By Armando “BUTZ” Bartolome
Building a business entails a lot of things. Apart from the responsibility of ensuring that you continuously look at how your business grows, it is also important to take time and check out the people that are working for you. Remember that a company’s success is not just because of a single person. Success happens when people work as a team with the desire to help each other grow as well.
Core Values
To have a clear goal of what you want in your business, a company needs to create corporate values that would act as the guidelines of their internal conduct which also includes the company’s relationship with its customers, partners, and shareholders.
Some of the core values which we often see on the Mission Statements of companies are:
Accuracy, accountability, competence, dependability, discipline, efficiency, innovation, leadership, persistence, strength, sustainability and so much more. All these are positive indicators that are associated with the kind of business that a company offers. And by following these core values, the whole company would surely enjoy great benefits since people would have a better perception of the company.
But one thing that some companies would often overlook is to maintain the reputation that people are expecting from them. Lacking the time to check on the people working for the company would have a negative impact on the company as a whole.
The core values should be a means to direct media and investor attention. Additionally, companies should do more than simply display these value statements. They should be engaging in values-driven improvement efforts such as appraising executives and staff regarding their adherence to values, training staff in values, and hiring organization experts that can help address how these values can affect corporate performance.
Developing Corporate Values
It is almost ineffective if you draft the values statement all by yourself. Getting your team in a room and including everyone in the process by tapping in their ideas so that it would be easier to uncover core values that are already existing and to avoid meaningless values that some leaders have often imposed on a certain organization in the hopes of re-sculpting culture. Take note that with everyone’s participation you are likely to come up with a set of values that are unique to your company which can result in better performance.
Building a Competent Team
It is essential to develop your corporate values early so you can have a lasting and positive effect on your organization. While your team is still manageable, instill these values so that it would be easier to build a team that you can rely on. As years pass, and as your team grows, it would surely be a challenge. It may be a bit difficult to always reach a common goal when there are so many people trying to get their thoughts on the table. But despite all these, the core values should be maintained, and the decisions should revolve around what the company has always done in the past.
Give everyone the opportunity to contribute their thoughts by reflecting individually on your existing corporate values. Ask them what they value, what are the common characteristics they have seen among the successful employees, or what values should rule the way that we interact with each other or with customers, etc.
To make it simpler, let your team write down all the values that they have written on a whiteboard. Let them choose ten among all the values listed and rank them according to its importance.
Compare all the lists that the team has written and assign points for each value. From there, you will be able to identify the values that truly matter to your team which can help you in strengthening your company.
Now that you have made the list, it is important that you let the team understand what each value means and how they can apply it in their work. Keep in mind that not every employee may have the same understanding of the values and may misapply it. Therefore, take time to explain what each one truly means.
Focus on the following questions:
- What does this value mean to us employees, our company?
- How can we adhere to it?
- In what ways can it be misinterpreted?
- How will it change our relationships in the company and with others?
Once you have identified and have made your team understand the values that you have agreed with, find ways on how you can integrate the values into the hiring process, orientation, onboarding, and promotion opportunities. Ensure to highlight employees that truly adhere to the company’s values and reinterpret these values for different situations.
It is truly worth taking time to get the whole team on the same page by establishing the corporate values and develop a mutual understanding of them so they can make these values as an integral part of their everyday work experience.
For questions and more information, you may contact Armando “Butz” Bartolome His website is https://www.butzbartolome.com
