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What are my business values?

Written by: Helen Dowling

Article Overview: Have you ever stopped to think about your business values and how important they are to you in your business? They can help you decide whether or not to take on a project; help keep you motivated and focused; and values give you guidance for your business that can help keep staff and you on track.

What are my business values?

Have you ever stopped to think about your business values and how important they are to you in your business? They can help you decide whether or not to take on a project; help keep you motivated and focused; and values give you guidance for your business that can help keep staff and you on track.

But, what the heck do I mean by values?

Well, values are first of all, very personal to you. My values and your values are unlikely to be the same as each other because values are what we strive to like our life by; what’s important to us personally as well as in business. They are the things that stop us from taking on illegal projects or make us turn up on time for meetings.

My values for my business are:

• That we should go out of our way to make customers feel special and treat them like
they’re our only client.
• That we thrive on coming up with ideas and making them happen.
• That we want to make our client’s business a success for them.
• That our staff should be happy and have fun working for Exceptional Thinking.
• That we will always be honest and communicate well with our customers and staff.

Now, my values will probably tell you something about me as a person too. They might indicate to you that I get frustrated if phones are not answered straight away or if we’re late for a customer meeting because that breaks my first value. And that if I’m not coming up with ideas occasionally and getting that light bulb feeling then I feel demotivated.

So, what are your values for your business? Have a go at defining them for yourself. Here’s how. Think about the last time you felt really great (it doesn’t matter if you have to go back a while) and write that moment down. Then think about how you felt at the time and write these emotions down too.

Now do this for the last time you felt angry and frustrated and write down how you felt at the time.

Once you’ve got these emotions and feelings down on paper, you’ve probably got a pretty good idea of what your values are. The next step is to sum them up into short sentences like I’ve done above as a guide to how you run your business and how anyone coming into contact with your business (i.e. staff or sub-contractors) should behave if they work with you.

Looking at my values, it’s easy to see why I choose not to take on certain clients or when I’m interviewing reject certain people as they don’t share my values and I don’t want to work with them for that reason.

I also know that if I don’t experience my values on a fairly frequent basis, I tend to come off track and don’t feel as focused or as motivated as I could be.
Defining your values for your business is a great exercise to do and can really help you take your business to the next level.

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Article Tags: business values, emotions, feelings, guidance, last time, light bulb, what the heck



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Re: How do you critique a small business? - There are so many great comments here. One thing that is missing is alignment of the business with the owner's values and the employees' values. We all have values and if there is a disconnect with our personal and business values, the business could be exposed to serious trouble. It might sound like fluffy talk, but I'm actually referring to the bottom line: Money! Consumers will not continue to buy products that don't align with their values, employees will be unhappy (read less productivity and increased sick time and maybe even quit), and the owner will not be fully satisfied either. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Every dollar saved translates into dollars earned. Here's the power of values... there is a certain clothing designer that myself and others I know simply will not support because that person is openly racist. I can tell you I like their stuff, but I will not buy it! I could provide values tests for the potential winners to fill out and make the comparison. The great thing is that whoever fills it out will also be appraised of an area in their business which could be strengthened. That in itself is a huge reward!
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Re: Introducing myself, Scott Allison and Teamly - Sure, no problem GT. Here is some more about me: I founded my first business in my spare time while at University and since then entrepreneurship and business has become part of my blood. I am motivated by the desire to lead and build a valuable business using culture and values as a core foundation and to make products that make a difference to those who use them. I love entrepreneurship, and am keen to assist others fulfil their potential, that’s why I am on the board of non-profit, The Entrepreneurial Exchange, which aims to help entrepreneurs scale their high-growth potential business. I am also a volunteer business advisor to 18-25 year olds at the PSYBT, helping young kids who are just starting out. Prior to Teamly I was the managing director of abica, a remarkable business telecoms provider. abica was an exciting place to be with a clear vision of the future, and during that time I learned how to build and manage a great team, developed the company culture and core values, repositioned and re-branded the business, and delivered a new set of products to enhance long term shareholder value and bring in new recurring revenue streams. I left in October 2009, coinciding with the company winning a prestigious award for Excellence in Customer Service, which recognised the quality of our offering. My goal with Teamly is to be the leading online provider world-wide of teamwork software to small and medium sized businesses. I think the product we have built is the answer to the staff management issues a lot of new entrepreneurs are experiencing for the first time. Teamly's core purpose is to help businesses be more successful, and their people more aligned and effective through use of our online teamwork software.
Re: How Much Is Your Website Worth? - I guess it is for the website as the section which gives the value is called "Site Value Report". What do you think dnscoop is missing when it values your site?


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