How to determine your business core values and why to do so
A business is an organization, and every organization is built on values, behaviors and attitudes. In order to create a positive image to the public and build long-lasting relationships with everyone involved in the work process (vendors, customers and stakeholders), a leader must pay special attention to the core values of the organization.
Your business will not grow only because you followed all the right steps when creating the marketing strategy. It also won’t grow if you only hire the best employees and leave everything to them. If you want to be a great leader, you must start talking about core values.
To help you out, we have created a step by step guide you can follow to determine and build the best business core values:
Step 1: Understand where the company stands at the moment
Take the time to evaluate the current culture of your organization. What you believe about the company and what it actually represents can be two completely different things, so try to get some outsider perspective.
You can do this by checking others’ reviews of your company, or ask employees and customers directly. Tom Jefferson, a manager at Aussie Writings, recommends to create surveys and focus groups, interview clients, vendors and employees, and find out how effective the company actually is. You may be surprised to learn that not every idea of yours is as effective as you think.
Step 2: Review the current strategic plan
If you have a company, you surely have a business plan to follow. This plan is probably carefully thought and created, and represents where you want your company to be in the future.
When you know the situation in your company at the moment, you are halfway to finishing this step. While you are meeting with employees to check the culture and progress of the organization, ask them to introduce you in detail to the revenue, production, staff and growth plans.
Step 3: Consider the cultures
When you get to this point, you should already have a clear picture of the current organizational culture of your business, and the plans the company has for the future. It is now time to consider the tools you need to achieve the culture you find to be most promising.
Do your current values need to shift? Check the surveys, interviews and results of the research, and decide if the values there are sufficient to reach your goals. You can even implement an extra survey to confirm the values and get some new ideas.
Step 4: Choose the values
Now that you have the ideas in front of you, it is time to narrow it all down. Here is what you must know when choosing your businesses core values:
- Values always cost something. Know what your value will cost you before formulating a statement and implementing it into the company.
- Values should have a purpose. No employee will follow the value if it does not mean anything to them, and no customer will purchase your products and services without a strong value.
- Values should be followed up with action. Plan your actions right to avoid problems and additional costs. This will help you recruit talented employees, lead them without any struggles and reduce employee turnover.
- Values should fit the company’s culture. This is the reason why you determined the culture in the first place. The work of a company is based on the values, and these serve to further the organization’s mission.
Step 5: Define the meaning of the value
You should have a chosen value at this point, so it is now time to define this value and plan the strategies for introducing it to the employees and customers. As a great leader, you must be clear and specific when explaining what is expected from the employee, and what they must do to honor your introduced values.
Step 6: Incorporate the values into the processes of the organization
The values you researched, chose and defined are ready to be integrated in the processes of your organization. Use the plan you previously created to integrate the values in all operational areas and processes, without any exceptions.
You will learn that new values are easier introduced to new job candidates than to existing ones. It is much harder to change a value than to introduce a new one. Align the values with compensation and performance reviews if necessary. With new candidates, discuss the current values they have when joining the company, and provide them with the new ones in their employee contracts.
Having a strong foundation of the right core values in a company does wonders in every aspect. Starting from hiring the right employees to building the perfect organization culture, these steps should help you create a successful business.
Olivia is a young journalist who is passionate about topics of career, recruitment and self-development. She constantly tries to learn something new and share this experience on relevant websites. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
