The Leapwise team identified a set of behaviours that reflect our values and organisational norms – and which we want to shape how we work, lead and support each other:
- We do meaningful work. We strive to do work that makes a positive difference for our partners and society. We do this in our core projects and programmes, not just our pro bono work – and it means we don’t do work for the sake of it, and genuinely seek to improve things.
- We learn and grow together. We believe in and aim to develop everyone’s potential – striving to be open to challenge, to embrace new challenges, experiment creatively and support our people and clients to develop.
- We give and take ownership. We take responsibility and initiative but also empower others to do the same, aiming to give people the ownership that helps them do their best work. We are all leaders in some areas and good followers in others.
- We practice what we advise. We practice the approaches to work and decision-making we advise for others.
- We champion decency and openness. Concepts like caring are tricky at work – as there will always be occasional tensions between what is right for the organisation and what best supports the individuals working in or with it. Decency is, however, a non-negotiable for our team and we aim to champion openness and inclusivity.
How we embed these behaviours
We are working to embed these behaviours into the organisation through our structures, processes, incentives and leadership. For example, our focus on learning is built into how we track our own effectiveness in project work, our internal meetings, and how we support learning and development across the organisation. Our focus on doing meaningful work influences the types of partner we work with and the level of challenge we bring internally and to our client partners.