Why Are Organisational Values Important?

VALUES EMPOWER PEOPLE

– Someone who believes in me.

Your values are your company’s genetic code, your uniqueness. They determine all the characteristics of how your organization lives. It’s what makes your company, your company. Again, much like DNA, your core values should be passed on from generation to generation as your organizational hereditary material.

If values are what make you unique, then there’s a good chance that your values won’t be exactly like everyone else’s either. Some of you may not have your unique thinking crystallized yet. I assure you; you have been using it instinctively.

"You can put your values up on the wall once you've put them in the hearts and minds of your people."

– a Clarism

How we think determines how we act. Values are the unique thinking of your organization. They are there to tell us how to think, not what to think. When you lead with values and coach your team daily to live them they will start to love them. Why? Because you are empowering them. You are building their decision-making muscles. You are developing trust. People want to know you trust them, but trust is earnt. It is earnt through living the values. When used to empower your team, they unlock creativity with freedom to think. Creativity is the key to innovation. You are the someone to believe in them.

Applying your values to all stakeholders will further strengthen your culture and keep you focused on your mission and vision. Therefore, you have seen over and over, #VALUESGUIDE.

VALUES THAT EMPOWER PEOPLE

Identify what you believe to be the most critical and unique thoughts, your values (four to six of them). Now take each of these values and crystallize a definition into a simple descriptive sentence of five words or less. These words will then lead us to identify the actions we would take if we truly value it.

"When you lead with the values, you put the power back in empowerment!" – a Clarism

People may buy WHY you do what you do, but your VALUES are why they buy it from you.

The most popularly used values in corporations historically are “Service, Honesty, Integrity & Trust”. These commonplace values should be the price of entry into having a business, not what makes us unique.

The more commonplace your values are, the less believable they are.

What makes your business unique in the way it thinks about the problem it is passionate about serving? 

Dave Clare - CEO & Founder, Circle Leadership