Culture Manifesto

We have long believed good people can choose to work anywhere. You chose to work with Create., and we are privileged to be part of your journey.

We aim to be the most innovative strategic digital communications agency and the best employer in the region. We believe we can only be truly successful if we achieve both, and to do this takes commitment and accountability from everyone on the team.

That means we must always respect, nurture and support one another. It also means that sometimes we must challenge each other, but we do so only to get the best out of ourselves and our team members.

We want everyone to feel at home at Create. You should feel comfortable being yourself and bringing your life experiences to work. We can only build a diverse, safe, creative and inspiring environment if you are you.

Our community comes before our clients

We offer an inclusive space for every person from every background. In supporting one another and encouraging everyone to bring their best selves to work, we won’t tolerate those who undermine and disrespect the principles of our culture.

This responsibility to maintain, uphold and continue to build these principles sits with each and every one of you, each and every day.

We lead with empathy and care, we interact with one another with the utmost respect, and we ensure our working environment not only sustains our business and our teams, but also provides a fair, honest and open place to work.

We have spent a decade building a strong reputation as a partner and a place to work. We need to protect that reputation and build on it.

How we engage and interact with one another

This is the starting point of every shared culture.

We are committed to empathetic, respectful, open conversations. We do not accept anything less. There is no space for ego when we are working as a collective to achieve the best outcome.

We don’t shy away from difficult conversations, and we create environments that enable these to be had; in safe, inclusive spaces that enable everyone to be seen and heard.

We aim to be clear and transparent in all our communications, meeting one another as equals and members of a holistic community. Communication lines are open across our business, at every level, always.

Our work ethic

Accountability and ownership are the pillars of our approach to work.

We work in a hybrid world and it is essential that in enabling this level of remote working across our business, there is trust, respect and a personal commitment to deliver across the organisation.

On working days, this means ensuring you are fully contributing and accountable to your teams.

We expect you to be on time for work, meetings, deadlines, reviews, briefings and so on, as well as ensure your work is delivered to the standard we expect as a high-performing agency.

This does not mean burning out due to consistent overworking, overdelivery and overachievement. Your wellbeing is the source of your excellence, and we are serious about protecting it.

Look after yourself and those around you, as it is our sustainable collective energy that drives our success.

How we face challenges

Failure and mistakes are a part of life and work.

It is important to embrace failure, and understand it clearly, determine why it happened and learn from these moments. In our community, we hold each other accountable for poor performance and ensure a clear direction is set to enable growth and learning for the future.

To overcome challenges we focus on the following principles:

• Clear and honest conversations
• Blameless, open problem solving
• Accountability to ourselves, our teams and our business
• A commitment to finding the solution first, finding how we can do better and solve issues before they reoccur

How we lead

Many of us are in a position of leadership in one way or another. Each of you has a big responsibility – we expect you to respectfully and professionally support, mentor and enable the growth of your team and the individuals within it.

As a human-first organisation, we focus on positivity, empathy and clear communication as the starting point of leadership. If your team knows that you truly care for them and their wellbeing, then together you will be able to overcome all challenges.

Positive intent underpins every action you make in leadership no matter how tough conversations may be.

Embody the fact that collectively you want a better outcome for each other. In doing so, feedback will ultimately be accepted as an opportunity to learn, heal and grow.

To manage teams from a people-first perspective, focus on the following principles:

• Ensure our teams know that we fundamentally care for their wellbeing
• Regularly check in with them, enabling a space that encourages two-way feedback
• Ensure that feedback is respectful, clear, candid and open minded
• Create space for discussion, feedback, disagreement and resolution
• Provide clear targets, personal and professional goals, and performance expectations of all team members