The Triad Way
30 Fundamentals
Mindset Drives Behaviors – Behaviors Drive Performance – Performance Drives Outcomes
The Triad Way
Our 30 fundamental behaviors are known as the Triad Way and describe how we work with our clients, our strategic partners, public officials and most importantly each other. These behaviors comprise the very foundation of our competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Act with Integrity
Demonstrate an unwavering commitment to doing the right thing in every action you take and in every decision you make, especially when no one’s looking. Be transparent and rigorously avoid conflicts of interest.
Do What’s Best for the Client
In all situations, do what’s best for the client, even if it’s to our own short-term detriment. Put their needs ahead of our own. Find ways to add extra value. There’s no greater way to build a reputation than to steadfastly do what’s right for others. Every day.
Honor Commitments
Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it. This includes being on time for all phone calls, appointments, and meetings. If a commitment can’t be fulfilled, notify others early and agree on a new deliverable to be honored.
Make Quality Personal
Demonstrate a passion for excellence and take pride in the quality of everything you touch and everything you do. Have a healthy disdain for mediocrity. Good is not good enough. Double-check the quality and accuracy of your work and have others do so as well. Always ask yourself, “Is this my best work?”
Be A Fanatic About Response Time
Respond to questions and concerns quickly, whether it’s in person, on the phone, or by email. This includes simply acknowledging that we got the question and we’re “on it,” as well as keeping those involved continuously updated on the status of outstanding issues. Never assume that others are going to respond for you.
Practice Blameless Problem-Solving
Demonstrate a relentless solution focus, rather than pointing fingers or dwelling on problems. Identify lessons learned and use those lessons to improve ourselves and our processes so we don’t make the same mistake twice. Get smarter with every mistake. Learn from every experience.
Invest in Relationships
More than anything, we are relationship managers. Build your network and assist others in building theirs. Relationships built today help deliver results tomorrow. Get to know your clients and colleagues on a more personal level. Understand what makes others tick and what’s important to them.
Get Clear on Expectations
Create clarity and avoid misunderstandings by discussing expectations upfront. Set expectations for others and ask when you’re not clear on what they expect of you. End all meetings with clarity about action items, responsibilities, and due dates.
Listen Generously
Listening is more than simply “not speaking.” Give others your undivided attention. Be present and engaged. Minimize the distractions and let go of the need to agree or disagree. Suspend your judgment and be curious to know more, rather than jumping to conclusions. Above all, listen to understand.
Speak Straight
While always being respectful, speak honestly in a way that helps make progress. Say what you mean, and be willing to ask questions, share ideas, or raise issues that may cause conflict when it’s necessary for team success. Be courageous enough to say what needs to be said. Address issues directly with those who are involved or affected. Provide honest and timely feedback.
Collaborate
Share information and work together. Collaborate internally and with our clients and partners to find better solutions. Have a bias for sharing more rather than less. Collaboration generates better ideas than does working alone. Debrief after wins and losses and share the lessons learned. Don’t be afraid to ask your colleagues questions.
Create Win/Win Solutions
It’s a 2-way street. Learn to think from others’ perspectives. Discover what they need and find a way to help them meet those needs while also fulfilling your own. While they often require thoughtful creativity, win/win solutions are always more effective and longer lasting than win/lose solutions.
Work Smart
Know the goal. Be organized and plan your work for maximum efficiency. Wherever possible, use technology to improve efficiency. Be thoughtful about your schedule, and have a game plan for your calls, your tasks, and your workday. Know the priorities and work on them first.
Find a Way
Take personal responsibility for making things happen. Respond to every situation by looking for how we can do it, rather than why it can’t be done. Be creative and resourceful. Make the impossible possible.
Think Team First
Don’t let your ego or personal agenda get in the way of doing what’s best for the team. Be there for each other and be willing to step into another role or help a colleague when that’s what’s required for success. Help each other succeed. Have each other’s back. Sell the team instead of yourself.
Be A Lifelong Learner
Get outside your comfort zone. Seek out and take advantage of every opportunity to gain more knowledge, to increase your skills, and to become a greater expert. Be resourceful about learning and sharing best practices, and take advantage of opportunities to coach and mentor each other.
Own Your Work/Life Balance
Own and protect your work/life balance. Know and communicate boundaries and when you need to take a break to refresh and recharge. Be respectful of others’ need for balance. To give your best, you must be at your best. Be a steward of our most valuable resource: you!
Embrace Diversity and Inclusion
Be open to learning from others, no matter what role they have, and regardless of their age, political perspectives, experience, or tenure with our firm. It’s also important that we’re inclusive of different genders, races and sexuality in order to deepen our understanding and better represent backgrounds different from our own. We make better decisions and serve clients better when we consider multiple perspectives.
Create a Feeling of Friendliness and Warmth
Every conversation, phone call, email, letter, and even voicemail, sets a tone and creates an impression. Pay attention to every interaction and be sure you’re setting a tone that’s friendly, warm, and helpful.
Treasure, Protect, and Promote Our Reputation
We’re all responsible for, and benefit from, Team Triad’s image and reputation. Consider how your actions affect our collective reputation, and be a proud ambassador for the brand. Reputations can take years to build, but can be lost in a single action.
Communicate to Be Understood
Know your audience. Write and speak in a way that they can understand. Avoid using internal lingo, acronyms, and industry jargon. Use the simplest possible explanations. Where appropriate, check in to ensure you’ve been understood.
Show Meaningful Appreciation
Recognizing people doing things right is more effective than pointing out when they do things wrong. Regularly extend meaningful acknowledgement and appreciation – in all directions throughout our firm.
Be Relentless About Improvement
Regularly evaluate the way you/we work to find ways to improve. Don’t be satisfied with the status quo; be prepared to go beyond it. “Because we’ve always done it that way” is not a reason. Guard against complacency. Find ways to get things done better, faster, and more efficiently. Set high personal goals.
Be Curious
In the search for the best solutions, challenge and question what you don’t understand. Don’t accept anything at “face value” if it doesn’t make sense to you. Be curious, ask thoughtful questions, and listen intently to the answers. Dig deeper to go beyond the expectations. Ask the extra questions.
Treat Each Other Like Family
Our relationships go deeper than simply being teammates at work. We genuinely care for and about each other. Whether it’s kind work during a tough stretch, a friendly smile each morning, or a helping hand in stressful times, show your compassion.
Get the Facts
There’s always more to the story than you think. Learn to ask questions and gather the facts before jumping to conclusions and making judgements. Verify sources and be aware of information that has not been proven. Be curious about additional information that might yield a more complete picture.
Practice Human Connection
Show people you care about them as individuals, and not just as transactions. Pay attention to the things that make people unique. Use handwritten notes, personal cards, and timely phone calls to acknowledge their significance. Genuine compassion can’t be faked.
Embrace Change
What got us here is not the same as what will get us to the next level. Get outside your comfort zone, rather than stubbornly hanging on to old ways of doing things. Look for, and be excited by, the possibilities that change brings. Be flexible.
Be Process-Driven
Create systems and processes that are scalable and that support our ability to perform with consistency. Document what’s working for each client and create standardized best practices so that all clients benefit. Strong processes are the foundation of organizational effectiveness.
Keep Things Fun
While our passion for excellence is real, remember that the world has bigger problems than the daily challenges that make up our work. Stuff happens. Keep perspective. Don’t take things personally or take yourself too seriously, Laugh every day.
