At MaineIT, we CARE about information technology! We CARE so much, that we have adopted critical values that our employees use as guiding principles in our work.

Let's talk a bit about these values:  

C: Customer Focus 

Customer focus means putting our customer's needs first and making sure that their voice is the driving force in every decision. 

Examples: 

• Having someone in meetings to represent the customer – it could be an account manager, or someone on the team who understands the customers’ needs especially well. 
• Making sure that we are putting focus on the customer’s needs in every decision habitually means that we can trust our employees to put the customer first and empower them. 
• If you’re in a meeting and something comes up that affects a customer, are you speaking up to make sure that others are aware so this can be considered? 

A: Accountability 

Accountability means that we are transparent and open in any action or decision, so our customer can see that we are putting them first. This also means taking responsibility and ownership of our products and services and doing what you say you're going to do. 

Examples: 

• Providing metrics that can be used to track our work. 
• Demonstrating to our customers that we are holding ourselves accountable and enabling them to hold us accountable.
• If you find out something that may affect a customer negatively, be proactive in notifying them rather than waiting for them to find out on their own. 

R: Responsiveness 

Responsiveness does mean responding quickly, but not at the cost of effectiveness. It's also about communicating and meeting expectations. Customer feedback indicates that they'd prefer to have clear expectations that are going to be met rather than have no communication about what is going on even if they get results quickly. 

Examples: 

• If you get a customer request that you can’t respond to right away, respond immediately just to say when you will get to it.
• Being responsive to our customers’ needs makes them more likely to want to reach out to us when they need help. 
• Provide frequent, timely updates of work in progress. 

E: Empathy 

Empathy is about understanding the emotional needs of the customer. If we only meet their technical needs without meeting their emotional needs, we’re not providing good customer experience. 

Examples: 

• Even when you recognize when a decision is right for everyone, there may still be individuals who have a reason to be unhappy with it; that may change how you behave or talk with that person. 
• Demonstrating empathy will make our customers more likely to want to come to us for help and speak positively of us to their colleagues. 
• Recognizing when an individual’s past experiences with MaineIT can affect how they interact with us now, and understanding and appreciating their needs regardless of history. 

CARE Ambassadors

MaineIT also has a group of CARE Ambassadors, employees who are responsible for formally embodying these principles and shepherding them throughout the organization.  We also help MaineIT employees recognize when their peers practice CARE values by facilitating a nomination process. Our mission statement: 

The CARE Ambassadors team should continuously improve MaineIT’s employee development and customer experience by implementing and exhibiting CARE values throughout the agency. The ambassadors will also recognize and celebrate employees who show these values and encourage other employees to exhibit CARE qualities. This is all to make our organization a leader in positive professional and personal employee growth.

Meet the current CARE Ambassadors!