Core values are something that I didn’t really “get” during my first few years of business. I understood them conceptually, but because I didn’t understand their power, I failed to utilize them in a way that increased my profitability.
What are core values?
Core values are principles that guide company behavior. So, what does that mean? Well, if you’re a team of one, YOU are making all of the decisions. You might not spend much time thinking about how you make decisions, because if there’s a decision that needs to be made, you just go ahead and make it.
As your team grows and as you build out your leadership team, you will not be the only one making decisions. You will reach a point where you have multiple people on your team making multiple decisions every day WITHOUT your involvement…and that’s a good thing!
Building and leading a team that makes good decisions that move your business forward is key to sustained growth over time.
HOWEVER, if you don’t have a set of shared core values that your entire team can get behind – you are setting yourself up for failure.
We all have different things that are important to us and influence our decision making. For example, someone who values efficiency might sacrifice beauty in order to speed things up – which is fine if Efficiency is ALSO your core value.
But, what if it’s not?
What if it’s MORE important to you that you produce a beautiful product than it is that you produce it quickly?
Well, your employee is not a mind reader and unless that core value of Beauty is explicitly stated, they will proceed to make decisions based on Efficiency.
Creating and communicating core values for your company helps everyone get on the same page about how you expect decisions to be made.
Core values might be things like Integrity, Initiative, Resourcefulness, Beauty, or Efficiency.
Those core values help to define the company culture and the way people “show up” at work. You probably have memories of working at some companies where you did “not” like the vibe. You couldn’t put your finger on it (or maybe you could) but, you felt like you didn’t really fit in and it felt difficult to connect with other employees.
That was likely a mismatch of core values.
You can also likely think of a place where you LOVED to work. You and your manager were frequently on the same page and you were able to feel like you were really part of the “community” at work.
There’s a good chance that you shared the same core values in that case.
So, how do core values impact your ability to scale up in a way that is profitable and sustainable?
There are many ways core values contribute to increased profitability, but today I want to talk about two.
Number 1, you will be able to attract and retain top talent. People who are really great at what they do are in a unique position to work just about anywhere – so, why should they work for you? Most great employees are not motivated by money alone. Yes, they want to be fairly compensated for their work – but, they also want to work at a place where they feel like they belong. Creating a unique company culture is not just a great selling point, it also helps the right people want to CONTINUE to work at your company. High turnover is expensive for the company because it takes a lot of time to train and onboard new employees for the same role over and over. Your profitability will increase when you can retain great employees for longer periods of time.
Number 2, core values should influence all your hiring and firing decisions. Your core values need to be present throughout your entire hiring process. Just like your sales and marketing needs to repel clients who are not a good fit, your core values need to repel those who are not a good fit to work at your company. For example, if your company values personal growth and you love bringing in experts to help your team expand their mindset and improve the quality of their thoughts – but, two weeks into the job you hear your brand new employee say they think people who are into personal growth are idiots…there’s going to be a problem. It’s time wasted and money down the drain to hire someone who is NOT on the same page with your company core values.
Our company adopted a new core value in light of everything that has transpired in 2020 and as we look to continued growth in 2021.
That core value is RESILIENCE: Adapt to unexpected challenges, ask for help if needed, move forward, and come back stronger.
Things change, sometimes abruptly, and when those things happen, we have a choice about how we’ll respond.
Fear, anxiety, embarrassment, disappointment are all feelings, but if we want to move forward – we need to adapt and move on.
It’s not a matter of avoiding your feelings or pretending they don’t exist, it’s a matter of managing them in a healthy way so that you can keep going.
As a CEO, it’s my responsibility to create an environment where employees feel comfortable asking for help when they need it.
While I can’t “make” someone feel comfortable, I can certainly work towards creating a company culture that supports asking for help.
Some people see asking for help as a sign of weakness and that belief has likely been reinforced for years by living and working in toxic environments where perfection is demanded, mistakes are not tolerated, and if you are not able to get everything done yourself – that means you are incapable.
I don’t see things that way. Asking for help is required if you want to be resilient.
Nobody is going to know you need help unless you ask for it – and sometimes asking for it feels hard to do (especially if you feel guilt or shame around doing so).
As you grow your company, you cannot assume that people have the same belief system that you do, which is why it is SO important to carry those core values throughout your entire hiring process and throughout someone’s experience in working for your company.
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