People Working With People.

 

One of our core values here at Proof is we focus on people. We’re not a company working with other companies; we’re people working with other people. When you’re starting, reinventing, or even just working at a people-oriented company, you know this takes conscious effort and practice.

BE KIND

One of our 2017 intentions is to be kind to one another. We strive to be kind in everything we do. This might seem like a no-brainer, but in a fast-paced, creative work environment, sometimes it gets lost.

In any situation, even outside the office, it’s easy to let your mouth run as fast as your mind. But as we continue to grow together as a team, we’re making a conscious effort to be moderate in our feedback. Part of that is to ask more questions and come to conclusions about a project together.

TRUST EACH OTHER

When people are involved, there will be differing opinions. That’s the great thing about teams — many minds spur creativity and push projects to the next level. But it’s important to have autonomy and to have autonomy, you need trust.

The first step to team trust is having a shared “big picture.” Even if each person on the team brings different skills to the table, a shared goal allows autonomy. This can be as simple as team planning: going over the team plan together, and then making individual plans. Or it could be a full-fledged project. The team must first understand the vision, mission, and purpose of a client’s company before it makes sense to give autonomy to individuals. A shared big picture is always the first step to trust.

SHOW THE SH**

If you have those first two steps down, you’re ready to enjoy the best part of being at a people-oriented company: collaboration. Here at Proof, we call this “showing the sh**.” If you forget to be kind, trust, and ask questions, getting feedback can be the worst. But if you do trust your team, everyone asks you why, and you together walk back to the big picture, your work can be launched to the next level.

Being a company that is just people working with people, we all run into hiccups. But a little kindness goes a long way, and I bet we’d all say we’re better off.