For me and all of us at Doings, one of the most important things is to practice what we preach – to stop talking and start doing. Of course, this applies to our values and our culture as well – and to have structures that make it easy to do the right thing. Part of this work involves having salary criteria that reflect this. Our values aren’t just a few words but a clearly formulated compass in our LEVA principles:

• Value trust over control
• Value personal engagement over documented knowledge
• Value relationships and collaboration over processes and tools
• Value co-leadership over hierarchical leadership
• Value results over methodology
• Value initiative and action over detailed planning
• Value well-being over financial results

(LEVA is a play on words with Doings’ founders LE (LEna) + EVA (VA), aiming to emphasize well-being, having the energy to live fully, both at work and in life in general. By the way, don’t miss the opportunity to play with words, we believe 😉)

Salary Criteria

These LEVA principles guide us right 11 times out of 10! Except when it came to our salary structure, as I wrote about last week. So, as we finally revamped it, focusing on sustainability, collaboration, and well-being, it was high time to also clarify how we determine salaries. We had been a bit lax about that too, of course. Not about setting it in a sensible way, naturally. But about making it clear, transparent, and as straightforward as possible. (The cobbler’s children, you remember.)

And when it comes to our salary criteria, I’m possibly a little extra proud, as we have a clear expectation regarding culture – to practice what we preach. One-third of the base salary is actually based on just that!

Salary Criteria and Salary Criteria…

We call them our Doings Dots 🙂 The term “salary criteria” even made the cobbler and family yawn. The Doings Dots consist of three parts: Believability, Co-leadership, and Sales and Business.

Our existence, our freedom, and our salary determination are based on our long-term ability to secure our revenue. We do that in several ways. Invoicing is the clearest and most important. But without focusing on the other aspects, we don’t have much to invoice. Our strengths include our commitment, our competence, our curiosity and our constant desire to learn, our relationships, and our LEVA. All of that plays a role when we set and evaluate our base salaries.

Assignability

The higher the “Assignability”, the less financial risk. An important factor in our salary determination is, therefore, the ability and experience to take on various types of assignments. Assignability is about the experience, competence, and consultancy skills to handle a variety of assignments. And of course, to deliver in a Doings way – i.e., with 110% focus on the customer, quality, creativity, and value.

Co-leadership

Our ambition and success lie in working in teams in various ways. Co-leadership means leading oneself but also leading each other, e.g., collaborating and developing competencies and businesses as doers and as an agency. Everyone is a culture cbuilder and engagement spreader – contributing to maintaining and developing Doings’ culture. Making others, including our customers, feel appreciated, helping them develop and feel like heroes, gets us bouncing out of bed in the morning. Additionally, taking responsibility for oneself, being there, supporting each other, and being LEVA and Doings ambassadors in action and behavior. All of this is super important to us and something we constantly strive for.

Sales and Business

Sales are a prerequisite for our business, and money is our freedom. Money isn’t the reason we live, but it’s our oxygen. Our sales strategy and success lie in digging where we stand and spreading our commitment and knowledge, inspiring and daring to challenge. In the Sales Dot, networking and ensuring that we maintain great relationships with customers during assignments and see new opportunities are included. Always wearing the Doings hat and thinking holistically and financially sound. And we always challenge ourselves to find new customers and exciting assignments – for ourselves, for others, and for our agency.

Continuous Development

None of this is hardly the final answer. Everything is an iterative process. We evaluate along the way and adjust together. Now we have a good start and excellent conditions for our continued growth – with clarity, collaboration, development, and what we truly value in focus – win-win-win for both Doings, all doers, and our customers’ development!

/Emma