Values – In Work

I work for an organization that is values driven.

You may have some ideas of what that means already, so I’ll explain a bit to avoid any confusion. You see, we aren’t a not-for-profit organization. We’re a for profit business. “OK, so your’ value is making money?” No, not so much. I mean, we’re certainly profitable and we need to make money in order to keep doing what we do. While at the same, that’s not our highest value. “Values Driven” means that if we neglect our highest value, we need to stop doing what we’re doing regardless of profit. [Tweet That]

What are your values?

Glad you asked, in priority order they are:

1. Integrity is key
2. Service above self
3. Work with rigor at work
4. Authentic conversations
5. Enjoy and be a joy

Notice money isn’t on there. Yes, we need to make money. We know that, and we’re actually profitable. Now the issue for most people is that values are up in the clouds and don’t integrate down to a ground level. For us they do. How?

We hire based on these things.

Yep. There are plenty of folks who are incredibly talented at their jobs. If they don’t exhibit these values during the interview process (believe me the interview process is intensive), then they aren’t getting through the door. You see, there’s the thing. If you make decisions off of your values, it’s going to be a lot easier to make those decisions. When you know when to say yes, it’s a lot easier to know when to say no. [Tweet That]

Also, if you notice, with the specific values mentioned above, they lend toward health and productivity while eliminating drama. This is the reason we’re able to perform while maintaining a healthy culture. If making money is the main value of your organization, you’ll lend towards being unhealthy. [Tweet That]

What are your organization’s values? What are yours? Do they align? If they do, awesome! Go forth and realize your potential for good. If they don’t, are you in a place to impact the organization for change? If you aren’t, then maybe it’s time to look at moving on.