Values
Our company values are rooted in Indigenous knowledge and our business decision-making is guided by our values. The 7 Grandfather Teachings from Anishinaabe culture inform our relationships with partners, team members, contractors, and other collaborators.
Humility
Humility means being of service and asking for help. It means admitting mistakes and understanding our place in each project. While we bring a wealth of expertise from our field to each project, we humbly acknowledge every partner and contributor with whom we collaborate brings knowledge, expertise, and experience from their field. We recognize every collaborator knows something we don’t and, as a team, being humble means we always seek feedback and strive to learn.
Truth
Truth means understanding ourselves and understanding our team. We see Truth as the internal cousin of Honesty. However, while they often work together, it’s important to remember they are not the same thing. Understanding Truth means understanding and honouring lived experiences. It means looking at all scenarios, not with cold objectivity but with understanding. It can also sometimes mean either weaving together multiple perspectives or holding differing perspectives together at once.
Honesty
Honesty is about respecting and sharing Truth. One can know and hold truths without being honest about them - the team at Animikii strives to do both. We strive to always be honest with ourselves, each other, our community, and our partners. In a practical sense this means holding each other and ourselves accountable to our words, actions, and promises. It means being kind when we share feedback, asking questions, and recognising each others’ strengths in challenges.
Wisdom
Wisdom is about sharing and seeking knowledge and understanding each person knows and keeps their own Wisdom. All of us are learning from each other and we are grateful to continually have opportunities to learn. We seek Wisdom from each other, partners, advisors, and mentors. We strive to act as lifelong students in our respective roles as we watch and listen for opportunities to learn. We strive to do better on each upcoming project. In order to gain Wisdom, we sometimes need to make mistakes and reflect upon those mistakes to learn.
Respect
Respect is what teamwork is built on. Respect means thinking outside of your own perspective and understanding the perspectives of friends, coworkers, and partners. For us, Respect is about honouring the value of ourselves, our team, our partners, our environment, and our work. Respect is treating others the way you like to be treated. Respect requires balance in honouring yourself and others.
Courage
Courage at work is doing what is right over what is comfortable, fun, fast, or easy. Courage is practicing our values, rather than simply listing them on our website. It also means saying no to projects or partners who do not align with our values. Operating as an Indigenous digital agency in the technology space doesn't come with a path - our team is drawing the map as we go. We make decisions as a team and it takes Courage from every team member to speak up and make their voices heard.
Love
Love is the binding holding together all the other values. One cannot know or understand Love without Humility, Truth, Honesty, Wisdom, Respect, and Courage. Love is the value allowing us to cohesively work as a team and with our broader partners and collaborators. Love is about acknowledging the value we each bring to the team and about supporting each team member's ideas and pursuits.