The Triad Way

Triad Strategies has evolved since 2001, but our commitment to our clients and our work in public affairs has remained constant. We maintain a culture that supports high-performing teams and honors our firm’s purpose: Diverse voices should have a say in decisions that matter.

We have embarked on a journey to define a set of behaviors that have led to our success as an organization and will be vital for our future. These 30 fundamental behaviors are known as The Triad Way, and describe how we work with our clients, strategic partners, community partners, public officials and most importantly, each other. These behaviors comprise the very foundation of our competitive advantage in the marketplace.

We must live them every day. That is why Team Triad ritualizes these fundamentals constantly. We dedicate time during every internal meeting to focus on one fundamental. We discuss how we practice it in our daily routines, how we are working to improve that behavior if we fall short, and how to ensure it remains a part of Triad’s culture.

The Triad Way is essential to the success of our team, and we remain committed to honoring it.   

30 Fundamentals

Act with Integrity
ACT WITH INTEGRITY

Do What’s Best for the Client
DO WHAT'S BEST FOR THE CLIENT

Honor Commitments
HONOR COMMITMENTS

Make Quality Personal
MAKE QUALITY PERSONAL

Be a Fanatic About Response Time
BE A FANATIC ABOUT RESPONSE TIME

Practice Blameless Problem Solving
PRACTICE BLAMELESS PROBLEM SOLVING

Invest in Relationships
INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS

Get Clear on Expectations
GET CLEAR ON EXPECTATIONS

Listen Generously
LISTEN GENEROUSLY

Speak Straight
SPEAK STRAIGHT

Collaborate
COLLABORATE

Create Win/Win Solutions
CREATE WIN/WIN SOLUTIONS

Work Smart
WORK SMART

Find A Way
FIND A WAY

Think Team First
THINK TEAM FIRST

Be a Lifelong Learner
BE A LIFELONG LEARNER

Own Your Work/Life Balance
OWN YOUR WORK/LIFE BALANCE

Embrace Diversity and Inclusion
EMBRACE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Create a Feeling of Friendliness and Warmth
CREATE A FEELING OF FRIENDLINESS AND WARMTH

Treasure, Protect and Promote Our Reputation
TREASURE, PROTECT AND PROMOTE OUR REPUTATION

Communicate to be Understood
COMMUNICATE TO BE UNDERSTOOD

Show Meaningful Appreciation
SHOW MEANINGFUL APPRECIATION

Be Relentless About Improvement
BE RELENTLESS ABOUT IMPROVEMENT

Be Curious
BE CURIOUS

Treat Each Other Like Family
TREAT EACH OTHER LIKE FAMILY

Get the Facts
GET THE FACTS

Practice Human Connection
PRACTICE HUMAN CONNECTION

Embrace Change
EMBRACE CHANGE

Be Process-Driven
BE PROCESS DRIVEN

Keep Things Fun
KEEP THINGS FUN

© 2021 Triad Strategies

  • 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. 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 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 from 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 to 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’ perspective. 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 explaining 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 to 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 other’s 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 acknowledgment 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 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 expected. Ask the extra question.

  • 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 a kind word 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 judgments. 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.