A Guide for Choosing Your Business Core Values

To provide some help here, we have assembled this following sequential guide to discovering and creating your core business values.

1 – Get a Clear Picture of your Companies Current Standing

The first step is to assess your company’s culture. How you view your company and what your company actually represents are two very different things. With this in mind, getting some outsider input may be helpful.

Company reviews are a good place to begin your search, you can also ask some of your employees and clients for input. Aussie Writing manager, Tom Jefferson, suggests conducting surveys and forming focus groups from vendors, clients, and insightful staff members. You may be surprised and delighted to know your personal perspective was not as accurate as you think.

2 – Review the strategic Plan Currently in Effect

If you have a company, then you must have a working plan. Your business plan was most likely assembled carefully and represents where you’d like to see your company within a few years’ time.

A clear perspective of how far your company has progressed along this plan is the first half of this step. While you are communicating with employees to review company culture and progress along with the plan, be sure to take a moment and ask for details on plans for staff and growth as well as specifics on production and revenues.

3 – Consider the cultures

By the time you reach this step, you should already have a clear picture of the company’s cultural organization that will propel it towards the future along a planned path. Now it is time to consider which tools will be most effective in attaining the most auspicious culture.

Begin by checking the values and see if they need adjusting. Use surveys and interviews to gather details and then ask yourself if the values you currently hold are sufficient for reaching the goals you have laid out. You could even include questions about optional values and solicit options and additional ideas.

4 – Choose the values

Now that you have a good set of ideas out on the desk, it is time to select one from the stack. Here is some helpful advice on making this important decision.

–           Values have a cost. Have you asked yourself what this value will cost you? It’s important to do this before solidifying it in writing and introducing it to your process.

–           Values need a purpose. Employees will have a hard time seeing the need for value if it doesn’t affect what they are doing directly, no customers or clients will be interested in doing business without a core value.

–           Values must be followed by action. Coordinate actions properly to avoid issues or further costs. This will attract qualified professionals to your team, allow you to work together without issues and reduce the turnover rate.

–           Values should suit the company. The company was the very reason you chose these values in the first place. The efforts of a company are based on these core values which form the cohesion which keeps the company moving with a mission.

5 – Define the meaning of the value

At this point you should have a value that fits your company’s purpose perfectly, now it is time to add a concise definition and introduce the value to your customers and employees. As any leader knows, you will transmit your message most effectively by using clear and specific terms when explaining what your employees should do to adhere to the values outlined.

 6 – Incorporate the values into the processes of the organization

Now the values you have carefully chosen and prepared are ready to be introduced into the workings of your company. It is essential for maximum efficacy that the plan is introduced to all sections without exception.

You will see that it is far easier to introduce values to new employees rather than try to restructure old values. It is imperative that employees believe in and adheres to the company values. Read about ICON and a valued team member who lives their values.

Aligning them with compensations and performance reviews could be one option. With new employees, be sure to discuss the values in your initial interviews and provide them with a copy in their contracts.