Core values and how to define them!
Owning your own business looks really glamorous on Instagram but the reality is sometimes you are jumping around between 9 ideas on what you should do next... or worse... become paralyzed by indecision and not actually doing anything. Sound familiar? Welcome to navigating without a compass. This is what it can feel like when you don't have the basics of your business down, your core values.
Core values are 3-6 words that your company and you embrace and can help align you to the mission and vision of your company... even if you are solo. Now, I know you may be thinking I do not have time to sit down and think about my core values when I have 80 million emails to get to and the to-do list just keeps growing by the second. I get it, I've been there. However... when I took a moment to think about my business, what it was, where it was going, and what I wanted it to be it helped me make more effective decisions faster!
Because I had a map!
Does this align with what we say we are about? No. It's out! Does this feel like something we would do? Then we are in! Etc.
Core values are not just words that you hang in the bathroom of your office or gloss over. They are navigating keywords to help you not only make powerful decisions but also build a company culture that people will be begging to work with you!
After reading this post, you will learn how to define your core values with ease by discovering your strengths and using them to make better decisions in business.
Why are core values important?
We've all experienced the jobs where they tell us the vision, mission, and core values as the onboarding experience and our eyes may have glazed over... at least mine did. But now as a business owner that manages a small but mighty team I have learned to lean on them more than ever in these past few years of growth.
Your core values help you define your company culture, and how you will provide a service or a product to your audience. Plus they help you make decisions when you become paralyzed by fear, comparison, or overanalyzing...
The Nuevo Studio core values help me re-align myself and my team to ensure everything we are doing is moving the needle forward and not just trudging through our inbox fire. I see you 2,098 unread emails! "But I'm a solopreneur this doesn't really apply to me!" Wrong! As a solo leader, you are still representing your core values to your clients in the services and products you are developing. They help you set the foundation of a business and a company culture you aspire to be as well as dictate what sort of people will be attracted to work with you.
How to define your core values?
Ok, well that's all great and all but how do we actually pick our core values? Core values cannot be developed in under 30 minutes. It's something that you need time to reflect on your business, who you work with, what you aspire to be, etc. Here is our handy core values list to help get the gears turning. Nuevo Studio's core values were developed over a week of internal rebranding, not just the visuals, but a whole realignment series. Once we defined who we wanted to work with, what we wanted to offer, and the type of environment we wanted; our values sprang from there. We used the list as a starting point and kept narrowing it down and looking up the definition of the words to ensure the vibe felt right. Cheesy, I know. But don't knock it 'til you try it.
And let's just say "Honesty" and "Integrity" should already be core values without needing to be said. However, if you feel these are words that resonate with how you treat your clients maybe there are other words that better align.
For example, when we're talking to a client or someone on our team we want people to be honest and open with us. This can be hard because clients don't want to hurt our feeling if something isn't working for them, however, we also know that we cannot fix the problem if we are not open to feedback and assuring the client feels like we are on their team. So the value we chose for this was "Candor." this feels more like the Nuevo Studio vibe. Less stuffy or bank feeling but more about being open and casual about conversations to ensure everyone is heard and that all opinions matter.
So time to sit down and think about your customer's journey, the service or product you provide, how you want people to feel when they work with you and how you want your team to feel (or future team). Then go through the list and circle the ones that most resonate and narrow it down to 3-6 final core values.
How Core Values can help you!
Once you have your core values set, what do you do with them now? You live them. That sounds so woo woo. But a reason companies have them as art in their offices is to remind people what the company stands for. But make the core values visible to you and your team. These core values will help shape the culture of your company and act as a guiding light when stuck with indecision.
A great way to implement them in your culture is to tell stories about the values and to give kudos to your team for demonstrating these values. Culture is a much bigger deal than it was a few years ago. Culture can persuade talent to come work for you when you may not be able to offer the bigger perks of fortune 500 companies. Company culture is an important factor for 46% of job seekers, according to teamstage.io, and not to really beat it into you but only 28% of executives understand their company's work culture. That number should be higher.
Culture is a major factor in your business and can make or break it. Core values can help you truly define that. Understanding your core values can also help you make decisions when decision fatigue truly hits. “Should you be doing x or should you focus on y?”
Your core values could be a compass to help you navigate the turbulent waters of owning a business. They can also help you figure out what type of clients you want to be working with. If they don't align with your values, they probably won't be aligned with your process and methods. Bye, you have better fish to catch.
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