For an organization to accomplish its planned goals, it needs to have the right core values. Company core values also referred to as “corporate values,” are the principles and beliefs that guide the workforce as a team. These visions and mission statements direct the philosophy on how customers, the wider community, and the employees are treated.
Core values are the driving force to creating remarkable teams, excellent customer service delivery, and fostering innovation. These values have a significant effect on your business strategy and your organization’s corporate culture. When choosing the right company core values, here are six critical points to note.
1. Lead With a Vision Statement
A vision statement is an affirmation of your company’s objectives. Therefore, before coming up with one, you must evaluate the kind of impact you want the company to have, no matter how small your niche is as it shows a defined route for your company’s growth and its goals.
Depending on your company’s growth, you can slightly change the vision statement to adapt to the changing needs. The main idea of the statement should, however, remain the same. The vision statement broadly describes what is essential to your company and explains how it intends to improve people’s lives.
For a vision statement to be effective, it must be:
- Distinct from competitors.
- Convey the company mission.
- Be relevant to various audiences.
- Acknowledge challenges.
A motivating vision statement is vital for identifying business goals and how they can be achieved.
2. Communicate the Core Values
Company core values must be communicated to employees to understand what is expected of them. Modern organizations love to display their core values on their websites for customers and potential candidates to get a hold of them. A system of internalizing these values must, therefore, be developed.
Among them include publishing the core values on the enrollment and induction materials for new employees. You can also communicate the core values through computer screens or other modern technologies. You can as well provide a handbook for the employees to read through. The goal is to make them transparent and visible for all to see.
Recognizing and celebrating workers who demonstrate the organization’s values is also an excellent way of communicating core values. You can also arrange for corporate workshops and online quizzes or invite staff members to express what the core values mean to them.
3. Get Internal Feedback
Since company core values are not written in stone, they can always be improved to keep up with trends. To this end, you can get employee feedback through various methods. Among them include organizing Q&As where the employees can express their concerns to help improve the current company core values.
A common issue that companies face with receiving proper feedback is the uncertainty of the values themselves. If the principles are established without properly communicating the deeper meaning behind them, then employees and other company associates won’t know what to think about those values.
If for instance, a core value is an integrity, but there are no examples of how that should be demonstrated through behavior or action, then an employee won’t know if they’re meeting those expectations set by company values and principles.
Holding meetings with senior managers and other staff members to discuss core values is also a great way of obtaining feedback. Since employees may not always be physically present, you can meet online through communications services like UCaaS.
4. Establish a Collaborative System
What is UCaaS? Simply put, it’s a cloud-based model that can support multiple communication methods. This also means it enables remote teams to work together through a variety of options, whether it be video or web conferencing or instant messaging applications. To learn more about what the tool has to offer, visit https://www.ringcentral.com/ucaas.html.
Unified Communications as a Service is a smart technology that integrates communication tools like web conferencing, video, voice, SMS, and more. This means that you can have meetings remotely as long as you and your staff have an internet connection. Such a communication system provides feedback in real-time and is as well a perfect tool for collaboration.
Notably, realizing a company’s values and deciding on what to stand for as a collective group can stem from how various members work together and that distinctive dynamic. If a team’s strengths as a group lean one way or the other, it can likely be highlighted as a specialty considering the overall skill set and capability. This ability to collaborate and offer competent or specialized services can translate into greater qualities the company can be known for.
5. Keep Values Unique
Good company core values are the lenses your company uses to see the world. They, therefore, have to be specific and distinct to your company’s brand voice and experience. You will come across several clichés, but you must separate yourself from the competitors if you’re fully profit-driven. Company values should be presented uniquely to attract the right or a particular skill set.
Unique values also bring about unique cultures which accentuate your brand’s voice and positioning in the market. Having great and unique company values should not be rushed (just like fine wine), as the wrong ones can lead to regrets in the future.
If a company is struggling to identify and designate values that resonate with them as a corporation, it can be helpful to redirect their line of thinking to their customers rather than themselves. Instead of theorizing what will make a company stand out, draw inspiration from how the company wants to be perceived by its clients.
6. Let Your Organization Stand Out
Company core values reflect your organization’s beliefs; therefore, they must be carefully crafted. They must also be woven into all work-related processes, including hiring, performance management, rewards, promotions, and dismissals.
There’s no right size that meets all ways how to designate company values. The most important thing to remember is to ensure that the core values you decide on are uniquely crafted and adequately communicated to all the staff in your organization. Company values should be a true representation of a company in its entirety, top to bottom.