” What they mean is take ownership, don’t make excuses, don’t blame other people, and don’t deny when there’s a problem. Instead, own it, take responsibility, and find a solution for the issue, whatever it is.
“Make it happen” is self-explanatory. It’s about being decisive and making the call, making tough decisions, doing what we say we’re going to do, being strategic, and executing with discipline – making it happen!
These are our three core values which we committed to making real, not just words on the wall. We want to ensure they’re lived values too. We’ve all given each other permission to call each other if we don’t live the values. It doesn’t matter who you are, what title you have, whether you’ve been here a week or 10 years. If you’re not living the values, you can expect someone to call you, and that person is expected to call you on it.
“These are our three core values which we committed to making real, not just words on the wall. We want to ensure they’re lived values too.”
JCurve Solutions is on the cusp of significant growth. We are looking to expand in terms of our product offerings and the geographies that we serve. We’ve come a long way in the last three years, and I think the next three years are going to see even more significant growth.
We’re constantly adapting and evolving. We’ve strengthened the executive team, sales, marketing, and our delivery capabilities. Now we’re starting to raise our profile. We’re set up for growth and it’s a very exciting time.
Read the full article at Chief Executive Story.
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