An axiom is a statement that is taken to be true and/or a starting point for further reasoning and arguments.

As part of our culture, we created a deck of axioms we often point to in our day-to-day work to explain the how and why of our work. These are ideas our team collectively understands. We recently shared our first axion, “Going into the Woods.”

And now, we’re sharing the next one. In this post, we’re talking about: Your input, my call.

We endeavour to keep as flat an organizational structure as possible. However, there needs to be accountability. When it comes to making a decision input and feedback will be taken into consideration but if consensus cannot be reached it’s up to the most accountable party to make the decision. This is how we define “Your input, my call.”

We encourage collaboration. With multidisciplinary teams working together, it’s important we understand accountability across our agency. Different team members will be accountable for specific parts of the project. Input is great, but it can easily lead a project into the abyss, especially if no one is willing to acknowledge their accountability. This axiom helps our team collaborate and share their input freely, while understanding that specific team members will ultimately be held accountable for that work and/or project and they must have the final call.

We asked our design team what “Your input, my call” meant for their process and how they balance input on their work while maintaining accountability.

Here’s what our design team had to say: