Define Your Firm's Values, Then Live Them
Source: ConvergenceCoaching, LLC Inspired Ideas
The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Jennifer Wilson.
I am still surprised by the number of professionals who are unable to articulate their firms' core values and guiding principles.
Why Would You?
Your firm's core values are the beacons of light that your leadership team and staff will follow when making strategic and tactical decisions each day. They are intended to give language to the intrinsically valued behaviors and outcomes in your practice. Your values signal to others what your organization holds dear and what you are committed to be known for and uphold.
If you want your people to behave in a certain way, or produce specific outcomes, you have to define, communicate, and then model your expected behaviors and outcomes. The same is true related to your core values. In order for your people to live and embody them, three critical actions must occur:
- Your leadership team must define and commit to a set of core values.
- These values should then be communicated on an ongoing basis.
- Your leadership team has to live these values daily.
When these three actions are in play in your organization, your core values will strengthen and inspire your team and contribute to the sound functioning of your organization.
Use the following methodology to define (or refine) your firm's values:
- Decide who will contribute to defining your organizational values.
- Start with a list of potential values.
- Distribute the list to those you've selected to participate and ask them to rank the values in order of importance.
- Tabulate the values to identify the top choices.
- Analyze the output as a leadership team and choose your core values.
For the complete post, read “What Are Your Firm's Values?”
From Convergence Coaching, LLC Inspired Ideas, blog.convergencecoaching.com, August 24, 2011.