Living, Breathing Proof

Over the course of my close to fifty years on this ball of mud, I’ve learned that the only people who truly like change are the ones who came up with the idea for the specific change that’s happening in any given moment. I can tolerate change when I have some level of control in how it occurs or when I can see how that change can yield better results immediately. All said, I still believe I adapt to change better than most folks. But I’m still not willing to blindly accept random changes just for the sake of saying we’ve changed something. Having so many experiences point to how values do indeed provide a strong foundation for any business, and specifically the textbook example leading up to the handbook rollout, the changes we made to detail the personal and business values that Cindy had been working from weren’t difficult changes to absorb.

Telling you values are important is easy, though. For years, I worked with a supervisor who coined the phrase, “a mouth will say anything,” which he usually inserted into a conversation after one of his employees made a nonsensical excuse for why they did something they shouldn’t have. Since he’s retired, he seems to reserve that more for political candidates! With that in mind, I’ll share the results that rapidly followed the textbook example I detailed earlier…

By the end of their second year of ownership, the business Craig and Kim led had increased overall revenue by fifty percent! In that process, they may have had five percent voluntary turnover in the entire twenty-four month span. For perspective, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the average annual voluntary turnover rate at just under 25%; they had less than one-fifth of that in twice the time! Additionally, they were able to make significant wage increases for every role and institute some new incentive plans. Since the two-year mark, they’ve purchased three additional businesses, each complimenting the existing business and providing collaborative opportunities across the entire organization.

I won’t pretend they haven’t experienced bumps along the way. Nothing goes that smoothly. But through every step of the process, I’ve watched Craig and Kim keep their core values front and center. Each decision they make in handling a tough customer ties back to their values. Interactions with every employee, every single day, is based on those values. And at this point, the reputation they’re building in the community shows how much those values really matter.

Make no mistake though, none of the growth they’ve achieved has fallen in their lap. Listing the values in their handbook and printing them on the back of their shirts would have made little impact had they not followed through in their daily routine. The challenge in far too many businesses today is that even the most articulate values rarely get attention after the ink is dry. Before we work through specific steps for ensuring we have a business built on values, we’ll take a look at how even the best values on paper may not help much if they’re not being practiced…