Last week I started sharing on the four main areas that I help businesses and organization with that are foundational for success and truly harnessing the power of your HERD. In part one I discussed the importance of every organization having a compelling (and repelling) vision. Today, in part two, I’m going do discuss the second foundational area for success: Core Values.
When you think of your company’s core values, ask yourself the following questions:
- Does everyone know how we want them to act and behave?
- Does everyone know what our core values are?
- Do I actually follow them?
- Does my team follow them?
In order for core values to have their desired impact in your company, then they must be alive and well; and that starts at the top. The core values need to be “published,” known by all, reinforced by leadership continually, and serve as a litmus test for decisions, actions, and behaviors.
Your core values should describe how your model citizen in the company acts and behaves. You want to describe the people who you’d want to clone. For example, I’ve helped an organization come up with things like, “We all are willing to sweep the floors.” It’s a simple mantra, but it shows that no task is beneath any of us and that we’re all equal parts of the collective team. Another organization created “We should all care deeply about our company, our colleagues, and our customers.” These are all measurable values you can then hold your team accountable to.
Finally, once your core values are established and truly being lived out by everyone, then you should hire to them, measure to them, and even fire to them. To have a healthy company culture, your employees must live the core values.
Stay tuned for next week’s blog as I’ll write about the third area that’s foundational for an organization’s success: Expectations.
If you want to listen to the entire podcast where I spoke about this, click here.
If you need help creating core values for your company, then click here to schedule a free executive consultation. Or, if you’re just curious about how I help executives and their businesses, shoot me a note or give me a quick call. [email protected] or 727-470-0877.
Lead Boldy. Succeed Brilliantly.
Leadership is nit just a role. It’s continuous journey of growth and impact.