Culture and Values

At the Heart of Our Culture

We at GTK think that a person is valuable, curious and aims for the common good. This essence of GTKship is manifested in the ways in which we cooperate and connect with each other. Together, we have defined seven key modes of action to which we strive for in our everyday life.

1. We value and respect

Everyone at GTK plays their own role in carrying out GTK’s task and achieving our goals. Everyone works towards the same goal of producing results for a sustainable, carbon-neutral world.

Our actions express about how we value and respect each other. Greeting each other, preparing for meetings, considering others’ work, and using understandable language are examples of the ways in which we lay the foundation for smooth collaboration, an appreciation of our diversity, and safeguarding equality.

2. We build safety

We trust others and are trustworthy. Each of us is doing our best to achieve our common goals. These fundamental values help us take care of our occupational health and safety and our sense of psychological safety.

We take care of the tasks in our area of responsibility, help and support others and ask for help and for others’ views and opinions. And we’re not afraid of mistakes, because that is how we learn.

When we feel that our work environment is safe, we can be bold. We enjoy our work more and can present ideas for the development of our operations and research. In a safe environment, we can be creative, innovative, and most importantly, ourselves.

We stay alert: Sometimes, we might spend a lot of effort trying to find the safest place to cross the river. But if we can’t boldly challenge, we are being too careful. Then we can’t learn and develop as a community.

When faced with difficult choices, we ask ourselves: “should we be bold and just try it?”

3. We choose to be transparent

Transparency is our policy. We actively communicate what we are doing with others. We share information in an understandable and agreed fashion in our shared environments. We also discuss work in progress, as not everything needs to be completed before it can be talked about.

By being open, we can ensure the transparency of information and operations at GTK. We can react to what each other’s actions and find new opportunities for collaboration. We can recognise issues and resolve them in time. We can’t completely avoid mistakes, but transparency allows us to correct them sooner rather than later.

Transparency also means that we ask others and talk about how things are going. What does our work situation look like right now? How are we coping with work? What are we excited or frustrated about? Talking about things openly with others allows us to support and motivate each other in every situation.

4. We celebrate success

Great job, we did it! We recognize and celebrate both big and small individual successes and collaborative victories.

Just a small “well done”, “good job”, or “we worked well together” is often enough. A “thank you” is also a small but significant way to celebrate successes. And where possible, we should also celebrate them by recognising them and raising a toast, whether virtually or in person.

Collaboration and competition are part of the scientific world. As a community, we must make sure that our competitive spirit doesn’t get in the way of collaboration, because we are working towards common goals, and we can rely on each other in our daily lives.

5. We stay on top of our work

Here at GTK, we are a professional and ambitious bunch. Our work is important and significant for the entire world. And we have plenty of work ahead of us – we’re constantly finding new opportunities and research subjects around us.

We have the permission and ability to limit our work so that we also have energy for our lives outside work. We make choices and set limits that allow us to live balanced daily lives. We recognise and correct structures and processes that create stress in our daily lives. We take care of our own coping at work and support our colleagues by promoting their coping at work.

No one is energetic, active and productive 100 per cent of the time. We have the courage to say when we have too much work, and we are proud of having working days that last a normal amount of time. We control our work, and our work does not control us.

We stay alert: Ambitiousness can easily make us fall into the cycle of being busy. Being busy is not a sign of productivity or a way for us to show our value. It’s important for us to recognise the destructive effects of being busy and to actively work to remove factors that cause us to be busy in our daily lives. This allows us to do high-quality work For Earth and For Us.

6. We think together

At GTK, we work in networks. Everyone’s work affects the entirety, and the entirety affects everyone’s work.

We invite others to participate in discussions and events. We make it possible for each other to participate. We ask questions and spark ideas with a coaching approach: we are all coaches for each other.

We take part in the common discussions about GTK’s ways of working now and in the future. We don’t need to know everything about everything to participate in the discussions, because we can always ask. Sometimes, the keys to the solution are found in the questions and not in the answers.

We stay alert: It is human that we do not always remember to keep everyone involved in the progress of the work. However, we are wary of building silos and the “not my business” or “not sharing this” thinking. We will not be held in by the fences of our roles. Instead, we will stretch out across the borders.

7. We stay curious and keep learning

Curiosity is the bond between us. It keeps us connected and allows us to keep learning continuously. Curiosity and the will to learn keep us on the right path.

Curiosity allows us to prepare for the future and recognise our options when we face uncertainty. It allows us to work together, even when things are difficult. It also drives us to keep developing ourselves as professionals and experts.

What can we learn from each other? What collaborative practices and structures do we want to increase, and what doesn’t work and should be removed? Are we supporting each other’s development and learning?

Learning requires not just curiosity, but also feedback. We ask, receive and provide both positive and constructive feedback. There are many ways to do things, and we can always learn new methods.