Founded in 2006, LiquidPlanner provides project management software that enables teams to manage and complete their most important work. With the application of our unique methodology, key insights are revealed, cross-team collaboration is enriched, resource allocation is enabled, and teams are finally able to know when work will be completed, with confidence.

More than a decade later, we continue to deliver and build upon on our founder’s vision. We have tremendous pride in the thousands of companies we have helped achieve and extend their company purpose. Along the way, we have grown as a firm. Team members have joined and added their perspectives. Consultants have been engaged to share their wisdom. Our product has matured, and feature sets have expanded in response to customer requests or marketplace opportunities.

While these things partly define our company, our real identity is reflected in the people of LiquidPlanner and values that guide our decisions.

Our company’s commitment to diversity is partially revealed in the makeup of our team, comprised of 56% women and 20% people of color.  More important is the environment we provide and how we come together as a team to enable individuals to be their best selves and deliver their best work. I will share here a few of the ways we invest:

Values

Established early in the company’s history, four of our values have remained constant: Service First, Always be Learning, Courage to Change, and Disciplined in Action. Late last year we adapted one focused on accountability (Own It) to a new value, focused on collaboration — One Team, One Win. This value reinforces our commitment to working together in pursuit of results.

While proud of each of these values, recent societal acknowledgment of inequity and injustice prompted us to commit our position and voice our support in the form of a new value, Strength in Inclusion. In doing so, we express our commitment to being an inclusive community that celebrates authenticity and recognizes that our business is stronger as a result of our diversity.

Our values are leveraged to hire talent, make business decisions, and inform investments in our team and company culture. They define, guide, and reflect the nature of our workplace and how we choose to do business.

Communication

Perhaps the most important investment we make is to listen and share. Forums for communication include weekly team meetings, weekly 1:1’s between team members and their supervisor, and periodic skip level connections with me, the CEO. We also assemble project teams to deliver on strategic objectives, involving team members from across the organization to add their perspective to the work most meaningful to the broader company.

This week, we established an Employee Diversity Committee focused on ensuring our policies and programs align with our newest value. This group will inform and strengthen our commitment to inclusion plus introduce new initiatives that enrich how our company leverages its diversity to beneficially impact communities of which we are part of.

Role Design

The best work is made possible when expectations are clear, tasks align with strengths, and individuals collaborate effectively. We have adapted roles over time, taking care to design according to the individual, and not just the business need. Perhaps more than anything else, when objectives enable team members to contribute to their fullest potential, job satisfaction is increased, and work quality is enhanced.

The path to achieving our aspirations for diversity and inclusion is not straight or well defined. Rather it is comprised of ideas, aspirations, experiments, and our core values. The journey to excellence will take shape as we become better informed and adapt as we learn from initiatives pursued. We will not waiver in our commitment to pursuing and doing what we believe to be right and good. And we have confidence that all investments will benefit our capacity to serve customers, our business health, and our commitment to being a place where each team member is proud to work.