By: Faizan Haq, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Your Bliss Magazine, President & CEO, Manage Your Business LLC
Every good business has great policies and procedures, but an excellent business has even better values. Having a solid company culture with established core values and principles will help morph any business and its staff to reach its fullest potential.
A business needs policies to tell employees what to do and how to perform properly, but values will tell them why. Prioritizing values over rigid policies and procedures creates an environment where people are inspired to think critically, behave ethically, and have more meaningful contributions. Values empower employees to make the right decisions even when no one is watching, while policies alone provide a checklist to follow.
When training your team, the focus should be less on memorizing company rules and more on instilling company values. Once you establish what your values are, they should become a part of everyday conversations and actions. Remember that when onboarding new team members or coaching leaders, the emphasis should be on internalizing and representing these values. This will ultimately drive your organization forward. Whether it’s integrity, innovation, accountability, or compassion, they should be more than just words.
It’s easy to preach to others how to behave and perform their duties around the company, but values only hold meaning when the leaders consistently uphold them. This consistency protects the trust and integrity of the company. If leaders do not model the values of the business, the rest of the team may abandon them as well. This may lead to a default to simply follow the procedures without any originality, passion, or purpose.
Without value-driven leadership, the team will fall back on policies and procedures set in place. While that may keep the company running, it will function without commitment. Employees who go through the motions do not carry a sense of ownership or emotional investment in the company’s mission. Engaged stakeholders will help a business reach its full potential, more than a mindless workforce.
Ultimately, running a business on values creates a culture of purpose and belonging. While protocols and policies are essential tools for consistency and compliance, they should never replace the core principles of business. Unless those values are lived out every day by leaders and team members alike, they’ll just be meaningless words. When values are honored and upheld, they can transform not only how a business operates, but how it inspires everyone it connects.