When assessing its own success, achtung! points to the heart of the culture at its company: mutual appreciation. If you are taken seriously and appreciated, then you can excel beyond all expectations.
This appreciation can be experienced by everyone at achtung! as ...
- knowledge and involvement of staff is in demand. Structuring the agency is a joint project and not the sole jurisdiction of management.
- staff members are seen as loyal, independent and having integrity, so strict regulations and rigid guidelines are unnecessary. We prefer to encourage bold, independent decisions.
- staff members are kept well informed about business developments, objectives and improvements. That’s why we have an agency breakfast, exchange forums, the achtung! newsletter and tools such as achtung! wiki and achtung! yammer (internal real-time communication).
- mistakes and failures are not penalized, we see this as gaining new knowledge.
- transfer of knowledge has a high priority – our pecha kucha exchange evenings, promoted by achtung! wiki etc.
- achtung! does not look for people to fit a job description but creates jobs which individuals develop to fit themselves.
- A special performance, extraordinary commitment to the small things and the big things are rewarded, for example with the achtung! dream. This is when we fulfill little dreams such as being an animal keeper at Hagenbeck Zoo or meeting a star backstage.
- We trust our people implicitly and demand much in return – and we encourage them.
- We prefer to fill new senior posts – which become available through our growth – with our own staff, which means high-flying careers rapidly become a reality.
- Everyone can and should contribute their opinions – irrespective of position and hierarchy. This is the only way achtung! can continue to improve.
- We retain staff, even if things are not going well in a team. It’s a question of loyalty and trust.
- achtung! gives staff the opportunity to develop in other areas. Former PR consultants become advertisers; direct marketing specialists can become events specialists; specialists become generalists. At achtung! nothing is unusual. We train staff intensively to achieve this.
- An unusually high proportion of sales turnover is invested in developing our staff.
- We keep our promises and pledges.
