Our values: We have Empathy

As we near the end of this series outlining and exploring our newly unveiled values, our latest to explore is another that is central to how we believe things should, and will, be done: We have Empathy.

Each one of us adds unique value to the sum of our parts. By placing value on the backgrounds, life & learning experiences, skills and goals of each team member, and each client and customer we serve, we become truly people-centric. We see the person behind the work and we understand and adapt accordingly.   

Having empathy means that:

• We put ourselves in each other’s shoes.
• We always strive to see the person behind the work, and recognise our differences as well as our similarities.
• We treat each other and ourselves with respect, always.
• We give all feedback with kindness and with the intention to build not destroy.
• We aim to understand the ‘why’ of our clients needs, by both actively listening to them and observing what they do.

It does not mean that:

• We lack urgency.
• We let emotion cloud our judgement.
• We lose sight of our priorities.
• We fail to execute against our plans.‍

Mylène Philippo, B2B Marketing Manager:

“For me, empathy is about trying to find out who the person is behind their email signature or profile picture on Slack!

It’s about reaching out to others, or giving feedback with kindness to try to help people move forward, and to help us all to be a better team.

Personally, a good example for me was a really nice conversation I had with a colleague where I found out that they had a kid of a similar age, and discovering a shared understanding that at 8.30am we’re in school rush hour, so having a meeting planned at that time means we end up eating breakfast at lunch time!

Understanding these sorts of things – knowing that maybe someone in America needs that coffee first thing before they can join the UK stress, or knowing someone in Australia has a baby and you simply can’t call them around bedtime – is really part of knowing one another, and having empathy.”