The essential questions to ask when defining your values
When defining your company values, it is more a case of "uncovering" them rather than creating them from scratch.
Your values need to be a balance of what your team already value; and what the business needs to do to succeed.
Therefore, to discover what your team values ask questions like these:
To understand what your business is already like ask these questions:
To determine what behaviours are needed for your business to succeed you want to know:
By asking a range of questions from a range of people, you start the process of uncovering your values. Values creation is a lot like making soup - gather all of the ingredients, then simmer it for a good long time, adjusting the seasoning as you go. Ensure you get a sense test before going live with them to ensure you have the team's buy in.
Your values need to be a balance of what your team already value; and what the business needs to do to succeed.
Therefore, to discover what your team values ask questions like these:
- What does your team value about working at your business?
- What gets your team out of bed in the mornings?
To understand what your business is already like ask these questions:
- If your business was a character, how would people describe it?
- If there was one thing that suddenly vanished that meant your business was no longer the same, what would it be?
To determine what behaviours are needed for your business to succeed you want to know:
- What behaviours are currently taking us away from where we need to go?
- What behaviours are currently moving us towards where we want to go?
By asking a range of questions from a range of people, you start the process of uncovering your values. Values creation is a lot like making soup - gather all of the ingredients, then simmer it for a good long time, adjusting the seasoning as you go. Ensure you get a sense test before going live with them to ensure you have the team's buy in.
