Being Axelerant
- Ankur Gupta
- Michael Cannon (Unlicensed)
- Yashashree Bedekar (Unlicensed)
Greatness is a decision. It must be chosen. And making that choice is a defining moment.
Being Axelerant is about why we’re at Axelerant, what we’re going to accomplish together, and providing boundaries and expectations of how we’ll do so to define Axelerant’s Best Interest.
The purpose, mission, values, and principles shared within Being Axelerant are always at the top of our minds to make decisions and act in representing Axelerant. These aspects are our minimally acceptable standards that every Axelerant team member demonstrates or does not work against in being accountable, capable, and coachable people who work well with others.
Because Being Axelerant is the sole authority over our everyday actions or mindsets, there is no separate code of conduct, mutual work agreement, or other guidelines to prevent ambiguity or confusion. And it’s okay when the time comes that we disagree or move on. We’re grateful for the shared journey in making Axelerant better for our peers, clients, families, and communities.
Table of Contents
Our Purpose
The top reason why we’re here.
We empower people in ways that matter to them to create substantial value for our customers and positively impact the world.
Our Mission
The topmost outcomes we’re working together towards.
We accelerate digital outcomes and scale with our customers as their partners of record.
Learn more about being a partner of record.
Our Mission Slogan
Digital Outcomes, Accelerated.
Our Values
Values define a person’s principles or standards of behavior that shape our mindsets and determine our actions. We share our intent and context for Axelerant’s values to help us better understand our unwavering expectations for every team member, regardless of their role.
Enthusiasm
When we value enthusiasm, we avoid lethargy, status quo, wilful inaction, sabotaging another’s action, and similar behaviors demonstrating apathy or dullness. Further, enthusiasm means we value learning over being comfortable, action over detailed planning, quick decision-making over dwelling on details, and failing fast over getting everything right.
Examples of Enthusiastic Behaviors
Actively find new things to know and share those with peers.
Brainstorming ideas and leaning towards action in a team or a peer group.
Consider our actions in the context of ourselves, our team, and Axelerant’s business.
Often recognize the efforts of team members as it influences our culture with positivity and motivation.
Participating in team or group activities.
Speaking up proactively regarding tasks at hand.
Thinking widely of the business aspects of a task and not just the technical aspects.
Trying new things in the spirit of learning.
Kindness
When we value kindness, we dwell on inclusivity, accessibility, and doing what’s right. It implies that ego and envy have no place in our interactions. Kindness is about having someone’s best interest at heart, whereas being nice is about being liked. Further, kindness means we value our people through assistance with operational guidelines and defined performance standards. We prioritize psychological safety and frequent feedback over worrying about not being liked.
Examples of Kind Behaviors
Act as owners of what you do for your role and beyond.
Introspecting and understanding the human aspects of a situation.
Mentoring people–improving capabilities.
Respectfully receiving feedback.
Sponsoring people–as is investing in high-performing team members, those who own their work, or show leadership capabilities.
Openness
When we say we value openness, we always think about the visibility of our work and its impact on others. It means that we lean towards making all information available and accessible to the relevant people appropriately. Openness also means questioning when something should be private due to sensitivity or personal nature and whether it should be internally public.
On the flip side, openness also means being open to all feedback and ideas and considering them critically to make Axelerant a better place. Further, openness means we value overcommunication over not disturbing people, clarity over playing it safe, honest feedback over causing worry, and public channels over private conversations.
Examples of Open Behaviors
Being Accountable for doing what you say you will do and communicating openly about why you could not keep that promise.
Documenting the context of a decision and the reasons behind it.
Making documents reasonably accessible to relevant audiences.
Posting timely status updates.
Providing honest and complete feedback.
Providing the context required to do a task well.
Responsibly planned and booked leaves in advance.
Sharing ways to make Axelerant better.
Axelerant’s Domain Principles
We work together in many ways, and each manner has its expectations of desired behavior shared below.
Decision Making
We intend for timely, good-enough decisions at Axelerant.
Act in Axelerant’s best interest per Being Axelerant | Our Values and Principles intent and context.
Always use good judgment to create contextually relevant outcomes versus blind policies.
Avoid decisions Made in fear - Agency Management Tip for Owners.
Lean towards equitable, just decisions.
Pick a good enough decision now over a future-perfect one.
Treat Axelerant, its people, and its resources preciously.
We are not a democratic or consensus-driven company; the person closest to a must-decide situation owns it by listening to good-enough feedback and then making a choice.
We respect disagreements and differences, yet we commit to the given decision.
When relevant, use the #disc- Conversation Creator to collect feedback.
Enjoyable Customer (External & Internal) Experiences
We look to consistently provide great experiences that matter to our clients and peers.
Be desired-outcome focused
Be easy to work with
Deliver quality and service reliably
Ensure long-term relationships
Keep our promises
Mutually improve profitability
Practice fair negotiation and agreements
Feedback
We ask for, give, and receive feedback.
Feedback is an act of kindness.
Constructively debate and disagree.
Focus on improvement.
Influence is a value-add, not a title.
Make suggestions for improvements.
Seek and give lots of feedback.
We value truth-seeking over cohesion.
More at Feedback, Asking for, Feedback, Giving, and Feedback, Receiving.
Freelancing
We’re open to your other work that does not conflict with Axelerant’s best interests.
Axelerant work should always be the priority, without exception.
We hope that your freelancing brings value to yourself and Axelerant.
When in doubt, ask People Operations to verify conflicts of interest.
When Axelerant fits your project, please let us help and earn a commission.
Getting Things Done
Focus on getting the most relevant tasks done first.
Coordination will occur through collaboration, not centralization
Organizational boundaries will be porous
Strategy-making will be a dynamic, company-wide conversation
Strive to make the organization simpler.
Structure emerges where it creates value and disappears everywhere else.
We will achieve control through transparency and peer feedback
We work asynchronously by writing relevant things down as they happen.
Meetings
Get together respectfully.
Align meetings by purpose and share notes before the meeting.
Be on time to demonstrate respect for the people attending.
Casually enjoy the first minutes before getting focused.
Default to asynchronous conversations to avoid timezone and work timing conflicts.
Don’t wait for others to show or repeat things for latecomers.
Leave the meeting when it’s no longer relevant to you.
Only invite relevant people to meetings.
Video is on by default, communicate your reasons when not possible.
When ending a meeting, summarize the salient points and calls to action.
Work towards unblocking decisions or systems asynchronously.
Welcoming–Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Belonging
Be a globally aware team.
Respect, appreciate, understand, and support every aspect of diversity.
Welcome people with differences regardless of age, ethnicity, experiences, family relations, gender, ideology, nationality, neurodiversity, perspectives, physical abilities, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or social status.
More at Welcoming–Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
Unacceptable Behavior
Axelerant team members act per Being Axelerant | Our Values and Principles, and when not, Exceptional Situations are the consequence. Axelerant has zero tolerance for breaches of our values, professional ethics, Safe Space violations, and these non-inclusive behavior examples.
Discrimination: demeaning, intimidating, racist, sexist, or threatening behaviors
Disrespect: discourteous or disrespectful treatment, using abusive or offensive language
Harassment: bullying, sexual, or any other form of harassment
Incompetence: failure to meet job performance standards, severe misuse of judgment
Insobriety: reporting for work under the influence of alcohol, drugs
Insubordination: refusal to follow work instructions, role-related activities
Negligence: failing to report to work at assigned times, misusing company time, and delaying projects
Report violations as soon as feasible.
Anti-Enthusiastic Behaviors
Resistance to active learning or coaching.
Resisting other-than-your-own techniques to solve problems.
Anti-Kind Behaviors
Withholding feedback from the team or Axelerant.
Working as a team of one.
Anti-Open Behaviors
Exclusively using private channels.
Not paying attention to documentation or not prioritizing it.
Withholding relevant feedback from peers and Axelerant.
References
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