Business Mastery for Entrepreneurs – Part 4: The Importance of Core Values for Business Success

What is your benchmark when nothing works in your company? How do you orient yourself to make an important decision?

The following article will help you with this challenge and provide orientation. The challenges you have in your business will show up as symptoms such as poor communication internally or externally.

However, communication is rarely the real issue. The problem is usually much deeper. In order to be able to free yourself from this challenging situation, you need to have clarity about your company´s core values.

In today´s blog post, I am going to clarify what core values are, why they are important and how you can determine these values for yourself. In addition, I will briefly explain the importance of core values in a personal story and give some examples.

Overview

⇒ What are values?
- Internal values:
- External values:
⇒ Why are values important?
⇒ Personal Story
⇒ How do you determine your company´s values?
⇒ How do your company´s core values connect with your vision and mission statement?
⇒ Where do you need clarity?
⇒ Summary

What are values?

Values are those core beliefs and guiding principles that govern everything you do in your company. However, values cannot be judged as good or bad. They are entirely neutral concepts that merely express your company’s priorities.

Values are a mix of principles and behaviors that can be broken down into internal values (collaboration within the company) and external values (benefits for stakeholders).

Here are some examples of internal and external core values:

Internal values:

Trust, honesty, and positive communication
Motivation, results, and shared success
Openness to new ideas
Personal growth and responsibility
Mutual respect and identification with the
company
Fun and enjoyment at work

External values:

Customer-focused
High product quality
Reliability and respectability
Offering customers the greatest benefit

Why are values important?

Values are at the heart of every successful company because they:

Identify your company’s priorities in order to develop its vision and mission statements.
Communicate what’s important to everyone within your company.
Foster employees’ personal involvement and inspire them to take action that contributes to the overall success of the company.
Shape company culture and help resolve conflicts.
Differentiate your company from others.
In short, values determine everything, such as the structure, strategy, and systems in your company

Personal Story

Let me briefly share a personal story about how core values helped me to make an important business decision.

Before the official launch of my own law office in 2011, I needed to decide which areas of law I would specialize in. Although I had already worked in several different areas of law, I was not sure which I would enjoy most.

A friend of mine suggested a values assessment to help me figure this out. So I rated 115 values on a scale from 1 to 10 and how well I currently live each value. I can say this was one of the most valuable assessments I had ever done. In the end, I had clarity about my core values, such as caring for the environment, nature and other people, cooperation, integrity, and responsibility.

This assessment helped me to make an informed decision. A week later, I successfully launched my own law office and focused on environmental, renewable energy, contract, and labor law.

Without this assessment, I wouldn’t have known which areas of law I should focus on and I experienced firsthand the power of determining my core values.

How do you determine your company´s values?

Many entrepreneurs find it difficult to get clear about their company’s values. You can begin by asking yourself questions about what is most important for your company and why. Usually, it is the ‘WHY’ that defines your values.

Here are a few questions to get you started:

What do you want people to say about you and your company?
What legacy do you want to leave for your children and grandchildren?
What qualities do you appreciate in other people?
What are your most important possessions?
What do you want to achieve in life?
What would you least like to lose in your life?
What are your most cherished memories?
What inspires you?
What is your ideal life?
What is missing in your life?

Remember to discover WHY your answers are important to you. When you become clear on your values and live by them, you are able to make a massive impact on your business, community, and family.

Examples of core values from my business, Next Level Coach:

Professionalism, Expertise: Provide high-quality coaching services and superior customer service. Serve every client with honesty, professionalism, and integrity.
Continuing education: Keep training to improve my knowledge and skills.
Leadership: Guide clients with inspiration and foster their growth.
Attitude: Maintain a positive and heart-centered attitude towards every client.
Joy: Show up with enthusiasm and the expectation of my clients’ success.
Sustainability: Support entrepreneurs in creating sustainable, environmentally-friendly businesses that make more revenue by doing good.

How do your company´s core values connect with your vision and mission statement?

Every successful business needs:

Clarity about the company´s core values – they drive everything
A vision statement – it gives clarity about the company´s future
A mission statement – it tells you what to focus on to be successful

All of these combined build a powerful foundation to thrive in your business and be financially successful.

Where do you need clarity?

I recommend that you do your own value assessment to get clarity on your company´s core values. Contact me and I will provide you a free value assessment.

Summary

Values are core beliefs and guiding principles that drive everything in your business:

Key Point #1: Values identify your company’s priorities
Key Point #2: Values communicate what’s important to everyone within the company
Key Point #3: Values foster employees’ personal involvement and inspire them to take action that contributes to the overall success of the company.
Key Point #4: Values shape company culture and help resolve conflicts.
Key Point #5: Differentiate your company from others.
Key Point #6: Your core values have their origin in your WHY
Key Point #7: Values determine the structure, strategy, and systems in your business

Supporting you

Do you find it challenging how to make a strategic value choice for your company?

There are many different perspectives to consider when choosing your strategic company values. A majority decision is often not enough. For example, all stakeholders should be involved, your USP and strategic direction should be considered. This requires to properly involve every stakeholder.

Contact me for a free, 30-minute consultation if you would like help with interpreting, and implementing the results of your Value Assessment: https://nextlevelcoach.as.me/schedule.php

Coming up next month…

In my next blog post, I’ll shed more light on the “right mindset” to be successful in your business. Stay tuned!

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