Values - the bedrock of an organisation's success
What is important to your organisation?
Purpose Centred
Taking the time to examine how your organisation works internally and define your business values is an important reflective exercise. Long term, it can increase your organisation’s productivity and differentiate your organisation from others, leading to increased profit margins and a competitive advantage.
Values provide employees with a sense of common direction and guidelines for day-to-day behaviour. Values which support your organisation’s vision help define its purpose and create its identity. Every company action, strategy, decision, and communication should support these organisational beliefs, so there must be true alignment within your organisation for your values to be meaningful.
These beliefs, philosophies and principles drive your business to create a positive work culture. This means improved recruitment, team cohesion and staff satisfaction.
- 76% of employees believe that well-defined business goals help cultivate a positive work culture (Heinz, 2019)
- Companies with strong cultures saw a 4x increase in revenue growth (Forbes, 2011)
How to create values
Consider:
- What do we stand for?
- How do we want to treat each other at work?
- What attitudes and behaviour in employees do we want to reward?
- How do we want to be seen by the community?
- What differentiates us from our competitors?
Make sure you follow your value planning with action. Allocate part of your budget to purpose-based initiatives and determine how you will use your resources to implement these values in your organisation. Leadership must lead by example; align your leadership with your values and hold your team accountable to follow them.
