What is a Values-First Approach to Conscious Work?

Conscious Change

Introduction

Ditto’s fundamental mission is to be valuable communications partners to companies and set a new standard in the PR industry. We are laser focused on being smart, strategic and forward thinking to our clients and delivering the highest caliber of results.

To do that, we fundamentally reject the old school way of doing PR—how “success” is achieved. Simply put, externally clients should be thrilled with our work, and internally, we should enjoy doing our jobs.

To be a great company—not just a great PR firm—we have to consciously establish that there is a better way of doing things, the status-quo is not acceptable and change is truly possible.

Conscious Change

Conscious is defined as “having an awareness of one’s inner and outer worlds; mentally perceptive, awake, mindful.” To be conscious means to be awake and mindful. And being Conscious Employees, means we are aware of what's going on around us and make conscious decisions.

Conscious Change means we believe we can do things differently than a typical PR firm and actively pursue this through our work.

One of the ways we do things differently is that we don’t work endless hours for the sake of working—we make every hour at work count, so we can make every hour count when we aren't working.

Conscious Change means the work itself is rewarding because we're given time to do our job, real ownership, encouraged to push things forward, grow, and be bold—not operating out of fear, solely in a reactive way or endlessly caught in meetings and bureaucracy.

Conscious Change means surrounding ourselves with people who want to see each of us succeed because our values and incentives are aligned. We are growing personally and professionally along with our clients, and when we succeed, the people around us do as well.

What does a Conscious Change look like in practice?

A Conscious Change is where we:

• Show up every day present and prepared to do our best work;

• Understand what our role is on an account;

• Share a drive and passion for our work;

• Adopt a self-starter mentality;

• Make time for others and for ourselves;

• Take pride in our work;

• Bring personality and fun into the office, in a professional way;

• Care deeply about delivering high quality work;

• Prioritize learning and growth;

• Routinely challenge ourselves to take risks and try new things;

• Welcome all different people, personalities, and backgrounds;

Making a Conscious Change is not about:

• Ego. Rather, it’s open-mindedness, humility and a commitment to clients and personal growth. It’s an eagerness to do your best, ask for feedback from everyone around you, and help others thrive.

• Self-promotion. Rather, it’s a commitment to doing what’s best for the company and our clients and trusting that the score will take care of itself if you do great work.

• Just hitting goals. Rather, it’s about delivering meaningful outcomes. Sometimes, that means exceeding and sometimes that means pivoting when you realize those goals aren’t right.

• Unconditional blame. Rather, it’s about taking ownership of your work, having impeccable commitments and not blaming external circumstances when things go wrong.

• Overwork. Rather, it’s about being 100% in while you’re at work, so you can be 100% out when you’re not. We expect and encourage employees to take time away from work to invest in themselves and their interests.

Finally, Change is not all sunshine and rainbows. It takes hard work to operate in a conscious way!

This is a culture where:

• Teammates must rapidly adapt when necessary.

• Feedback is given and never taken personally.

• There’s no tolerance for drama, gossip, or politics.

• Discipline is required, never losing focus of your role on an account and what success looks like to a client.

• Everyone is expected to be all in.

• We expect outsized outcomes and results, and trust our teams to meet their goals without micromanagement.

• Teams crave more and better and never rest or settle for the status quo.

• We’re continually building and improving how we do our job.

• Bottom performers are actively managed out.

Conscious Change is the foundation for everything from the aspirational: Mission, Vision and Values, to the practical: Hiring, Goal Setting and Performance Tracking.