If your organization is a building, then the values are the foundation. It’s the part below ground that not everyone can see, but provides the structure for how your business operates. Your values are an anchor when forces are pushing your company one way or the other.
Revisiting your values on a regular basis are a good way to reflect on who you are as an organization and ensure that the people working with you understand what you consider to be important. Not everyone will subscribe to or believe in a company’s values and it becomes especially challenging when these people occupy leadership positions.
Leading effectively requires one to communicate one’s values to current employees and transfer them to new people that join your organization. Recurring internal company communication about your values can do much to reinforce them, but perhaps even more important is living the values.
When senior leadership can demonstrate company values in the form of action, they set a positive example for others to follow. The CEO should be the physical embodiment of a company’s values. The same also applies to the people serving in a supporting role, or running one of the organizations teams, branches, or divisions.
Not acting in a way consistent with a company’s values can breed distrust and organizational dysfunction. Aligning your entire organization to support a company’s values from top to bottom, or from inside to out, requires consistent communication and action.
Living in a manner that is consistent with a company’s goals is not for everyone. How you choose to embody them is a choice that you’ll have to make as you consider how you will grow within a company.
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