A survey just this year, in 2020, showed that 83% of the 6000 business owners and IT leaders surveyed, acknowledge that technology has become an inextricable part of the human experience. We’re all here online and we’re all doing it together. There are greater opportunities for connection and spreading our influence even further.
70% of the consumers surveyed in that study actually expect their relationship with technology to be more prominent over the next three years. Everyone is looking forward to living more online. We’re doing more shopping online, we’re connecting more online, we’re working online. Every part of our lives are moving more and more to a reliance on technology.
“Corporate culture Matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything for better or for worse” Simon Sinek
Now, consumers don’t just want to order a product online. They want to have that personal value-driven connection. Employees don’t want to simply log into work for a company who pays them well. They want to invest their time and expand their skills to serving a vision that actually counts for something significant.
What this means is that it’s time to focus on our core values. What does your business stand for and how can you reflect that in the way you’re doing business in more remote and online spaces? Here are five ways to plot this going forward:
Elevate your vision
Firstly elevate your vision. Be crystal clear, and create a short, sharp sentence about what your business is. Then, shout it from the rooftops, make it known to everyone inside your company and to the public around you. If we’re working and living online, your core values need to be clarified, they need to be documented, and they need to be rolled out across every part of your business operations.
Name your core values
This leads us to the next practical step of specifically naming your core values. It is so important to get the core values of your company right. I strongly suggest that you spend some time refining them so you can name them in short, sharp statements. Clarify your values and specify exactly what they are. This benefits jobseekers, consumers, and the company itself.
Inspire your leaders
Once you’ve clarified your core values, you can then use those values to inspire your leaders. It’s very easy to tell your leaders what to do, but it’s another thing to inspire them to carry the vision themselves. Your leaders need to feel inspired by these values because they will use them to anchor their engagement and investment into the company for the long term. They will then pass this on to the rest of their team.
Train your staff
Following on from this, good quality staff training is a great way to activate those core values in your company. 68% of employees claim that training and development is the most important company policy. If you know what your business stands for, and you’re rolling out those values through the leadership team, this will be reflected through the entire business to the benefit of all day to day operations.
Acknowledge your people
Another key aspect is acknowledging your people. 79% of people who quit their jobs did so because they simply did not feel appreciated. This is an important note to end on: if your values are strong, if they’re communicated through the company at every level, your team will feel like they are important to your business … because you know what? They really are.
