Yes We Win: The Meaning Behind PayLease’s Core Values

We talk a lot about the workplace culture at PayLease. But we’ve never opened up about what’s at the core of our culture, and that’s our values.

Truthfully, we couldn’t have articulated what PayLease’s core values were until a year ago, when we finally made them official. We’ve always had a general idea of what they were, but succinctly defining them was not an easy (or fast) task.  In the end, we came up with 3 statements containing a total of 12 words. Sounds simple, right? Coming up with those 12 words took us over a year and involved the collaboration of every single PayLeaser to reach to a decision. It is that important to us, so we took the time to try and get it right.

Y, Tho?

Before we unveil what we came up with, let’s talk a little bit about values and why they are so important. Core values support a company’s vision, shape its culture and reflect what a company stands for. Clearly defined values can guide an organization in all aspects of business, including hiring, internal meetings, resolving conflicts, making decisions, and overall communication. Fancy definitions aside, values are how your company rolls.

Having solidified values become especially important as your organization grows, or when company culture changes. Core values help companies manage change without compromising the factors that made it successful over time.

Our Values Unveiled

After all the debate, we are proud of where we landed. At PayLease, we embody:

• The Spirit of YES
• The Power of WE
• The “I” in WIN

YES WE WIN.

While that is cute and catchy, there is deep meaning behind each one of those statements.

The Spirit of YES

At PayLease, we want to say yes – to prospects, clients, partners, employees, colleagues, investors, etc. That doesn’t mean that we want to be indiscriminate about what we undertake, or that that we are okay with “over-promising.”  It means that we are predisposed to solving problems and finding creative solutions.

We want our employees to take initiative. We aren’t going to wait to be asked. We are going to see a need and we are going to tackle it. We possess a sense of urgency about what is happening around us. Suboptimal processes, systems and workflows are not okay and we won’t tolerate it. We will go running towards the fire with clear purpose and determination. We will be innovative in our approach.  What worked yesterday might not be the best solution today. We aren’t afraid to try something new.

We will bring good energy to a situation.  Stress tends to bring out the worst in people and PayLeasers are going to diffuse that bad mojo. The positive outlook and good energy that we bring to an opportunity really does shift the environment.  With good energy in place, initiative, urgency and innovation thrive.

The Power of We

We are all about teamwork. We win together. We do not and will not throw another team or another PayLeaser ‘under the bus.’ It is woven into our framework that we have each other’s backs and we are going to press on until we find a solution.

We are loyal. We believe that being tied to each other for the long-term is going to drive the best answers, ideas and commitments from our peers. This is more than internal – we are fiercely loyal to our clients, partners and vendors too. When you join the PayLease family, we hope to keep you for life.

We are respectful.  Things don’t always go our way, but when there is something to work through, we will proceed with utmost respect and a core conviction of positive intent. No one sets out to do the wrong thing so if something seems amiss, we are committed to getting the whole story and being supportive, rather than seeking blame. We foster a collaborative environment. We don’t hide behind email. We actually talk to each other – about work, of course, but also about life and relationships and dreams. Our collaborative nature is engrained every day regardless of what is happening around us. And we are dependable. We say what we mean and we do what we say. We believe that transparency and honesty still matter and we are proud to stand by our word.

The “I” in Win

PayLeasers love being part of a team and teamwork is foundational for who we are. But that doesn’t remove personal accountability. There may be no “I” in team, but there sure is one in “WIN”.

Our PayLeasers are resourceful. We foster an environment of continuous learning. We offer trainings and Lunch & Learns and shadowing and job movement – all with an eye towards making us better PayLeasers. You would be hard pressed to find a PayLeaser who is bored because our folks take advantage of the resources around them.

PayLeasers are positive. We know that work can be hard and things don’t always go as planned, but we are pre-disposed to find the silver lining. And if each individual is positive, it can infuse and uplift the entire environment.

Our team is resilient. By design, PayLease re-organizes our staff every year. We are growing so fast and have such ambitious strategic goals, that we need to be nimble and responsive. Those are code words for change. And if you aren’t okay with change, then PayLease might not be for you.

Finally, we are a competitive bunch. We love to compete – over anything really. Sure there is fantasy football and quarterly contests, but we might start a meeting with a Fun Fact quiz or a basketball shoot-out. We love to play and we love to win. This bodes well for our clients and partners too, because once you are part of the PayLease family, we will compete hard for you as well.

We hope this helps you to know PayLease a little better. We’ll be posting a series of blogs that explores each of our value statements in a little more detail.  Stay tuned!