The Impact of Our Core Values: Good and Bad

Now that we have an outline in place for basing our organization’s foundation on core values - the simple practices we’ll need to provide for acting on those values, the consistent example we’ll need to be in living them out, and the sustainable expectation for how our values are part of everything each team member does daily - let’s look at how much impact doing each of these things can have. I’ll start by sharing an example of what can happen when core values aren’t clearly communicated internally, or even worse, anything remotely resembling stated values end up being empty words that are routinely violated by the organization’s executive team. After that, I’ll provide several examples of companies that Cindy and I have watched firsthand as they’ve built strong cultures around their core values. Then, before tying this all together with a simple framework for building a great culture around YOUR core company values, I’ll challenge you with something you should consider every single day you carry the responsibility of leading a team.

Make no mistake though, I’m certainly not suggesting that any of this will ever be easy. Regardless of how big (or small) your organization is today, building specific values into everything you do will require a tremendous focus - constantly! Depending on where you are and how much you’ve ever talked about your values with your existing team, this may initially be an uphill battle. That said, the juice will definitely be worth the squeeze. I mean, what’s the alternative? Forever struggling in every aspect of our business simply because we weren’t willing to develop the self discipline to identify and live out a set of values…? That sounds miserable to me, and I’m guessing it does to you as well.

For anything we’ve worked through to this point or the simple framework we’ll close with to have any lasting impact, there are a few things that must happen. We’ll need to develop a realistic picture of exactly where we are currently. This isn’t always fun and will require getting the feedback we need to hear rather than just the input that feels good. We’ll also need to accept the responsibility for driving any changes that need to be made; no one is coming to our rescue. And we’ll need to fight the urge to justify not taking action. There are just as many excuses for a large company to stick with the status quo as there are for a small one. Don’t fall into that trap! Large organizations tend to have more resources available - personnel and finances, specifically - but that generally means there are a lot more team members we’d need to reach with our message and help change their behaviors. Smaller companies are often more nimble, but often have every team member spinning multiple plates even before attempting even the smallest change.

I’ve often heard the adage that the best time to plant a tree to provide shade was twenty years ago and the second best time is right now. We can change anything we’ve done to build a foundation on our core values leading up to this point. If you’re happy with where you are today, great! Let’s build on that. If you already see opportunities for improvement, there’s no better time than now to start the process. With all that in mind, we’ll look at a bit of a cautionary tale next…