Each culture has its traditions. There are constitutions in every nation. The same holds true for businesses. After years of expansion, and continuous improvement, we wanted to take some time to reflect on how we can create a long-lasting business where everyone can contribute to the mission of ICS. As a result, we now have a fresh set of guiding principles that are both true to our past and essential to how we will proceed with future construction.
At ICS, we live by these principles every day when we're making difficult choices, setting higher standards for craftsmanship and quality, or interviewing potential teammates because we see them as a public agreement between our team and the community.
1. Our Mission Is Ours to Own
Our goal is to provide digital transformation for businesses. We aim to create a team that is motivated by this objective-people who believe in the Greek ideal of "fitness for purpose," seeking fulfillment through perseverance and ongoing education. In light of the foregoing, we:
- Place the Mission First: We are a Digital Transformation company. We closely monitor the issues businesses want to address through the use of better products and services, and we take their lead. We shouldn't be here if we fail to do a good job of that.
- Nurture the Patch: There are always a lot of things to fix and enhance in a growing business. We are all gardeners if ICS is a garden.
- Do Global Optimization: Teams are not territories. When we face tradeoffs, we choose what's best for Territories are not teams. When making decisions that involve trade-offs, we prioritize the mission of ICS as a whole over the interests of any particular team or individual.
2. We Set the Standard
Even though we want to play in the major leagues, we know that we are rookies in many ways. Our greatest strengths as a start-up are our energy, flexibility, and quick thinking. We want to lead the market by consistently delivering high-quality products. Due to this, we:
- Be Action-Oriented, particularly when the Choice Is Reversible: Often many decisions can be reviewed later and refined. By focusing on speed, we can quickly learn about the market and our users and develop more effective solutions. We consider perfection to be the enemy of finished.
- Develop a Sense of Urgency: We can only control how quickly we act in a world where outcomes are unpredictable. We constantly ask ourselves as a business: How can we move more quickly?
- Motivate Our Team: When everyone sets the pace, the collective energy alters the pace of work and fosters forward motion.
3. We Seek the Truth
The best suggestions ought to always prevail. But as we grow, many things, including organizational complexity, rigidity, and briefness, can hinder that. Our guiding principles are rigor, focus, and open-mindedness. For us, seeking truth means:
- Place Our Clients at the Center of Everything: To find the truth, we must always begin with our users. We are always asking ourselves: "Does this really benefit businesses? Do our consumers actually want this, or do they just say they do?"
- Think Logically and from the Ground Up: The calibre of our choices indicates how much research we've done. We will reach stronger decisions by considering a wide range of options from the ground up. We do not undervalue the influence of a strong merit-demerit list.
- Be Courageous Enough to Make Difficult Decisions: Focusing on a small number of initiatives produces the majority of results. We have a practical approach to resource allocation and are comfortable with saying no.
- Debate for Advancement Rather than Win: Anywhere can be a source of good ideas. We let go of our egos at the door and maintain an open mind to everyone's viewpoints so that we can jointly discover the truth.
4. We're Patient and Honest
Kindness doesn't keep criticism to oneself. It assists our co-workers in honing their craft. Direct criticism prevents people from exploring ideas, establishing trust, earning respect, and accelerating learning. On the other hand, we maintain a certain rare human element in everything we do to develop a community where individuals feel secure and encouraged to share their ideas. To achieve this balance at ICS, we must keep the following in mind:
- Being Nice and Being Kind are two Different things: It is not helpful to offer superficial praise or dilute opinions. Being kind entails accepting responsibility for how we affect those around us and being aware of the potential negative effects of our interplay and presence on other people and their development.
- Assume Others' Good Intentions: Words can be easily misinterpreted in a world of hasty messages and comments. Working with people who automatically assume good intentions is something we adore. To make it simpler for the receiver to understand why we are providing it and how it can help, we also try to provide constructive feedback in-person or via video calls.
- Be Direct and Offer Insightful Criticism: Each person has a unique background, which influences how we provide and receive feedback. Therefore, it is up to us to be sensitive in how we communicate, pay attention with self-awareness, constantly pursue feedback for ourselves, and be prompt and forthright about little things before they turn into big things.
We want these values to serve as the cornerstone for now and the future. Our goal is to build and operate a company that will enable team members to confidently state that ICS is where they performed their best and most important work when reflecting on their careers decades from now.