THE little green

CULTURE BOOK

BINDER The Little Green Culture Handbook

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?After a while you get familiar with the way things are done around here. But when you first start, you wonder where exactly you fit in and what you should be doing.

This book is to help new hires and people looking to become part of the Binder team understand a bit more about how we tick and what our culture and values look like.

WHAT IS IT FOR?This book helps everyone start on the same page. We want to address some questions to make it easier for you to understand us:

• Where have we come from and where are we going?

• Why are we in business and what’s our purpose?

• What do we stand for and believe in?

• What does Binder look and feel like on the inside?

YESTERDAY 03

I’ve always been proud of Binder, but I am particularly proud of where we are today. The diversity of our team and the importance of the projects we do are amazing.

Most impressive to me is that Binder’s people are so committed and talented that when a new client comes in, a team of culture experts make magic happen. As a result, we are seeing more and more breakthrough culture change occurring with our clients.

I am most proud of the culture at Binder. When I started the company, all I really wanted to do was work on fun projects that create better places for people to work. I dreamed of a life that was positive and contributed to making people’s lives a little better. I wanted to do something more meaningful.

Binder still seems like it did in the beginning to me, a special place with extraordinary people trying to do the right thing for themselves and the organisations they work with. Having said that, I’m here to tell you that, right now, this is the most exciting time in our history, as we are changing more company cultures than ever before.

At Binder we’ve always been focused on values and culture, it’s not just our business, it’s our passion. For half a decade I studied organisational culture and human values, because

I believed that organisations would be better if they could effectively manage their values, people and culture.

We come to this with personal passion and a promise to deliver our clients products and services beyond their expectations.

My vision for the future of Binder is still the same as it was when I first became passionate about human values and cultures, and that is that everyone at Binder finds their calling and feels like they are working with friends. More importantly, I want everyone to feel like they are engaged in what feels like important work; something they are proud to be part of.

YESTERDAY

BINDER The Little Green Culture Handbook

TOMORROWIn the early days of Binder, we focused on how we could help other people build great cultures. But now we are focused on so much more.

Our future needs to go beyond managing values and creating culture roadmaps, to helping organisations and their people be the best that they can. An organisation can never stop innovating and pushing the boundaries of its industry, that’s why Binder is always looking for the next step we can take that will build on what we already have. No idea is ever too silly, no thought is ever too extreme, you never know where the next great idea will come from, that’s why we have a very free and open structure. At Binder we want to nurture a new way of thinking.

As we got bigger, we needed something more to aim for; a common belief and a shared reason to come to work in the morning. We wanted to spend time on some internal things like growing our core ideals and expanding beyond our current markets; we wanted to see who else we could help. We get excited about broadening the definition of values and culture and the kinds of challenges we can apply to these ideas. We

want to start using the term ‘culture design’ and start a kind of movement that will have a dramatic effect on our business, our clients and even families around the world. To achieve this, we needed a guiding idea to help us. That guiding idea is the positive effect we can have in the world through culture design.

Our long-term focus is on creating maximum positive impact through culture design.

This purpose manifests in many ways and has caused us to work harder on our client relationships so that more of our ideas reach more businesses and markets. We cannot anticipate where this focus will take us in the future; although we hope that it will cause us to get ever more innovative in the way we take values and culture to the world; and create more evidence that we are indeed having a positive impact. All we can say about the future is that we will continue to seek new ideas and challenge the preconceived ideas of our clients and the people who make Binder what it is.

YESTERDAY 05

01OUR 5 CORE VALUES

APPRECIATION

Recognise and appreciate each other’s good qualities. —

At Binder we believe it’s important to appreciate what each other has to offer, because each person brings their own unique qualities and talents. If we don’t appreciate each other, we run the risk of someone not contributing to their fullest potential.

OUR CORE VALUES 05

BINDER The Little Green Culture Handbook

02COOPERATIONWork together to reach the same end game. —

We want everyone to work toward the same end game, and that is, to help our clients build great value-based cultures. If we aren’t all focused on achieving what’s best for our clients then we will never deliver on our promises.

BINDER The Little Green Culture Handbook

YESTERDAY 07

03OPENNESS Be receptive and accepting of new ideas and thoughts. —

At Binder we are always open to new ideas and new ways to do things. No idea is ever bad and no thought should ever be wasted. Our philosophy has always been one of openness and acceptance, regardless of where it comes from.

OUR CORE VALUES 07

BINDER The Little Green Culture Handbook

04CREATIVITYFocus on doing things in an innovative or original way. —

Our openness drives our creativity and creates new ideas. At Binder we encourage people to always look outside the norm and think about how we could be more innovative in our approach to organisational values and culture.

BINDER The Little Green Culture Handbook

YESTERDAY 09

05OPTIMISTIC Remain positive and confident about the future. —

To ensure Binder continues to provide the best for our clients we are committed to being confident about their future. We want to make sure everyone is positive about where we have been and where we are going.

OUR CORE VALUES 09

BINDER The Little Green Culture Handbook

LOOK AND FEELWe created a guideline to help you better understanding what Binder’s culture looks like.

The culture guideline is built around Binder’s core values and aimed at encouraging people to action our values into their daily activities. More importantly, this guide acts as a way to hold each other accountable and ensure that as a group we have a common purpose and identity.

We want Binder to have a relaxed company culture where people are appreciated and creative.

At Binder there is a genuine interest in understanding and enhancing the wellbeing of each other and maintaining an open and receptive environment; the key themes within Binder are people and creativity. We also challenge the leadership to be fair and reasonable and role model an open-minded, considerate and flexible attitude. At Binder we want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to express their opinions and feel like a trusted and appreciated member of the team.

Going forward our strategic emphasis is focused around positive client interactions, innovative culture design and enhanced customer outcomes.

OBSERVABLES — WORKPLACE Our workplace has an overall look and feel that is very relaxed and playful, we want to create a place where our people can be creative and feel comfortable being themselves.

PRESENTATION We encourage our people to present themselves in an unassuming and modest manner so our clients always feel comfortable and relaxed around us.

CUSTOMERS Our people are trained to treat clients well and they are expected to try and help them achieve a positive outcome. We want to maintain a client first philosophy at all times.

ROLE MODELS — BEHAVIOUR Our leadership are encouraged to role model a flexible and open-minded attitude, because we want a casual workplace where open dialogue is always encouraged.

REACTIONS When dealing with daily problems our leadership will be understanding and always try to be fair and reasonable, it is important to us that everyone is treated the same.

ROUTINES — INTERACTIONS We want people in the organisation to have a very relaxed attitude and we encourage them to always maintain an open mind when working and socialising together.

MEETINGS Our regular meetings are primarily focused around client outcomes and developing the skills and knowledge of our people. Numbers and financials are important, but our people will always come first.

WHAT TO EXPECT INSIDE BINDER

WHAT TO EXPECT INSIDE BINDER 011