When you do business with a brand, it’s important that you like, know and trust them. Today I’m going to share with you what our core values are here at Nave so that you can decide whether we are the right fit for you.
Unless you’re brand new to my blog (welcome!), there’s a good chance that you’re somewhat familiar by now with our products and digital courses.
And I do strongly believe that when you’re choosing a business to work with, things like pricing, features and strategy matter.
But I also believe, just as strongly, that when you do business with someone, you really need to like, know and trust them.
This is how you build a successful, long-term mutual relationship. It’s not just about the cool traits that help you get ahead – it’s about how they think, and how they stand out from the crowd so you can decide whether they’re the right match for you.
Our 6 Core Values
Here at Nave, a big part of what makes us different is what we stand for. Our beliefs have done a lot to shape both our culture and our community.
And today, I’m going to do a deeper dive into our core values so you can get to know us even better.
A relationship with a brand is a two-way street.
Both the customer and the brand should feel good about each other so that there’s a meaningful connection that’s taking place.
At Nave, we’re always looking for that meaningful connection. We’re not just looking for any customers – we’re looking for the right customers who share our values.
Everything we do is shaped by our beliefs; they determine the decisions we make and the direction we take.
We’ve got six core values:
- 1. Customer-centric
- 2. Empathy
- 3. Progress
- 4. Teamwork
- 5. Productivity
- 6. Simplicity
Allow me to walk you through each one!
1. Customer-centric
“We create a positive experience for our customers at all times.”
Our first core value is being customer-centric.
And by that, I mean unprecedented customer support. We do this by opening as many communication channels as possible so that we’re able to answer each and every individual request.
Whether it’s through email, Slack or social media, we want to make sure we understand where our customers are at, and what are the challenges they’re struggling with.
And it doesn’t have to be the typical stuff, either (like billing or features). Let’s say you come to us asking, “what’s the most beneficial way to set up our board?” Or, “What’s the most efficient approach to managing our work in progress?”
Even if it’s not directly related to a product, we’re still going to do our best to help you find a solution. We’re happy to go that extra mile if it means you are able to achieve your goals.
And by the way, we develop and tweak all of our products and services based on your feedback. We listen and apply – it’s that simple!
Here’s another example of how we go the extra mile:
The initial version of Nave came out in 2019.
In the beginning, we only had four charts, with very limited functionality. Our pricing model naturally reflected that.
Since then, we’ve changed our pricing twice (we’ve grown quite a bit).
Recently, I was confronted with a question: aren’t we moving our existing customers to our new pricing plans?
The purely logical answer is “yes” because those early customers now enjoy the same benefits as more recent ones.
We decided, however, against doing this. All of our earliest customers instead preserve their initial plans.
Why did we do this?
It’s simple. We asked ourselves: “is this a customer-centric move?” Well, it isn’t.
We recognize that our early adopters trusted and believed in us from the very beginning when we were brand new. Without their support, we wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. And not only that – the price they paid reflected what they were willing and able to invest.
We are committed to following this policy with all our customers – even with the economically turbulent times we’re living in.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not just a transaction. It’s about building that long-term relationship in which everyone can feel taken care of.
2. Empathy
“We listen and put ourselves in each other’s shoes.”
Empathy is all about how you approach a situation.
Mistakes and miscommunications happen all the time – it’s part of being human! I’m sure there’s been plenty of times when you’ve asked a team member to deal with something, and they weren’t able to do it.
It’s easy to think, “Why couldn’t they figure it out?”
Instead of jumping to assumptions (which feels yucky, anyway), I’ve learned that a way more helpful approach is to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
In other words: don’t assume right away that they’re not qualified enough. Instead, try to understand why they did what they did.
I had a personal experience with this just the other week.
My team and I follow a four-day workweek, and we get Fridays off. We had a work item that needed to go live by Thursday, but I didn’t have time to sign off on it. I decided to go ahead and do it on my own Friday morning, first thing (what could go wrong?).
On Friday morning I jumped on the task and everything went smoothly at first…
When it came time for me to finally launch the item…I couldn’t. It was as though our Jenkins servers were down and I couldn’t tell what was going on.
Sonya from the Old Days might have thought: “Why isn’t it working? Why is the infrastructure down? How am I supposed to fix this when my team is not around?”
Instead, though, I took a deep breath and put myself in the heads of my team members. There probably was a logical reason for what was happening right now.
Sure enough, when I checked our continuous deployment setup, I realized the deployment servers shut down Thursday evening and go back online Monday morning. Of course, since no one works on Friday!
For me, this experience was a very good reminder that there is a reason for every single thing that’s happening.
I apply this same principle when it comes to all our customers and their needs. Because no one is “wrong” – instead, everyone is coming from a different place. Once you put yourselves in each other’s shoes, it becomes way easier to figure out what’s going on and what the solution needs to be.
Once you start practicing empathy, you’ll realize that a diversity of perspectives is actually a strength! Everyone is bringing their own point of view. And it’s only by listening to everyone that you’ll find the very best solution to every challenge.
3. Progress
“We’re committed to continuous improvement.”
Success doesn’t happen overnight.
Instead, we aim to be 1% better every single day. We look for small but meaningful opportunities to improve everywhere, all the time.
With every campaign and piece of content we launch, we set up different metrics that let us gather feedback from our customers. We take a hard look at both what’s working and also what’s not working so that we’re always getting closer to the mark.
If customers signal to us that there’s something they’re interested in, we really dig deep to see how we can make this work for them.
If a team member says, “I got delayed because I didn’t have enough information about X,” we’ll change the acceptance criteria for that step.
If a community member comes to us and says, “Hey, I’m confused about how to make this work,” then we’ll create a helpful video or link to our resources that solves the problem for them – and we make sure that it’s available for all the other users who have the same question!
We do all of this because we know that listening to feedback and making small adjustments every single day is what leads to massive improvement in the long term.
4. Teamwork
“We favor team success over individual success.”
For me, teamwork is not about how much time everyone spends working, or where they’re working from (or whether they’re wearing PJs or street clothes).
I don’t care how fast or slow any one person is, or whether they’re available 9-5.
Here at Nave, the only thing that matters is team performance as a whole.
What matters is that the team is able to preserve the predictability of our delivery workflow, manage the work efficiently, and help each other out. As long as they can do this, they’ve achieved their goals.
If the team fails, they fail together. If they succeed, they succeed together.
There’s no such thing as an individual when it comes to team results. It’s all about working together and engaging in acts of leadership at all levels to achieve our objectives.
Here’s what this looks like.
Let’s say a developer sees that the QA guys are really overwhelmed (after all, they’re always the bottleneck!)
Instead of staying put because “it’s not his job,” a teamwork-minded developer instead jumps right in. By helping the QA guys, all of them working together are able to deliver results faster.
Our team members know this is the kind of opportunity that allows them to really shine.
At the end of the day, they should never be competing with each other. They should only be helping each other.
And the only way to do this is by fostering an environment where the team, not the individuals, is what matters the most. At the end of the day delivering results is a collaborative effort, not an individual one.
5. Productivity
“We do the right things and we do them right.”
When it comes to being productive, it’s all about setting up a Kanban system that enables you to be fast, to be flexible, to be agile.
As a Kanban-oriented team ourselves, we don’t just talk the talk: we also walk the walk!
We have a prioritization framework in place that enables us to decide what to do now, what to leave for later, and what to discard altogether so that we’re always doing the right things at the right time.
We’ve optimized our delivery workflow to have the process policies and management practices to get us results quickly and efficiently.
By managing emergencies effectively, breaking the cycle of flow debt, and setting explicit process policies, our team at Nave managed to increase our productivity by 250% in less than two months!
It’s something our customers definitely love about us – and if it’s something you’d love to apply with your own teams, I highly encourage you to check out our signature program Sustainable Predictability.
We’ve documented every single step that we took to get there, so if you’re looking for a proven step by step roadmap to deliver on your commitments consistently, I’d be thrilled to welcome you to the program.
6. Simplicity
“We keep things simple.”
As founder and CEO of Nave, I can tell you that I’ve always been a fan of keeping things simple. It’s just the way my brain works.
If you’ve ever joined any of my masterclasses or been in my program, you know that I talk in a simple and direct way. Especially when it comes to complex concepts.
To us keeping things simple means sifting the essential from the inessential, it means eliminating multitasking and distraction and sticking to the point.
Our hope is to make things easier for you. We know that there is way too much noise all around you already and the best way to cut through that noise is to keep things simple. Always.
If everything I’m saying today resonates with you, now is a great time to connect Nave’s analytics suite to your current platform (it’s free for 14 days) →
With the analytics suite, you’ll have access to live Q&A sessions, ongoing support, and everything you need to help your teams nail their commitments and deliver value faster.
At this point, you’ve got a solid idea of who we are, what we do, what we believe in and what we stand for. It’s up to you now to decide if you want to make us a part of your journey. (And remember, you can always reach out to me with questions any time!)
That’s it for today, my friend. Thanks so much for tuning in with me, as always. If this article was helpful to you, please reach out and share it with a colleague. I look forward to seeing you next week, same time and place. Bye for now!
