People @ Personio – Our Operating Principles

For me, our Operating Principles and Core Values play a key role in my daily work, and I’m influenced and driven by them. Especially in guiding myself personally within difficult situations, they’re very important to me in my daily job, and with the people/teams I work together with.

 #SeekToImprove: I think it’s vital, both for Personio and for its Personios to constantly thrive and grow personally and professionally, to ultimately make Personio tomorrow better than it was yesterday.

#SolutionsOverProblems: If mistakes were made we concentrate immediately on how to solve the problem, and also focus on preventing such mistakes in the future from happening again instead of discussing who made the mistake.

#SolutionsOverProblems & #SeekToImprove: I like these two principles because they help me focus on what I can change and where I can learn new things, instead of what is going wrong. For example, I remember I was frustrated, especially in the beginning when I just started, with more technical questions as I had no previous knowledge in this field. In order to deal with these questions, I started using my yearly development budget for a course about basic programming skills.

I believe that everyone at Personio is working  to build a product that enables easier work for our customers. So, for me, the most important operating principle is #DrivenByImpact: Since we have a direct impact on our customer’s work, which in the long run will have an impact on their overall success.

#DrivenByImpact: I really enjoy working at Personio and coming into the office. I enjoy working together with all these people because you can feel that everyone is super motivated and determined to contribute to this insane journey that Personio is on. People at Personio don’t come to work just to earn money; it’s the impact that drives us.  And this doesn’t just apply to the first couple tens of employees. Today, we are more than 500 Personios and everybody knows more than ever how their own work is contributing to the success of the company.

As a product manager, communication is an essential part of my role. I go out of my way to make sure that not only my work is completed, but that there’s also clear communication toward my team members because everyone needs to have access to the same information. Good documentation is also helpful, but I think what really makes a team successful is having a shared understanding of the problem that needs to be solved.

#CommunicationIsKey: Super essential in my daily work, internal and external. Inside our organization, communication and openness serves to include everyone in important decisions and deeply connects us. Externally, it helps me to understand clients’ problems. My imperatives here: Communicate your opinion in a constructive way, and do not shy away from asking direct questions.

In general, I do find all the values and principles in my daily work. In the preparation of meetings or initiatives with team members and potential clients, in the outreach towards and the engagement with potential clients, as well. I can think of a million ways how all the principles can impact my work. #BeDiligent:managing expectations properly and delivering on promises is a huge one – as it earns trust and is crucial to any relationship.