Values your Business should have
fm Entrepreneur.com 21 May 15 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
What are Core Values? In its simplest definition, values are the fundamental beliefs of an organization, the guiding principles that dictate how people should behave & act.
Guidance. A company’s values help people know the difference between right wrong, and they help companies determine if they are on the right path to fulfilling their business goals.
Communicating. Every business needs to identify & share their values. We have ours displayed prominently – painted on the wall – so they are the first things you see when you enter. We also discuss them quarterly, when we hav our Strategy Meeting.
Top Values. There are plenty of values that a company can consider, but here are eight of my favorites that every company should have, whether it is at startup stage or a Fortune 50 company.
1. A Problem Solver. Building a great company is about solving one problem after the next. If you can surround yourself with people that love the challenge of solving one problem after another – you will achieve great things.
2. Ambitious. I have always felt that there are three types of people: 1) people who want things to happen, 2) people who watch things to happen & 3) people who make things happen. I have found that ambition can be a really powerful value – if it leads to people being the change they want to see in the world.
3. Transparent. There is too much at stake for a company to fall into a trap of passive-aggressive behavior. Over the years I have found that if people are honest, open & direct in all conversations, you save a lot of time & effort.
4. Empathetic. This is probably one of my favorite personal & professional values. Empathy is not something everyone possesses, and for those who do, it is a gift. The ability to understand the situations that others deal with, what they care about and how you can help them thrive to hit their goals & maximize their potential, is a character trait I look for, in every hire I make.
5. Adaptable. For me, adaptability means one thing: How well does a person handle surprise challenges? I read somewhere once “To improve is to ‘change; To be ‘perfect’ is to change often.” While perfection is never possible, how well we adapt to change, will determine how durable our success will be. In a world of continual challenges, those who can adapt to the change & still perform, are outstanding players you want on the team.
6. Accountable. The obligation of an individual to account for his of her activities, accept responsibility for them & to disclose their results in a transparent manner. When I review results, I always encourage people to “embrace the need to improve.” Own up to what is not performing well, so we can have a conversation around what we need to improve. If you have people who are not accountable, they may begin to sweep things under the rug or worse, begin to point fingers or pass blame around.
7. Focused. If you are doing too many things, you probably won’t do most as well as you should. By putting an emphasis on this value, you are able to create an environment where people spend their time improving & growing the company at a significant rate vs accepting the status-quo & tolerating “snail-speed” growth.
8. Integrate-able. Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles – moral uprightness. It is generally a personal choice to uphold oneself to consistently moral & ethical standards. A business should surround itself with people who care deeply about integrity. When this happens everyone benefits — partners, customers and – most importantly – your entire employee base.
Comments: Can you share some of the Values that your Company has?