Collaborative - We seek ways to work together within the city, community and beyond.
Collaboration thrives when people work together with trust, accountability, inclusiveness and creativity.
Successful collaboration leverages the talents of individuals and groups to produce the best results. It builds relationships and teamwork, spanning across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries. It makes effective use of resources and maximizes talent to get things done. Threats to collaboration are expediency, narrow focus, lack of trust, and personal agendas.
Inclusive - We value all people and respect their ideas, backgrounds and experiences.
Inclusiveness is proactively seeking and valuing participation within our organization and community. We will intentionally engage people from different cultures, backgrounds, and circumstances, benefitting from their unique personalities, perspectives and experiences. Inclusiveness encourages participation in forming and achieving goals. It flourishes with respect, open communication, and empowerment. Threats to inclusiveness are inflexibility, narrow-mindedness, protectionism, and elitism.
Trustworthy - We tell the truth, behave ethically, and work openly with each other and the community.
Trust is the foundation to building and maintaining relationships to achieve operational excellence. It is earned by telling the truth, keeping promises, and being reliable. As representatives of the City of Charlotte, we have the responsibility to build and maintain the public's trust in government. Conducting business in this manner inspires confidence and strengthens our reputation. Threats to trustworthiness are unresponsiveness, insincerity, incompetence and unclear intent.
Accountable - We own our work through timeliness, initiative, fairness and excellence.
Being accountable means accepting full responsibility and thinking critically to understand the broader context and impact of actions. It is a promise to hold ourselves and our colleagues to a high standard even when actions go unnoticed. Accountability is an action; it happens in the moment, not sometime in the future. As members of an organization entrusted with stewardship of public resources, we perform our work thoughtfully and respond promptly. Threats to accountability are irresponsibility, finger-pointing, avoidance and vagueness.
Creative - We think beyond boundaries, embrace curiosity and are willing to take risks.
Creativity is the power to advance any endeavor; to improve its effectiveness, quality, and appeal. Creativity means allowing oneself to think about problems and issues differently to produce more robust or effective outcomes. It requires examining problems from multiple perspectives and asking bold questions like “what if?” or “why not?” Creativity often results in innovation – introducing something new or different such as new products, processes, or methods. Creativity happens through collective brainstorming or through individual thought and contemplation. Threats to creativity are complacency, skepticism, timidity, and rigidity.