CHARTEROFVALUES

5. SPII’s Charter of Values – #TryEverything

Error is part of progress, but
every mistake should not happen more than once.

We always felt proud about being a “different” Company. From the very beginning of our story, something about SPII felt special.

We started off as a small industrial design studio in Milan, then moved to Saronno – an apparently unconventional choice.

After some time, the decision was made to sell part of the Company, something very difficult to do for a small family business: first to an equity fund, then to Schaltbau Group.

Then the management passed into the hands of Paola Foiadelli, a turning point that marked a different kind of leadership for SPII and confirmed our forerunner inclusiveness.

We overcame difficult times, and in our darkest hour we decided to set sail for a journey of change and embarked in a complex project such as SPII Evo…

Until today, when we can proudly say we are 100% part of the Schaltbau Group, one more great change for our once small family business.

It was a rough path, sometimes we didn’t see the trail in front of us anymore, sometimes we worried it was an error…and sometimes we indeed made mistakes!

Nevertheless, do you know how comes we are still here? Because…

We are not afraid of mistakes

Error is part of life, of change, and it’s definitely part of progress.

There can’t be one without the other. Many people, and many companies, fear errors, they consider them failures to avoid at all costs…

Well, we don’t. Since the very beginning, we embraced them. We welcomed the opportunity to fail, because we believe FAIL stands for First Attempts In Learning!

We believe that to find out the right solution you often need to try everything, even the wrong ones.

And this is why we decided to place in 5th position in our Charter of Values a motto that we keep repeating like a mantra:

#TryEverything: I wanna try even though I could fail

Have you ever heard this song from Shakira? We know it very well because it became the soundtrack of our change management process, called SPII Evolution.

We wanted to encourage our people to make it happen, to go out of the way to succeed, to think different…and the lyrics of this song was perfect!

So we sang it, we screamed on top of our lungs, “try everything, try eeeeverythiiiing”. So much that we actually convinced ourselves to do it!

Today, we do try everything, everyday. We choose to be brave, to follow different ways, even when it means to dramatically change our direction. We allow SPII to follow its own path, wherever it leads…#WhereverWeCan.

The fine line between mistake and progress

How do you keep trying everything, without risking it all?

You need to welcome errors, but to be merciless with repetition: the enemy is not the mistake, is failing to learn from it!

We need to change our idea of “error”, to see it as a starting point, so that we can openly try all the options even when failure is a possibility.

Doing mistakes doesn’t have to become something good, however it is important to remember that it is part of the game: you should not be afraid of it, or you will never evolve.

When errors happen, pause and reflect:

• what can you learn from it?
• Was it really a complete mistake?
• How can you avoid doing it a second time?

This is the power of errors: they teach you precious lessons, if you let them.

We turned our approach from fighting mistakes to fighting risks. We don’t accept errors, neither encourage them (and we are especially merciless the second time around). Yet, we don’t worry so much about avoiding mistakes, but about mitigating the risk.

Decisions should be ambitious but thoughtful: you should prevent the worst consequences of a mistake, not the mistake itself.

What do you think? Do you agree with us? Let us know and…

See you next time,
Ilaria Cazziol

3. SPII’s Charter of Values – #Passion #Curiosity #Courage

We believe everything made with passion has more value,
that curiosity is the spark of progress,
and that courage to dare is the only way to truly innovate.

Companies often look for certain characteristics in their employees or candidates. Usually these are skills, hard or soft ones, that can positively impact their job and the company at large: empathy, problem solving, professionalism, team work…

Over the years, we came to define as well a certain set of characteristics that we value most, the ones we look for in the people we hire and in the way we run this company. Do you want to know what they are?

It’s simple: they are mainly 3.

1. Passion builds more value

It may sound mainstream, but this is the first thing we strive to achieve and that we look for in people. Passion is a driver for future value, it helps innovation, it prevents people turnover, and it may ultimately be the most important characteristic a person can have.

It doesn’t mean that you need to have an incredible passion for trains to work at SPII, neither that you have to be passionate about everything that you do in your job…but you do need to have a passion for what you are trying to achieve.

Be it a new product, a new way to make something old, a boring task that is for a greater good, or even something you don’t agree with. It is the passion to face new challenges that is most important.

Because not everything in life, nor in your everyday job, may be entertaining and impactful…but the passion you have for it determines the way you interact with reality, and the overall results you can achieve.

2. You need curiosity to explore new worlds

Curiosity is something often associated with children: they have a natural tendency to explore new situations, to try everything, to ask questions – even dumb ones.

This is exactly what we look for in our people, and the kind of behavior we want to have as a company!

We want to challenge the status quo, the “it’s always been done this way” mentality, and the boring attitude companies start to have when they believe they have done it all.

Our story is 75 years old, but our attitude is as young as new. We keep challenging ourselves, looking for new ways to do old stuff, trying to improve what is good and turn it into great.

It’s a shift in perspective: from “we need to get there” to “we are here…where to next?“.

You can’t achieve this without curiosity!

3. Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s the ability to conquer it

This is possibly the most important of the three, because:

• it’s difficult to have passion if you don’t have the spirit to invest fully in something,
• and you definitely can’t be curious if you are not brave enough to challenge what is in front of you.

The status quo is good, is safe and comfortable…why should anyone ever change that?
Courage is the answer.

You need courage to take difficult decisions everyday, something a good manager can’t lack – it would be otherwise much easier not to decide anything at all.

You need courage to believe in your ideas and challenge the ones of others, and every valuable worker needs to do that despite everything.

You need courage to suggest new options, to innovate, to try and accept that you could fail…and this is something invaluable for a company, otherwise time and change will inevitably take their toll.

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Over the years, we got to believe that these are some of the most important characteristics we can find in people, and the ones we want to have as a company.

This is why they find space in the third place of our Charter of Values, right after #Whereverwecan and #Inclusion.

These are not universal truths, and not every job requires these three characteristics…but this is what we think is needed to work in SPII, and to contribute to our Vision and Mission.

Do you agree? Do you think you have them? Let’s meet, then!

See you next time,
Ilaria Cazziol