The purpose of this document is to share Nova’s values and approach to our work together. The typical “vendor/client” relationship can come with power dynamics and unclear expectations that don’t support growth or transformation. Our hope is to collaboratively rewrite some of those norms to build a healthy, productive and mutually beneficial working relationship.
- Collaboration. The Nova group is a true Collective, which now includes you! We believe we have the best outcomes when everyone on the team is involved in a collaborative effort and all contributions are valued.
- Honesty & Candor. We respect and welcome candid communication. Our hope is to create an environment that allows this to transpire organically. While we never anticipate any specific challenges, we want to be able to name frustrations, disappointments, unmet expectations, and other tensions head-on.
- Flexibility. We evaluate, create, analyze, reshape, repeat. This means intentionally moving in and out of the areas of focus. This helps us pivot and mold our deliverables into collateral that will work best for your team and your organization. We understand that what we came into this engagement looking for might not be what we end up needing.
- Accountability & Grace. We understand mistakes happen. We’re humans, not machines. We take accountability of our mistakes; we ask for grace and patience and offer it in return.
- Balance. We seek to maintain balance in our lives and along with that comes work/life boundaries. We work with intention to meet deadlines and goals, but resist “urgency for urgency’s sake”. Often, we find that pressure to move quickly can slow down overall progress. We create space for check-ins, questions and alignment to ensure we are all on the same page.
- Critical & True. Nova is here to look at things through a critical DEI lens. Our work together may unearth new or uncomfortable things -this is inevitable if we are doing our jobs. We will want to make sure these areas of tension are seen, named and attended to in order to move forward constructively.
- Ongoing. Our work together won’t “fix it”. We can strategize, we can introduce new ideas, we can share perspective, tools and frameworks. We know we can’t turn the tide without starting with these efforts and at the same time these efforts alone will not be enough to turn the tide in your organization. This work is an evolution, it is ongoing and success is incremental.
- Boundaried. You don’t work for free and we can’t either. When project needs or requests are stretching the limits of what we agreed to, we will ask for a pause to address scope and assess all options. We want to do the most impactful work we can for your organization, and like any business we must be compensated fairly for it. If your team ever feels they don’t fully understand what is in or out of scope, please let your Nova team know so we can review. Many of us are socialized that conversations about money and value are often fraught and tense -- but at Nova we don’t believe they have to be.
- Joy & Community. We believe that engaging with one another in accordance with these values can build capacity within each of us. We are doing hard, painful, exhausting work and we want to hold space in our partnership for joy, community and humanity.
