We live in a world of acronyms – LOL, IKR, FWIW, IMO, and others that are NSFW. At The Anti, we coined an acronym that defines our culture and keeps our core values top-of-mind: THIS. T-H-I-S stands for Team first, Humble, Innovative, and Smart.
Welcome to the first edition of our latest blog series where each of our leaders will explain what THIS means to them and the team they lead.
I have the privilege of being a player/coach to a team of 10 business process consultants who live our core values every day, and I consider them to be the best in the business.
You may have heard the term “business process consultant,” but we often refer to them by the acronym BPC.
What is a BPC? For our team and the customers we serve, the BPC is the trusted advisor for translating a customer’s HR service delivery vision on the ServiceNow platform and within the Employee Services Management suites of products. The backbone of the functionality is Case Management, Knowledge Management and Employee Center, but our projects are typically more complex than that. The BPC ensures our customer’s HR service delivery solution is engaging, scalable, and that they get the most out of their ServiceNow investment.
Let’s examine The Anti’s four core values through the lens of the BPC team.
TEAM FIRST
We take care of each other. I’ve never been part of a team who supports each other, no questions asked. Each of us has different experiences that, when shared amongst the team, make us all better. The phrase “iron sharpens iron” has never applied more to a team than it does at The Anti.
We get to know each other. What are your kids up to? Is it baseball season? What are you doing for spring break? Have a great time on your trip to Korea! We’ll hold the fort down while you’re gone. Knowing each other on a personal level builds trust and shows our teammates how valuable they are to us.
Our leadership values work/life balance. Need time off? Sure, but let’s plan it so that our customers don’t feel a difference to their project. Mental Health Day? Absolutely! We started a tradition five years ago to give our team the Friday before Memorial Day off – as part of Mental Health Awareness Month – to unplug, recharge and get ready for what is often a busy season for us.
Want to take a course to make you better – and by extension, us? No problem. Generative AI, Employee Growth and Development and Manager Hub are all ServiceNow features that customers want. Giving our team the time they need to explore these topics helps all of us.
A happy team who feels valued by their leadership makes happy customers who come back for more.
HUMBLE
We have a saying that perfectly demonstrates humble – “No peacocks.” If you’ve worked with a peacock, you know what I’m talking about. The know-it-all, the one who sees themself better than their peers. Confidence is one thing, but crossing the line to arrogance is hard to live down. None of us are above another. The brand is The Anti, not just you.
There are two things I look for when I interview BPC candidates: 1. Are you coachable? 2. Are you loyal? You can’t answer yes to those questions unless you humble yourself and understand that you are part of something bigger than yourself.
You can’t fake humility. Customers and co-workers see through it pretty quickly and it hinders customers from trusting you.
INNOVATIVE
Throughout my career in consulting, even with all your experience, you are typically asked questions by customers two or three times a week that you’ve never been asked before.
When that happens to me, the gears in my head start spinning because all the solutions I’ve helped customers implement come flooding to my mind. As an engineer at heart, I constantly remind myself (and our team does this, too) to “not solution.” Our customers have even adopted that phrase. This allows us to consider all the options to solve a particular problem and innovate on the solution.
Often, we innovate to configure ServiceNow to do things it doesn’t natively do, while staying within the boundaries of the product as it comes out of the box. One phrase that helps us move on without falling down the solution rabbit hole is, “I can see it in my head.” This is usually the clue that we’re on the right track and an innovative solution is just around the corner.
I’m continually astounded by our team’s ability to apply configuration that would typically be considered a customization. In our experience, configuration > customization so that customers can support themselves once our engagement ends.
SMART
Finally, smart. Our BPCs are held accountable to what they learned in ServiceNow HR Fundamentals, HR Implementation training, and working with our technical consultants to make sure the customer’s design requirements can be implemented.
As I said earlier, the BPC is the functional expert. In other words, how will ServiceNow work to make our customers' lives easier?
“I’m not technical” is not a phrase we use. For our team of BPCs, being smart means knowing something can be done without necessarily knowing how to do it. We see a lot on our projects and that experience comes to bear from one customer to another. Applying that experience is what matters and what customers appreciate. UI Policy? Business Rule? Client script? Technical terms, for sure, but as long as the BPC knows the language, they can work with the technical consultants to make it happen.
I hope this gives you a better sense of what makes our BPC team tick. I’m incredibly proud of our team and will put them up against anyone in the industry.
We are always looking for people who live Team first, Humble, Innovative and Smart. Visit our careers page and apply for the role that is meaningful to you. We’d love to meet you!
About the Author: Sean leads our design team with 25 years of experience implementing various HCM solutions for dozens of customers in a wide variety of industries. He joined The Anti seven years ago and has focused solely on ServiceNow’s Employee Service Management suite of products. Sean also led the effort at The Anti to create our Review and Recommend and ANTIcipate HRSD offerings that point customers to “true north,” while leveraging the latest features in the Employee Service Management suite of products.
About The Anti: In 2017, we realized traditional HR technology consulting desperately needed an overhaul. So, we flipped the script on consulting culture.
We grew a team with expertise in real world HR process design and technology implementation
We aggregated and refined the best practices we’d already proven elsewhere
We rejected traditional friction points and changed consulting culture for the better
It caught on, and we have since delivered 350+ ServiceNow HRSD engagements as the only elite ServiceNow Partner committed to the employee experience workflow products. The Anti brings a unique blend of HR Consulting experience, HR Technology backgrounds, and HR Practitioner expertise to every engagement.
Types of engagements and how we can help
We offer a comprehensive range of assistance that encompasses five key types of engagement:
Implementation Readiness Assessments
User & Experience Design
Initial Implementations (Phase 1)
Follow-on Deployments (Phase 2+)
Advisory and Managed Services
Our mission is to meet you where you are in your ServiceNow journey to ensure your project is a success. Whether you require help with the initial setup or need guidance on optimizing your deployment, we are here to help every step of the way. With our expertise and commitment to excellence, you can be sure you are in safe hands.
For more information or to schedule a call with our team, drop a note to aloha@theanti.com!
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