How Passive Fire NZ Defined Its Company Values and Culture

It is natural for a founders values to impact the values of their company and so, when Awen Guttenbeil kicked off PFNZ back in 2016, he naturally brought his own personal set of values shaped by his upbringing, whānau and years in professional sport (you can find out more on this in his episode on Between Two Beers podcast)

But, as the team grew, and the mix of personalities and daily systems ramped up, it became clear that we needed to pen-to-paper based on the live dynamic.

So, at one of our famous strategy days, we each wrote down the beliefs, behaviours and non-negotiables we reckon define who we are, or at least, who we wanted to be as a crew. Most of it we were already doing, some of it we hadn’t said out loud though. But once we voiced it, it all clicked.What we agreed on that day became our value system, our playbook. It’s HOW we do business and what we hold ourselves to, what our clients and partners can expect when they work with us:

• Above & beyond
• Details matter
• Thirst for learning
• Show others we care
• Do the right thing

Joe sums it up nicely in this vid.

Our values not only unite us as a team, create shared ways of working – they keep us consistent and our delivery at a high standard – and they identify good partners, those we are well suited to work with also. We not only look at our own values – but the values of our partners and we’re pretty proud of the quality teams we’ve been asked to be a part of – contractors, projects etc…