‘croo’ life - values with meaning

At crooton, we like to keep it real, so defining our company values that felt genuine and meaningful was no mean feat. We sat down with Edmund Hockley, our Head of People, to find out how we built our values, what they mean to us, and why they matter more than ever.

So, what were you looking for when you chose the values? 

We wanted values that actually meant something to us rather than fluffy words to stick on the website. A lot of ideas came up, and many of them were good, but they felt aspirational rather than representative of who we are here and now. So we kept digging.

Where did the final values come from?

Honestly? A lot of conversations! We went around the table, tried things on for size. Some stuck, others didn’t. We asked the team five questions over five days in a staff survey. That gave us some real insight and gave us some threads. We started to see patterns, and that’s when things clicked.

So, what are the values — and what do they mean to you?

Passion. Collaboration. Innovation.

‘Passion’ was easy. When you look around our team, the energy is obvious. There’s almost an obsession with getting things right for our clients. Our people genuinely care about what we’re building here, which is wonderful to be a part of. 

‘Collaboration’ - this reflects how we work with each other and with our clients; supporting each other, sharing ideas and helping each other through problems. We’ve always been a tight-knit team and as we’ve grown, we’ve managed to keep hold of that. 

‘Innovation’ came from us acknowledging that we work fast! Some people found the pace of change a bit overwhelming at times. But, instead of backing away from it, we embraced it and decided this is who we are. We reframed the desire to always move forward, and made ‘innovation’ a value - and we’re really proud of it. It's a reflection of our CEO’s drive and our team’s creativity. 

What difference have the values made?

Our values have massively changed how we see ourselves and have benefitted us in ways we didn’t expect. They’ve really helped us understand who we are and what’s important to us as a company. We don’t necessarily do anything differently - in fact absolutely nothing has changed about the way we work - but now we have a shared language for how we work and who we are. It’s like we’ve got a framework to work from; they shape how we recruit, how we work with clients, how we make decisions - they underpin so much of our everyday operations. 

Did you come across any challenges? 

We soon realised that each value actually brings its own challenges, but by acknowledging these challenges, we work to mitigate them as much as possible. With a highly passionate team, you’ve got to be aware of burnout; people care so much that it can be hard to switch off. So, we keep an extra close eye on our team to make sure we prioritise their wellbeing. Collaboration is brilliant, but you need clear ownership too; otherwise, things can fall through the cracks. And innovation can be intense and tiring. But once we named it as a strength, people started leaning into it, not fighting it.

How did you get buy-in from the team?

We included the team from day one. Everyone was involved in shaping these values, and so when we hit on the final three, we all agreed that they felt right and reflected who we are. A real pivotal moment was when our CEO printed the words in huge letters and put them on the office wall. That was the moment I knew we’d got buy in! The words are still on the office wall and we refer to them every day. 

And finally, how do you live these values day-to-day?

We use them for recruiting our own team, all interviews are value-based now. We use them for strategic planning and decision-making, in how we talk to each other and how we work with our clients. We’re a really authentic team, we’re the same people inside work as we are outside, so these values represent us as people and as a team, as much as the company. 

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