Our New Values Shape The Way We Work

Coupa recently refreshed its core values to reflect the new chapter of Coupa, which includes its branding, vision, mission, and new leadership team. Two learning consultants with Coupa for nearly four years shed some light on what these refreshed values mean to them.

Matt Daack, Sr. Manager of Learning & Development, is based out of Missouri and is a member of our veterans employee resource group, Encourage. Before Coupa, he spent 25 years in the Air Force as a pilot and organizational leader.

Kristi Gay, Sr. Manager of Education & Training, is a member of Empower, Coupa’s women’s employee resource group and is based out of Wisconsin. Before Coupa she spent 20 years as an engineering manager and programmer at a scale manufacturing company.

What does “Drive Success for #AllOfUs” mean to you?

Matt: The core of our success as a company is our commitment to the success of the people, teams, and organizations around us. We are not “order takers.” We are experts, visionaries, and consultants who take time to build a relationship of trust with those we support inside and outside of Coupa. We ask questions, and we seek to understand what success looks like to them. Then, we plot a course together where our expertise and vision merge to drive a new level of success, greater than they imagined in the first place.

Kristi: One of the endearing things about Coupa from the beginning was the idea of the “Coupa Village”, with the idea that ALL of us are stronger and smarter than ONE of us. This value doesn’t just apply to Coupa employees; with this refresh, it is widened to encompass the entire community that makes Coupa strong: employees, customers, partners, and suppliers.

Why does “Own Our Results” matter as a Core Value?

Kristi: How do you know you’re successful unless you have some meaningful and measurable results to prove that success (even if that proof is just to yourself)? But my favorite part of this refreshed Core Value is the “owning” part, which adds a level of accountability and ownership to these results. When my kids’ volleyball team misses a ball, there is always someone tapping their chest afterward, as in “My bad”. This is so much healthier and more productive than pointing fingers and blaming others. There will always be challenges in business, and the more people claim “my bad”, the faster things will be corrected.

Matt: “Own Our Results” describes “we all take proactive action and have accountability for the outcomes of our efforts.” We do not walk past a problem. If we see a piece of paper on the floor, we pick it up. If we see a challenge or a gap or an opportunity in our business, we gather the right stakeholders, and we address it. It is this culture of personal and shared accountability that fuels our innovation and achievement as a generational company.

Tell us why “Cultivate Belonging” was added as a new Core Value.

Matt: Every person at Coupa was hired for a reason…because of what each of us, uniquely, brings to the Village. We each bring our culture and experience and expertise and values. We must be free to leverage all of who we are, and we are free to do so when we feel like we belong here. In my view, the most effective way to cultivate belonging is to consider others before yourself. When we listen more than we speak and truly seek to understand and celebrate the people around us, we all thrive. When we all thrive, our achievement and success skyrocket.

Kristi: The world needs more empathy, and the more we can understand each other, especially as a global company working with people from all different countries and backgrounds, the better the world and company we can create. Working with employee resource groups gives an additional way to flex this value, but everyone should feel like they can come to work as their true, authentic selves, which is the best way to be innovative and creative with ease!

Finally, what does “Build Tomorrow Together” mean to you?

Kristi: This value re-emphasizes the idea that together, we are stronger than individually. We are also moving past adolescence in our company growth that started in infancy as a startup in 2006, but as we grow in revenue, grow in transactional spend that we manage, grow in number of employees, and grow in geographic locations, we want to work together better, ensuring that Coupa will be the best company in which to work for generations to come, and that it is the place where our kids want to work because the culture is so strong.

Matt: What I have noticed about our Core Values is that none of them is possible alone. Every behavior that leads to our growth and success involves others in some way. Building and sustaining a generational, global, industry-leading company is a heavy burden. However, when we support each other by sharing new ideas and the resultant workload, we can move forward at a speed of innovation and impact that far outpaces that of the industry.

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