Don’t tell me about your core values, make me guess.
Imagine what would change using this approach in the world of business. Imagine if a stranger walked into your virtual or physical office and said, “Let me guess your core values.” What would he look for? What would he see? What would you hope he sees?
An organization embodies thousands of individuals who have their own core values. Combined together, core values help organizations thrive or dissolve. The trick to success is understanding the DNA of those who work for you: why are they there? What drives them? What frustrates them? The answers to these questions play out in every day interactions: they define your true core values.
1) What are core values?
Core values define what is important to the people who do the work and the customers who interact with those people.
2) Why are they important?
People embody your core values. Your staff live and breathe your core values every day. You hire people to carry out the goodness in your culture- that goodness that makes coming to work a valuable experience for your staff and that same goodness that makes customers return time and time again. You hire staff who live and breathe your core values in everything you do.
3) What do we do with them?
Modeling: when used effectively, leaders are trained to model the organization’s core values. If they model behavior in conflict with these values, they are challenged and/or removed.
Decision-making: core values are used regularly as a reference point for decisions. If the solution or direction aligns with the core values, the connection is made apparent. If the solution or direction is in conflict with the organization’s core values, it’s permissible to challenge and neglect the work.
Also, in hiring and promotional practices, leaders learn to look for people who embody the core values. They prioritize values over skill, training, and ability.
Infrastructure: the organization creates infrastructure to support the values. This may be built into culture, processes, employee services, tools amenities, etc. An organization, for example, cannot be risk adverse (actively discouraging new ways of doing business) but value continuous improvement. The infrastructure must encourage and empower the value while discouraging the adverse.
Strategic alignment: what happens when an organization changes focus and alignment, challenging the organization’s core values? People leave. What happens when core values are promoted but contradicting behavior continues? Your organization’s integrity is at risk. Your mission, vision, values, Strategic directions and employee’s goals must all align and without a doubt provide clear guidance for the every day work of the organization.
And when new values are marketed that don’t align with the organization’s structure and people, they can be antagonistic at best and damaging at worst.
So, when thinking about your organization’s core values, the following steps are recommended:
1) Identify your values first,
2) Ask your team to do the same,
3) Together, identify your shared values. Do they align with the organizations marketed values? Can you close the gap?
4) Identify behaviors, language, and feelings that support your shared values and those that perpetuate problems.
5) Close the gap.
This work isn’t hard, it’s reflective, and it speaks to the heart of the organization, starting with you. Your values matter every day.
What steps do you take to ensure your customers know your core values (without actually telling them)? Why do you think it’s important they know them? What else could you do to help them inherently understand your core values? Comment below with your ideas. I want to learn from you.
Inspiring New Leaders 