values and principles at voena

a few days ago, we had a session about our values and principles at voena, with our coach jakob.

it was so fun, i am realizing that culture & team development is one of the parts i like the most about building a company.

we started by thinking about what made team experiences good or bad for us in the past, and what the underlying values were.

from there we arrived at these principles:

• we operate in integrity → we are honest to ourselves and our customers. we say the truth, even if it is not convenient. for example we won't promise outcomes that our product cannot deliver.

• we trust each other to speak honestly → giving candid feedback to each other, because we want each other to grow.

• we care → we make an effort to understand what is really going on for each other and hold space for that. often, below an attack or judgement is a fear, so we commit to uncover that.

• we build a product we are proud of → we want to truly make the life of the patients, the receptionists and the clinic owners better; sometimes a simple design change can make a product go from annoying to use, to satisfying.

i really think if a company is not coherent internally, it cannot create something great externally, so it's awesome to already build this foundation.