What are core values?
Put simply, core values are principles that are believed to be really important. Core values exist at many different levels. Individuals can have their own personal ones and corporations also can. On an even bigger scale, religions also have their own core values followed by millions of people worldwide. Ultimately, they underpin a key purpose and act as guiding principles for what people should do across all situations at all times.
For example, one of Google’s Core Values is ‘Great just isn’t good enough’. This can be applied to any situation within the organisation. This means their employees are always looking to go one step further. Whether it be with innovation, customer service or the company working environment.
What are the benefits of having core values for your company?
There are a whole wealth of advantages to having core values. These include:
- Ensuring you’re hiring the right people
An easy way to see if a potential employee is a good fit with your company is to check whether their personality and motivators align with your company’s. This can be tested in a pre-interview quiz, or by asking for examples of times they’ve exhibited the values. Another way to figure out their fit is to ask what values they’d like to see from their dream employer. Not only does this check that they will fit in your workplace and get along with your other members of staff, it also leads to higher staff retention as everyone is heading towards the same end goal.
- Makes sure all decisions are aligned with the ultimate vision.
Every decision in a business can be pointed back to core values. From how to react in a given situation to choosing a new supplier, core values are a great way to make decisions that help reach your end goal.
For example, one of our core values is ‘Go above and beyond with service to WOW everyone’ so, when our engineers are out and about and our telemarketers are on the phone to clients, they always have this value in mind. This is to ensure that the service they are providing is the best it can be, and that this is consistent across all of the company. Not only this, it also ensures that the marketing team knows what to say and how to present the brands’ image, and the recruitment team knows what to look for in a potential employee.
- Clients can quickly understand what your company is about
A quick way to get accustomed with a new company is to read their ‘story’ or their about page. More often than not, this is where their core values are located and clients can quickly decipher whether their values align with that of the new company that they have just found.
It’s beneficial for these to be in a similar vein to ensure that the transactions are mutually beneficial and for the same purpose. If a client is looking for a company that specialises in providing the cheapest products at the cheapest prices and your company has a great focus on the best products, customer service and aftercare, then these values will never match up and your company isn’t providing what they’re looking for and vice versa.
- Succinctly explains your brand’s personality
Trying to explain your company’s personality to someone new can often be a difficult task if you haven’t got a very specific purpose. Core Values are a great way to explain the underpinnings of your brand in just a few, easily digestible words without having to go into all of the ins and outs of your entire brand.
Yo Telecom’s 10 Core Values
Here at Yo Telecom, our Core Values have been around since mid 2017 and have helped us guide our entire business to the success that it is today. Our Core Values are as follows:
- Go above and beyond with service to WOW everyone
- Inspire and lift the spirits of the world
- Be passionate, determined and courageous
- Dream and live big
- Persistence beats resistance, keep on going
- Be loyal, honest and humble
- Make good works well known
- See “problems” as challenges, face them with optimism
- Learn, use and share good knowledge
- Communicate, communicate, communicate
My personal favourite core value is number ten: Communicate, communicate, communicate. Effective communication is vital for pretty much every business transaction, and our purpose here at Yo is to help our clients’ communicate effectively with their clients.
How to Choose Core Values for your Company
The Core Values you choose should align with your company’s purpose and vision. Whilst compiling a list of potential values, here are some questions to think about:
- What makes your company unique and sets you apart from your competitors in your industry?
- Why should people work for your company over others?
- What would your company fail without?
- How do other brands see you?
- What do you want to be known for? Is it your inclusivity? Your environmental efforts? Your world-leading innovation?
Common core values include:
- Honesty
- Accountability
- Passion
- Diversity
- Innovation
How to Check the Fit of your Core Values with your Company
So, you’ve had a brainstorming session, chosen a few Core Values and now want to check their fit with your company. A few easy questions to find out if you have the right key values are as follows:
- If they were losing your company profit, would you still keep them?
- Would you fire someone if they weren’t showing these values?
- Will these still fit with your business in 10 years time?
If the answer to any of the above questions is ‘No’, reassess them. The answer to all three questions should ultimately be yes. This is an iterative process, fine-tuned with each subsequent amendment until the final list is produced.
Having Core Values for your company acts as a solid base for all decisions, negotiations and transactions, and allows your entire workforce to be on the same wavelength. So, if you haven’t already solidified yours, add this to your to-do list today!
What are your company’s core values?
