Your organisation’s values are the foundations of everything you do. Or you may prefer to think of your organisational values as being the guiding compass that provides your direction.
By having strong organisational values, you’re shaping your organisation, engaging your employees and making it easier for your customers to have a relationship with you because they know who you are and what you stand for.
Let’s put these statements under the microscope a little and outline why we at SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL believe that in order for your business to succeed, you have to start by instilling a values-driven culture into everything that you do and believe in.
What is a Values-Driven Culture?
It’s a culture where employees’ personal values are aligned with those of your company. It’s where your organisational values motivate and bring your workforce together. It’s where leaders and managers live your values and lead by example. Such a culture sends out the message about what the company stands for. Such a culture has values that ultimately meet your business goals.
Your Employees
When someone joins your company, they won’t embrace your values by reading about them on your website, intranet and company handbook. They’ll do so by observing leadership, management and colleague behaviours. There are many reasons like this for giving importance to values-driven leadership.
By actively employing people whose values coincide with your own, you stand a better chance of achieving higher engagement levels and customer excellence. Here are a few interesting figures to think about:
- 46% of those applying for jobs cite company culture as very important
- 15% of those applying for jobs turn down an offer because of the company culture
- 32% are willing to take a pay cut if the culture is right
- 26% are more likely to leave if there is not a respectful culture between colleagues
If you recruit people whose values don’t mirror those of your company, you may unconsciously create a culture of negativity and low productivity. That’s why it’s important to have a formal process in place to let people who don’t live your values go and a formal process to reward employees who embrace those same values.
Your Customers
Core values can educate your customers to better understand what you believe in, that your business is ethical and honest, and one that they can trust and identify with. Businesses with a strong values-driven culture do better financially than those that don’t:
If your values are embedded in every part of your customers’ journey with you, they’ll stay happy and loyal to your brand.
Your Leadership Team
If your leadership team and managers believe in your company values and drive them, they are helping your company achieve greater success. Let’s take a look at some figures again:
- 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a strong culture at work is important to business success
- The 13 companies that regularly appear on the annual Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list all see higher average annual cumulative returns as high as 495%. These include Goldman Sachs Group, Microsoft, Marriott International and Four Seasons Hotels.
- 86% of employees working in companies with strong cultures feel heard by their senior leaders
The equation is simple. If your leadership team demonstrates your organisational values your business will be more successful.
Your Brand
How the world perceives you and how you stand out from your competitors is your brand identity. In order for you to have a strong brand identity, you have to align it with your values-driven culture. The two go hand-in-hand.
If you’re working hard to develop a strong brand identity but ignoring your values, you’re on a hiding to nothing.
Here at SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL we believe that in order to establish a strong brand identity, you have to first establish a clear understanding of your organisation’s purpose and values.
Before We Go
For real business success, companies need to develop and communicate a positive and strong values-driven culture. SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL can work collaboratively with your teams to identify the traits that you can build upon to create a values-driven culture.
We’ll help you align those values across your entire organisation for continued success. Contact us today and find out how we can help you.