January 24, 2019
ISSN# 1545-2646
Well, did you do it?
Last week we started a dialogue on culture in your business. Your takeaway was to look at your organization and capture what was the culture you were witnessing, and the impact it was having either good or not so great. So, the question is – did you do that?
If you are just getting to reading this and need a framework to build from, take a look at the prior week’s post to orient you for tuning up your culture in 2019.
At the conference I attended last week, there were many great speakers and presentations to bring credibility to the impact positive culture has on businesses. It is generally hard to make a direct return on investment (ROI) in tangible dollars to the bottom line. When it comes to the softer side of running your business most companies don’t measure these aspects. Moving forward, more of these metrics capturing will be showing up and providing additional evidence. It will demonstrate your need to make your business culture a key component to the organization’s success.
This week let’s get started with you thinking about the “Core Values” which you guide and filter all decision made in the business. Do you have “Core Values?” Have you looked at them recently? Can you directly attach them to the actions and behaviors of your staff on a transaction by transaction basis or are they just used when convenient? In our experience organizations that may indicate they have core values must go to a binder or some document to tell us what they are. This just proves the point. Core Values can’t be words on paper. They must be lived on a moment by moment basis. They MUST be top of mind by everyone in the business and vividly apparent to your external customers as well.
If you have “Core Values” and they are not active in use, then now is the time to pull them back out and revisit. If you don’t have “Core Values,” then now is the time to GET THEM. Once you have them you will be surprised how they can be part of everything in your business. From the ads run to hire talent, to navigating conflicts both internally and externally. This raises a good point; “Core Values” are not some utopic set of words or phrases that eliminates all problems or conflicts. What they do is provide a guidance system to help reduce issues by empowering everyone in the organization to hold true to them universally.
When reviewing your “Core Values” or crafting them stick to the critical few not the laundry list of points you want to convey to the team. Every organization is different but somewhere between 4 and 6 or 7 keeps the focus on the key values without leaving important items off and not diluting the whole bunch by having too many.
This week go forward and dig into your “Core Values” so you can begin to tune up of your companies’ culture.
Do “Core Values” have you in idle mode? No Problem, pick up the phone and give us a call to help you get started.
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Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Offices – MI at (313) 527-7945 FL at (407) 984-7246
Our Purpose – To build Cultures, Businesses, People, and Relationships with a Purpose based Passion, so that all can engage their talents for greatest contribution in whatever endeavor they seek. A life where a “Promise” means something!