Our culture At the Henry Smith Foundation, how we work matters as much as what we do.
As we’ve shaped our strategy, we’ve also taken time to reflect on our internal culture, how we work together, make decisions, and stay focused on our mission.
This work has brought us closer together as a team. It helped us build stronger connections and define a shared set of values that guide everything we do. These values are now a living part of our day-to-day work giving us a common language, clearer direction, and a deeper sense of purpose.
We’ve created a shared language and tools that help us live our values day to day, with openness, compassion and purpose.
Our values Our new values were developed by our people involving staff, trustees, leadership in a collaborative process.
They reflect both who we are and who we want to be, aligning our behaviours and working practices with the change we’re creating.
Catalysts for Change
We use our resources to drive positive, lasting change – not just respond to need.
Relationship-centred
We put relationships first. We listen with compassion, act with inclusion, and learn from different perspectives.
Forward-thinking
We look ahead. We look outward, stay open to ideas and act on insight.
Always learning
We reflect, challenge ourselves, share what we find and keep improving.
Together, these values create a strong foundation for delivering our mission — and for building a fairer, more inclusive future.
Living our values Living our values is an ongoing, active process.
We’ve created a Living Our Values Toolkit to embed them in our everyday work: from how we meet and plan, to how we give feedback, make decisions, and lead.
Our values shape how we hire, onboard and support our teams. They guide performance, leadership and learning. And they give us a shared foundation to navigate change and stay grounded in our purpose.
We believe that when values guide how we work, people feel supported, aligned and ready to make a bigger difference, together.
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