Your values should attract the right people and repel the wrong ones
Interestingly, it’ s values that start to define the second of the three categories. People want to know they are part of something bigger. This also gets into purpose, but for now let’ s stay focused on values. Too often values on a website are just words that are not lived. We have learned that we need them, but very few companies actually live them. A great company lives and breathes its values. First, they know them, then they hire to them, they fire by them, they reward for living them. They are literally the guardrails for their decisions. Roy Disney made the point well: When your values are in line, the decisions are easy.
Harvard Business Review years ago defined four types of values: aspirational values, accidental values, permission to play values and core values. What I am referring to are CORE values. We live them.
When I work with a company and I see things on their website like honesty, integrity, etc., I know we have work to do. Those are permission to play values. They do not help me understand who the company is. Your values should attract the right people and repel the wrong ones. What are your core values?
In addition to values, this is the area where purpose plays a role. What is your core purpose? I am not asking what you do. What do you stand for? Why do you exist? As a business guide, when I am working with a company, we spend some time making sure we have this right.
There are five important characteristics of a good core purpose. 1. It has to inspire those in the company. 2. It has to be something that will be as valid 100 years from now as it is today. 3. It helps you think about what you could do but are not doing now. 4. It should help you decide what not to do. 5. It needs to be an authentic expression of what you stand for.
If you nail the values and the core purpose, you are helping your team realize they are part of something bigger than just a job.
The third category is knowing what is expected of them. Here is where I ruffle some feathers in the HR space. This is not a job description. Let’ s be honest, a job description is a wish list and they all seem to end with the sentence,“ and other duties as needed.”
Instead, let’ s list what we want an employee to spend 80 % of their time doing. What are the five things we want them to focus on? An example would be: 1. Follow the Playbook associated with the role. No playbook, different article. 2. Achieve goals and metrics. List them. 3. Own the customer experience. 4. Complete their learning plan. 5. My blue-collar companies always have something about attaining 100 % safety.
36 CRA today / www. christianretailassociation. org