The Roots of Prismier – Be Nice

The roots of a company are deep at the company core, hidden below the surface. They’re the part that supports its growth, nourishes its culture and generates its energy. Too often flashy flowers and tempting fruits prevent you from realizing what enables their growth in the first place.

This series is about giving you a window into our roots, the part rarely seen yet incredibly important. It’s about how the 4 simple concepts of “Own It”, “Be Nice”, “Appreciate Ya” and “Grow On” have formed our core and continued to drive our upward growth since the initial seed was planted. They’ve allowed us to blossom with our customers while preserving our solid core and thriving culture.

The Science of Being Nice

It might be hard to believe when you check out the news these days, but numerous studies have shown that it’s the natural order for humans to be nice to each other. Without kindness, many anthropologists believe that we would never have survived as long as we have and we would have never accomplished any of the amazing feats that separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom. This is probably why so many other studies have demonstrated the positive effects of being nice on health, creativeness, productivity and community. When organ donors are asked why they chose to donate they are much more likely to give a logical reason opposed to an emotional one, that’s because it just makes sense to be kind! There is no effort that provides a greater return on investment than effort spent being nice to others.

The Atmosphere of our Culture

Earth’s atmosphere is the biome that enables all living things to survive and grow. At Prismier, our atmosphere of “be nice” is what makes our company a habitable place for our other core values to take root and grow. It’s difficult enough to “own it” without people pointing fingers and looking down their nose at you. You can’t “grow on” in a cutthroat environment that views colleagues as blades of grass that need to be hacked down every time they rise. A company culture without kindness is one that only looks out for itself and never finds a reason to “appreciate ya.” It’s the atmosphere of “be nice” that provides the stability for all of our core values to take hold.

Choose Your Attitude

It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of working in the dynamic and competitive world of manufacturing custom parts. Every day presents new challenges because every complex part comes with it’s own set of unique performance considerations. This is why it’s all the more important for the people at Prismier to support each other with kindness. It’s a conscious choice that each of us has to make at the start of every day before we’re in the thick of it. Most things are a matter of perspective and an atmosphere of being nice allows people to quickly move towards collaborating on a solution instead of harbouring resentment towards your teammates.

The Gentle Breeze of Being Nice

There is no one person that can perform the complete range of services at the consistent quality level that Prismier offers, it’s a team effort through and through. When it comes to collaboration between a group of highly trained specialists there is nothing that brings out the best of everybody like the air of kindness. It allows for ideas to be shared and find a receptive home in the imaginations of the group like pollen spreading in a gentle summer breeze and creating new life for the next season. When the constant demands and relentless challenges of custom part manufacturing are beating down on you like the midday sun, that gentle breeze of being nice can reinvigorate a colleague to push through for the team. It’s easy to take for granted the effects of being nice can have, sometimes it can seem imperceptible in the moment, but it’s impact is felt as soon as it’s gone.

Don’t Leave Yourself in the Rain

It always seems like the most important things are the ones we often forget, and the same goes when it comes to being nice. In this case, you have to remember to be nice to yourself! This is especially true for people in manufacturing, where one person’s small mistakes can mean big setbacks for everyone. With such high stakes on every action you take there is a tendency to hold yourself to the impossible standard of being perfect all the time. This type of attitude can put an immense amount of pressure on someone who is already doing a difficult task and can cause more harm than good when it comes to performance. Being nice to yourself allows you to perform to the best of your abilities with greater consistency then being paralyzed by the fear of messing up. This is why we encourage every Prismierian to not only be nice to their teammates and the people they interact with, but also to be nice to themselves!.