Building Who We Are: Why Now Was the Moment to Define Oppidan’s Core Values

By: Dave Scott, President and Nikki Hauck, Vice President, People

At Oppidan, we believe that culture isn’t something that you write down – it’s something that you live every day. For years, our culture has been shaped by our people, our projects, and the communities we serve. But as we’ve grown – expanding across cities and markets, welcoming new team members, and evolving our leadership structure – we reached an important realization: it was time to clearly define who we are and what we stand for. 

Why Now

Growth brings opportunity, but it also brings complexity.

As Oppidan continues to scale, we’ve added new leaders, expanded into new regions, and built teams across multiple offices and disciplines. With that growth came an important question: how do we ensure that the culture that got us here is the same culture that carries us forward? Core values provided that answer. They create clarity.  They align decision-making and they ensure that no matter where we are or what we are working on, we operate from the same foundation. We knew that if we wanted to sustain our growth with intention, we needed to redefine those principals for Oppidan. 

A Process Built on Listening

But just as important as what our values are is how we created them. From the start, this would not be a top-down exercise. Instead, we committed to building our values from the ground up – with input from every voice across the company. We formed a dedicated Values Team made up of employees representing different offices, roles and perspectives. The task was simple, but meaningful: listen to our people. 

Over the course of more than six months, our Values Team conducted structured, one on one interviews with employees using a consistent set of questions. A companywide questionnaire was distributed to gather additional input, and we collected and analyzed the responses reflecting how our team sees Oppidan today and where we should go in the future. 

Through these conversations, several themes stood out: a strong sense of teamwork, trust and shared accountability, a culture rooted in entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving and pride in the impact we have on communities and own partners. Employees described Oppidan as a place defined by relationships, ownership, hard work, and integrity – insights that became the foundation of the values we ultimately defined. 

The Work Behind the Words

The values process did not stop with gathering input.

The Values Team met multiple times to evaluate feedback, identify patterns and begin translating those ideas into clear, meaningful values. That meant writing, rewriting, and refining – again and again – until every word felt right. 

There was intentionality behind every phrase. Not just in what sounded good, but in what was true. This was not about creating aspirational statements that sit on a wall. It was about capturing what already exists at our core and making it clear, consistent and actionable. 

The result is a set of values grounded in who we are:

• We develop with an entrepreneurial spirit, embracing creativity and innovation
• We are driven by integrity earning trust through our actions
• We are fueled by grit, overcoming challenges with resilience
• We are empowered by teamwork, because we win together
• We act to make a lasting impact, in our communities, partnerships and with each other.

These are not just ideas. They are the shared beliefs our team shaped together. 

Bringing our Values to Life

Defining our values is only the beginning. Once finalized, we rolled them out across the company and immediately focused on how to make them part of our everyday experience.  We introduced a structured rollout plan designed to embed these values into how we work and recognize each other through the work of our Values Ambassadors. The ambassadors play a critical role in helping bring values to life – across teams, offices and everyday interactions.  Their focus is simple but powerful: Move our values from words on a page to habits in our day-to-day work. Because values are not something you memorize, they are something you practice. 

What This Means for Oppidan’s Future

At its core, this process was about alignment. Alignment between who we are, how we operate and where we are going.  As we continue to grow, these values will guide how we hire and develop talent, recognize performance, make decisions and show up for our partners and communities. They give us a shared language and a shared expectation. Most importantly, they ensure that as Oppidan evolves, we continue to build not just projects but a culture we are proud to be a part of. 

This was more than a project. It was a reflection of who we are. Every conversation, every edit, every story that was shared contributed to something bigger. As a set of values that represent us, Oppidan. And that is why this moment is so meaningful in our company’s history. Because they are not just the company’s values, they are OUR values.