Company Values

FIBRECOAT CULTURE

FibreCoat has been built on two key values, which reflect the way that we treat, work, and live with each other and anybody on the world. These values guide our decisions and enable FibreCoat to function as a unit, enabling us to achieve an affordable future for our planet and beyond. Other values can be dominant for other organizations or individuals and that is ok as long as we interact with those systems in our framework. In the following paragraphs the values Integrity and Progress will be outlined and discussed. This shall serve as a cultural guideline in our/your team and can be used as a reference when things get tough.

INTEGRITY

Integrity (from lat. Integer: “whole” or “complete”) is a term with many different interpretations and encompasses many other values. At FibreCoat we understand Integrity as the alignment of thought, talk and act, meaning that we are authentic and sincere in our very being. Only do what you would defend publicly. With this base understanding we can deduce three essential virtues to enable integrity: respect, openness, and responsibility.

Respect:

At FibreCoat we consider everyone in the world worthy of the same respect, regardless of age, gender, origin, conviction, belief, species. It is the foundation of integrity and cooperation. Therefore, we value insights from any other individual and treat them with the respect they deserve. By treating other the way, we want to be treated we do not only educate them on how we want to be treated but enable ourselves to grow and learn. The hardest time to stay respectful is in conflict, but it is also the most important and best time to train respect. When you would rather be rude, unfair, and condescending, think about the other individuals view and consider it with an open mind.

Openness:

When you have an open mind, you enable yourself to grow with every interaction that you make. Through extension, our whole organization can grow tremendously if we maintain trust, honesty and openness. Everybody at FibreCoat is allowed and encouraged to give feedback to anybody. It does not matter if it is positive or negative as long as it is given in a respectful manner and you stay honest with your peers and yourself. Nobody is, too insignificant or too important to give or receive feedback. When you receive feedback, there is not needed to react or defend yourself. Just take it in and reflect on it, then draw your conclusion. In addition to the rather passive feedback method there is the active asking for advice, which cannot be wrong. Reach out to your peers when you need help and stay open to their opinions.

Responsibility:

In you professional, social, and private life you will obtain certain responsibilities. Those are yours and you will have to own them. You are responsible for the actions you take in fulfilling them and for the outcome. As mentioned above, it is always ok to get help and ask for advice, but the task at hand and the corresponding responsibility is yours. You have to go the distance. The resulting success or failure is also yours. However, this also means that the responsibility of other is also theirs and not yours. If you ever find that your help for others starts leading to taking over responsibilities at FibreCoat, a change is going to needed and responsibilities and roles might be shifted. It is important to point out that your responsibility in our organization also covers the method you use unwind after work because you can only work as hard as you rest. Work on understanding how you work best and stick to it.

Progress

Progress (from lat. pro-: “forward” and PIE ghredh: “to walk” or “go”) is a term we encounter regularly as we interact with our environment. However, it is a very personal term as it can mean many different things for many different people. At FibreCoat we strive for innovation and see progress as an integral part of business, considering three dimensions to guide our actions. These dimensions are:

-Progress of humanity as a whole, encompassing every human being and culture with the goal to improve the living standards of our societies through developing affordable materials, technologies and products,

-Progress of our business by constantly working on our processes and systems to improve our efficiency, effectiveness, and overall output,

-Progress of the individual (you) with the goal to become the best version of yourself and achieve your goals; meaning that each individual has a duty to his peer to help him succeed in his goals and vice versa.

In order to enable our constant movement forward, three significant virtues are needed: speed, scrutiny and transparency.

Speed:
When we are talking about speed we essentially mean getting as much as possible done is as little time as possible without sacrificing safety or quality. Time is like a window and the bigger it is the more bad things can come through. Therefore, you must prioritize and work on the most important things first, especially if they are the hardest parts. Obviously, problems will come up and that is a good thing, because only when we find them, we can solve them. There is no problem without a solution, even if you do not like the solution. When working on these often unexpected issues, the person closest to them is probably the best to solve them as they usually have the most insight and understanding. Get help from your peers, plan and prepare but most importantly start hammering away on those tasks.

Scrutiny:
Truth is the only thing that matters. In our work we need to uncover it to use it for our and everybody’s advantage. But none of us knows everything let alone the whole truth so we need to seek, learn and assume. As assumptions are by definition not proven it is of paramount importance that we challenge any assumption regularly. If an idea is not based on irrefutable facts of the natural sciences it can be consider an assumption which is open for discussion. Even if this is easy to understand, many of us will jump to conclusions too quickly, accept an imperfect solution or something that is no solution at all. Only if you are honest in pointing out blind spots and inconsistencies you can help the team to stay on track. This is especially important when it hurts as the pain you will cause now is much smaller compared to the pain that is going to unfold down the line. Embrace problems and failures, as they are the points where we grow our understanding of the truth.

Transparency:
At FibreCoat we value the free flow of information and transparent decision making. Only by sharing knowledge and problems the whole organization can bring its best possible performance. Use the tools at your disposal to share what you do, what you found, what you learned, where you failed or where you witnessed something that other might find valuable. Reflect on your work regularly and deduct best practices or thing to avoid. Share them afterwards. Have a look at what other do and see if you can transfer something into your own work or give advice. Whenever you do find something useful be grateful and let the other know. Only the team can encourage the team.