If you know much about Mainstay, you’ll know that our core values – the essence of what we believe, the framework for our decisions – are non-negotiables for us. Hence why we are on blog post #5 about them! Forgive our excitement – as avid blog readers ourselves, we know how annoying it can be when a company’s blog is just all about them (yet here we are, on blog post #5 on our values…). The fact is, we believe these core values are important not just for our team to understand, but for our clients, our vendors, our community – all the stakeholders in our success as a company, and all that we impact.
In addition, we think every organization should carefully think through the core values embedded in their DNA, articulate them, talk about them all the time, and then… live by them. All too often company mission “stuff” gets posted on a wall and ignored. Here, we use them to guide our path, help us in difficult decisions, identify team members who truly “fit,” and articulate what it is that makes this place “Mainstay” and not some other IT firm.
So! On to core value #5 (you can find the rest of the values on our company blog). It is “Forward thinking, holistic approach.”
As a team, we make a lot of decisions every day. They range from fixing a printer issue, to designing a complex solution, to recommending an innovative technology to a client, to planning for our own innovation and growth. In today’s business climate, decisions have to be made FAST. Especially with technology! It can be tempting to take the quick road – the easy fix, the band-aid, the fast solution.
We seek to make all decisions with a focus on the future – what is the long-term impact? How does the compound affect of this add up? Will this happen again?
We seek to make all decisions with an understanding of context – what is impacted by this? What other stakeholders are involved? What other elements need to be considered?
It took us a while to articulate this core value in a way that resonated – forward thinking, holistic approach. To all decisions. To support desk tickets. To engineering solutions. To client conversations. To Mainstay strategic plans. To all clients. To all staff. To all decisions – always forward thinking, always holistic in approach.
It’s not that we live this 100%, but it is a core part of who we are, what we come back to, measure our results by, and determine as success. If we solve more challenges, design more solutions, and have more success with even more clients, yet we lose our forward thought, our holistic approach, then we have not done right by our clients, our team, our community, or ourselves.
Our core goal is to create value and bless all we impact – we can only do that and fulfill that truly if we stay true to core value #5 – forward thinking, holistic approach