I believe that nonprofits exist to make our world a better place. I am motivated by the good in people and their desire to help others less fortunate. Being confident in my abilities while being open to new ideas is the surest way to continuous improvement. I choose communication over assumption, listening before giving advice, and lending a hand to any organization in need. I know that we are limited only by our imaginations, and it is with that spirit I choose to meet each and every day.

Cheers
James

p.s. I’m also insanely jealous of your domain name!

A my-way-or-the-highway stance that presumes the employee will love you more for requiring an Offer Letter Creed be signed & kept on file for each employee is simply too official.

Human relationships, trust, and loyalty reduced to this state breed resentment.

It might sell like security…an insurance policy against a rotten egg employee, but it can backfire or gradually breed resentment/passive-aggressiveness just as easily as “Honey, I’d love to marry you…just sign this pre-nupt first.”

Imagine it… “she will Always esteem me highly & Never dare to have a negative thought toward me or my company?” That should go over like a lead ballon.
Workers can fundamentally disagree with this tactic/creed, easily take the job anyway..and derail out of spite… like a wife forced to sign a pre-nupt.

Thank you for posting such a thought-provoking essay, my position remains Good intentions do not guarrantee good results.

This essay by Matt Mullenweng(Founder of WordPress) will give you clear idea….https://ma.tt/2011/09/automattic-creed/…

The signature isn’t forced — if someone doesn’t like the creed they shouldn’t take the job! It’ll just cause more problems down the line if they fundamentally disagree with the things the company believes in. Pretty much everyone we offer a job at Automattic is at the top of their field and has their choice of dozens of companies — I want them to choose the one that they’re going to be happiest and most fulfilled at, even if it’s not Automattic.

While we’re all familiar with Mission Statements, employee manuals, and cheesy team-building meetings; Offer Letter Creeds with a forced signature take it too far…

(this turned into a blog post..the rest is on copystratic.com/blog )

Hi Matt,

I read your thoughts on interpersonal communication (IPC) with interest. I am a social change specialist in the international development sector and what I see in today’s world is a knee jerk, almost immediate reaction to go to text – whether it’s email or SMS – to communicate. In every face-to-face interaction I have in my work, I always initiate the following question: “What is the most important decision you’ve made in your life to date? How did you make that decision, what was the process you went through?” These questions always allow me/us to discuss how we make our own personal decisions – most often it’s through IPC – interpersonal communication in a direct face-to-face environment. Why do we think any other decisions are less important that we relegate nearly everything to email and text today? It’s not how we’re wired to “communicate” in a meaningful manner. Text and email are terrific to keep up a dialogue but in my opinion, nothing can replace good old fashioned human-to-human communication, whether it’s in person or over a phone line.

Just my two cents…

Regards,

Shari Cohen

Your post is along the lines of what I was thinking. “Hours” most likely means that the employee sent home was approaching the line that separates part-time(read: no benefits) from full-time.
So it’s refreshing to read about this well thought out approach, to identify and develop a real. positive, and well-defined culture or Creed.
I had a business a while back which involved behavioral assessments attempting to achieve a similar goal. Couldn’t give them away. Spectacular fail.
Hopefully Automattic won’t involve into the typical corporate format that includes CEO’s who tie their compensation(which is all they really care about)to the company’s performance on Wall Street, and the unwritten law that the best way to make a company profitable is to slash and burn the workforce until only those practically enslaved by the company remain; or sell it to an oufit like Tyco which will do the same thing for the stockholders, leaving the executives and escaped stockholders with short term gains, and the remaining stockholders with the remaining shell of the former company. Unfortunately, that is the creed of Wall Street today.
So keep up the good work, Automattic, and stay independent. It is your best hope to maintain and grow the creed.

You realize, I’m sure, that this is wholly different, culturally, than today’s anachronistic, if still dominant, way of doing business. As illustrated in a blog post recently by a good friend of mine…

If this had not personally happened to me I might not have believed it. If someone else had told me about this, I might have said, “no way!” I went into our local *a particular building supply center* this past Friday to purchase a few gallons of paint. The guy working the paint counter, Douglas, was a machine. He had to be. He had been left alone to run things, on a Friday afternoon with customers, some contractors, lined up. He was awesome! He had more plates spinning, more orders to keep straight, more paint mixing than I have ever seen. And he kept smiling, was helpful, and professional the entire time. Now keep in mind that the paint department and building materials are the two big money makers for *a particular building supply center*.

I asked the poor guy, “Douglas, where’s your help?” He said that his partner associate had been sent home. “What happened?” I asked, thinking maybe the person got ill or injured. He said the reason was “for hours,” which means that the associate would have too many hours if they had stayed to help continue to take care of the customers. Huh?…

Managers Manage and Leaders Lead…

BTW, what I mean by “anachronistic” is “doomed to fail in spectacular fashion.”

Heh, yeah, and just wait ’till you read about the writer’s confrontation with management. It’s a knee-slapper.

Of course.

Dear Matt,

Kindly let me know if I can use this essay in my blog?

Thanks and regards,
Samuel