What motivates you to do your best work? What motivates your employees, teams or peers to do their best work? How do you generate the feeling that makes work more than a paycheck and less than…just work?
Most people would answer ‘Values’. I’m most people.
Core Values have continued to become more popular. The phrase has been incorporated into our business language for so long that using it seems second nature, but do you truly understand what a good set of core values for a company means? If so, do you understand how they are designed and why it is critical that any successful company has them?
Core values are at the root of any good company’s identity, they are the morals, belief structures, and philosophies that build the foundation of your organization and are absolutely necessary.
Core values are the rules for achieving your mission and vision. Potential employees are now more than ever researching a company’s core values in hopes of finding a position that best matches their own personal ideals and goals. A good set of core values will give potential employees, clients and customers a great insight into what you do and will greatly aid in the decision making process for yourself and your employees along the way. For a real life example, I’m going to look at an example that is close to home, the values at J&R Marketing.
The values at J&R Marketing are based on specific goals, feelings, and outcomes that drive very specific results of the organization. A core value should be able to be explained externally but not be able to be disrupted from outside. View examples of core values by viewing J&R Marketing’s Core Values
How do I figure out what the core values of my company are?
Fair question. There are quite a few different ways to tackle this question, but you want to first keep in mind that great core values are not affected by outside forces. Core values lose their purpose when they are quickly pulled from thin air based on what you think will be best for your company.
This lands many organizations with values that are not aligned and that are not seen through.
No industry has a set of values that fit all businesses within that industry, you need to tailor your values to the specific needs of yourself, your employees, and your business. Try following the steps below when brainstorming and fine-tuning your companies core values.
How to Develop Your Core Values
Start With a Verb
Each of your core values should begin with a verb or be a verb, verbs give action to intention and make a value something that can be acted upon rather than a static idea. For example, if you want your values to express that your business is honest, do what the honest company did and have your value be “create a culture of honesty.” You don’t want your core values to just be a list of good qualities you home to emulate, but a set of rules that will help set your company culture.
Here is a list of action verbs that might help you out.
Incorporate Your Catch Phrases
If your company has come up with some catchphrases during development try incorporating these into your core values if you can. These phrases can give a good picture of what the culture of your business is like and what makes your business unique.
Consult Your Employees
While your mission and vision statements are going to most likely be coming from you as the leader of your organization, with core values it is important to have your employees involved so you can learn what they want most and craft a culture for your business with them rather than for them. Start off by coming up with a list yourself and then ask your employees if they think what you listed properly reflects who you all are as a company and a group of workers. Next step, LISTEN TO THEM! If they don’t think your list is spot on, listen to what your employees have to say and adjust accordingly.
Describe Each Value
Once you’ve got down all your short punchy phrases, sit down and write out a few sentences to a paragraph describing each of the values and what they mean in relation to your company. the descriptions shouldn’t be too long but should better cover the rules of engagement that your values are laying out. Use this space to further define the culture you want to create.
Don’t Get Weird About It!
Your core values and adhering to them are important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also easy to develop a cult-y appearance as a business if you hyper-focus on adhering to those values. Be sure not to let your cool new culture become exclusive, it will make new employees and anyone deemed “an outsider” uncomfortable to see the employees of a business treating a list of values like words come from on high.
Get Started on Your Core Values
Creating a great list of core values doesn’t happen overnight but over time. Creating a list of values that are you believe are important is a great starting point.
Discover your core values. Know, learn and embrace the ones that serve you. Move away from those that do not drive the outcomes that are aligned with your vision for your organization. The most important thing you can do to make sure your values match who you are as a business is to listen to your employees and talk to them.
Need help understanding or creating core values? Send me a message through my contact form here.
