Your company values should be a reflection of your business. They are a clear set of concepts that enable your employees to clearly understand what your business stands for, what goals it is working towards and crucially, how it intends to achieve those goals.
The type of values you choose for your company will depend on many things. Values may range from honesty and integrity, responsibility and teamworking. A combination of different values that best characterise what your company stands for will be picked and when put together should enable an employee to engage and represent your business.
So, how do you decide what your company values should be? Whilst there is no set protocol to follow, choosing values that are in alignment with the purpose of your business is a good first step. No business is likely to have the exact same set of values either – they should reflect your specific company – just like us, company values should be unique!
Remember that what is important to one company may not be important to another, so having a value of say, discipline may not be as desirable to a graphics design company, where artistic flair would be integral, as it would to a firm of accountants.
It is also important to bear in mind that as time and technology progresses, so may your values, and allowing your employees to have an input into this process should help them feel like they are part of your business… and most importantly, that their opinion matters.
The inclusion of your employees when establishing or revising your company values is a good way to encourage active engagement. For example, an employee who has a strong personal value of loyalty may then exhibit a strong disposition to working with a company who favours a model where employee loyalty is desired, recognised and rewarded.
Whatever your personal set of values, and whether or not your employees are able to be involved in their creation or revision, making sure that your values are clearly visible and accessible is strongly advised. This may range from having them displayed in offices, having them as screensavers or on internal communications.
Your values should also serve as a benchmark as to how you manage your employees, either during the day-to-day running of the business or during times of conflict. If your values include consistency, then it is imperative that a consistent approach is adopted when dealing with employees. The question here of course is how is best to go about this?
In a company where there may be different levels of management/multiple managers/managers with differing levels of responsibility, ensuring consistency at any given time is easier said than done! In order to support your business and its values, effective training is paramount, strengthening the value of consistency.
This also highlights how a company value can aid in the operational running of a business – helping management to adopt the correct approach whilst simultaneously allowing an employee to have a sense of equality and security knowing that there are set policies and procedures in place that can be implemented when and where appropriate.
There could also be circumstances where values are not as easily translated into physical actions. If transparency is a value in your business, how this is effectively communicated to your employees should be thought about. Encouraging transparency in business (and making sure your employees are aware of this) will help to open up dialogue across all levels of the business, inspiring the exchange of ideas and boosting motivation and morale.
If you’d like to speak to us about either creating, updating, or better incorporating your company values into how you manage and engage your employees, please get in touch with us!
