9 Guiding Principles for all Employees

The leadership concept contributes to the realization of our vision. To make this possible, the organization has undergone a paradigm shift in the way “leadership” is understood and practiced within the organization. The mindset and behavior of this approach to leadership were defined through a participatory process and are summarized in this concept. This concept is an important part of the measures to implement the Strategy 2027.

The leadership approach promotes a results-oriented working environment and gives all employees equal initiative and responsibility. The term “leadership” does not mean that only managers implement the principles. Rather, all employees, regardless of their position, are invited to contribute to the new culture of caring for one another in their area of work and to take responsibility for it every day. Managers are responsible for creating a working environment in which employees can truly live these principles.

These are our 9 Guiding Principles:

We consider dignity and diversity as core to a person’s self-esteem.

We respect and value every person with their rights, dignity, and diversity. We are sensitive, aware, and open to educate ourselves on aspects impacting on the dignity of others, whether they are our colleagues, managers, partner organisations, communities, or people we work with.

We are comfortable with the difference that diversity brings about, value and respect it, while ensuring equal opportunities for everyone. As we value approaches and processes that involve and foster a meaningful contribution of a diverse range of people, we are curious, interested, and open for different ways and new ideas.
We are aware of the power and privilege we hold as individuals and
organisation and share it for the benefit of others.

To practice leadership at all levels, we develop our understanding of power
and its links to privilege in our day-to-day work. We are comfortable
discussing how power and privilege works and how we can share it with
others. By using power wisely, we foster engagement and inclusion,
create an environment for innovation and build trust.
We invest in building trust as it enables us to engage and collaborate
effectively with each other.

We actively foster trust as we strive for a safe environment where we
feel confident to act without the concern of having to protect ourselves
around others. Our differences, conflicts, and disagreements are about
concepts and ideas, not personal attacks. This allows us to share our
thoughts, ideas, challenges, and concerns without being afraid to be
rejected, judged, or punished.
We are self-aware, considerate of others, and ensure our behaviour is guided by mutual respect.

Self-awareness is about knowing ourselves, our strength, and weaknesses, understanding our impact on others and acting on it by adapting our behaviour accordingly. We always consider how our own actions and behaviour will impact others as well as the organisation so that we can be intentional in our interactions and everything we do. By practicing self-awareness, we create an environment for effective and respectful collaboration.
We know that effective communication enhances the engagement and
motivation of everyone to contribute to achieving our shared goals.

Communication is as much about talking and sharing information, as it
is about listening to understand and consider perspectives, views, and
experiences of others. We communicate with others to ensure that
people around us feel informed and understand our expectations.
Our communication, verbal and non-verbal, is respectful of diversity
and culturally sensitive6; and our messages, spoken and written, can
be easily understood, and accessed.
We contribute to creating an environment, where appreciating and
enabling each other is actively practised by everybody.

We actively share our appreciation for the efforts of others in contributing
to our shared goals, take the time to celebrate our successes, bring
lightness and joy to our work and create space to connect and laugh
with others. We strive to enable our colleagues to give their best working
towards our shared goals by seeking clarity about roles, responsibilities,
and expectations towards each other.
We own our decisions and actions and are ready to be held to account
for them and our behavior.

Our responsibility and accountability in fulfilling our role is towards the
people we work with, internally and externally. We are also accountable
towards the organisation and our supporters. We contribute to the
achievement of the shared goals, instead of following our own agenda
and personal interests. When our action results in a mistake or our
behaviour is perceived as inappropriate, we assume the responsibility
to learn from it and consider it as opportunity for shared learning,
development and growing.
We take care of our and other’s physical, mental, and emotional
wellbeing.

We proactively work towards a healthy and supportive environment by
taking care of our wellbeing while encouraging and supporting others to
do the same. We are aware of others wellbeing, as their needs may differ
from ours and we help take the burden from them to advocate and ask
for their needs to be fulfilled on their own. We plan and organize our work
in such way that acknowledges the wellbeing of others and respects their
situation beyond the workplace.
We are open for change and welcome it.

We recognise that there is constant change and accept and adapt to it in
our day-to-day work life. We embrace change as part of our agility. We
entertain innovation, shifts in technology, new concepts, and processes,
as they help us and the organisation to grow and develop. We step out
of our comfort zone and look forward to new developments.