Guiding Principles
So you have created a great company. You have the talent, you have the vision, you have the infrastructure, you know where you want to take the business in the coming years, but how do you take everything and allow it to become a self-sustaining machine that will allow your company to grow?
Developing core values can become the philosophical pillars upon which your company is built, but that won’t happen unless senior leaders set the example for everyone else in the company. It’s extremely important for a company’s leaders to “live it” when it comes to the guiding principles of your business.
The key to it is communicating what you are, what you’re doing and where you’re going. This is a big challenge, no doubt about it. You have to maintain a link to employees to make sure they’re aware of what is going on. Just about everyone performs better if they know why they are being asked to perform a task, and that’s what makes communication so important.
If your business is to flourish, your job as a leader is to work tirelessly to communicate with your employees in many different forms.
Every successful leader I speak with understands the power of communication in an organization. They understand that when employees identify with the core values and why business decisions are made, they feel part of the team and want to take the organization to the next level.
Creating a sense of belonging for employees is about more than just including them in the communication pipeline. Once employees feel involved, you need to take them to the next level, where they feel like they’re actually helping to steer the company.
Not only does it take living your core values each day, but finding different and creative ways to communicate them. I don’t think e-mail is a preferred way of communicating, but because of the speed at which we e-mail, it is a tool. Your values need to include how you communicate within that tool. But remember without voice inflection or listening to how people respond, you might not pick up on whether they have an issue with something.
Company wide meetings with question-and-answer sessions are another good option. Staying vigilant with regard to communicating your core values might seem like a lot of work with little immediate reward. But while you could be spending that time landing a major account or inventing the product that will put your business on the map, if you don’t pay attention to the basics, your company will begin to fall victim to an ambiguous sense of direction, and your growth could stall.