Time To Reassess Your Values?

There are clear signs in nature when there’s a change in seasons. The same is true in business.

The following factors are often indicators that a change is taking place in a business:

• Persistent poor performance.
• Product and/or service quality issues.
• A drop in employee engagement.
• A decline in customer satisfaction scores.
• A lack of new ideas and/or innovation occurring from within.
• Flat or declining revenues.
• Increased competition from new or different sources.
• A rise in external threats, such as government regulations, unexpected competition, and/or major shifts in technology.

Do any of these ring true in your business?

If so, this may be a good time to reassess your values to ensure they are still doing their job (or why bother having them).

When assessing your current company values, here are a few questions to consider:

• Do your values still support the strengths of the business?
• Do your values highlight what is unique about the business?
• Are the values still relevant to your key customers?
• Does your business culture represent these values?
• Are the values contributing to the strategic direction of the business?
• Do the values still define expected behavior?
• Are the values helping leaders simplify and focus their decision-making?
• Are the values helping create competitive advantage?

Here’s the conundrum.

On the one hand, company values should NOT be changed or modified very often. They are foundational and should remain consistent for at least 3 to 5 years, and ideally longer.

On the other hand, when there’s a change in seasons, it’s important to not wait too long to reassess the values of a business. When setting strategic direction, leaders need the right set of values to help guide them forward.

Bottom line: Make sure your values are making a difference. If they’re not, it’s time to select different values.