What are your company core values?
How did you establish them?
How and how often do you reinforce your core values with your crew members?
1 Like
As business owners, we sometimes have a hard time with things like this, I think because we feel like it is written in stone and such a huge representation of who we are we want it to be perfect. The truth is, it doesn’t have to be.
Your core values may change as you grow as a company, business and person. Don’t stress on it to much.
I would recommend sitting with yourself and asking yourself some questions. Brain dump some words on a page. Don’t think to hard on your answers, just literally let the words start flowing out as you focus on each question.
- How do I want my customers to feel, think, say about me after they interact with my company
- How do i want to feel/think about my work/company
- How do I want my employees to feel/think about thier work
- What is most important to me. Who/what do I admire in others
- Where have I felt my best? What was the situation and what made me feel that way?
After you brain dump some words, grab a drink and look back over that list. Try each word on, think about that word. Would you be willing to hire or fire an employee over that word? When you think of this word what is it you really mean or want? Everyone wants to feel respected, so if your going to use the word Respect as one of your core values,it really feels impersonal and generic, instead think about what the means to you, to your company. How will this word help you make decisions in your company? How will this word help guide your employees work? What does this word look like in action within your company? Circle the words that resonate with you, star them, whatever.
Narrow that word list down to 3-5 words. Now comes the fun part. How are you going to reinforce that value? If one of your core values is Service and to you that means that your company will always go above and beyond to ensure each client is 100% satisfied, you probably are going to need a way to measure that? You will need to set up a survey program to measure customer satisfaction. You may want to reward employees who exemplify that value in their work. You will most certainly need to figure out how you are going to be an example of that value in your work.
I hope this helps you
Best of Luck,
Brandy
5 Likes
#3, daily, sometimes multiple times a day with new ones. Gotta beat it into the skull till it’s in their blood.
#2, beating them over the head by constantly repeating ourselves. I will add. Leading by example, calling out when other values are displayed.
We have shit printed, laminated everywhere. If I could tattoo it on their bodies I would.
#1: beer? 
2 Likes
Being new and small i haven’t yet given thought to a formal set of core values. Right now i think my company values simply mirror my personal ones.
However, my company motto (Brightening your day… One window at a time!) is sort of a guiding principle or mantra to me. In every way i try to make the entire experience be positive for the customer. I want to leave them not only with brighter windows, but also a brighter day. I love when the interaction begins with the typical “businessy” feel, but by the end the customer is smiling, telling me their life story, calling me by a nickname and viewing me as a friend.
I also really like the concept from the firing yourself podcast @Kyle recommended in which it was recommended to think “How would i handle this situation if it were my mother?”.
There is a large janitorial company in town that has a fully stocked fridge of beer they let employees enjoy after work. I see the employee moral boost… but the liability 
1 Like
Oh, thats a disaster waiting to happen.
1 Like
yeah, I would not do that. At company events we do not supply nor allow adult beverages.
Liability and drama are not my thing.
Plus we always seem to have people in recovery and I want to respect them.
1 Like
Survey your current employees… What do they value? What values do they have in common? What values do YOU want? Those who aren’t lining up have an opportunity to align themselves or move themselves out. When you hire, hire for those values, not technical skill. What gets recognized and rewarded, gets repeated.
5 Likes
