In my work with businesses, most don’t take the time, at the start of their biz, to define their core values…even less actually create a business plan. Today, we’ll focus on Core Values.
Why? I find this happens mostly for two reasons.

#1 Many companies didn’t recognize “why” identifying their biz core values was important [or so many other pressing issues seemed more important]. Core Values don’t appear to be an “ROI” return on investment of time and energy.

#2 Companies don’t know how to go through the process of identifying them. It can get very tenuous – especially in family owned business or partnerships.

When businesses gets stuck or begin to suffer from growing pains, they know something is missing but may not be sure what it is. That missing element is often their company “core values”.
Really–core values isn’t on the top of most biz owners mind unless there are problem bubbling up. It can be the silent root cause of many internal issues that aren’t being address.
It’s like the pink elephant in the room and everyone’s ignoring it.
Sometimes, lack of core values, surface when the company is:

• is trying to attract, hire or retain talent
• struggling with indecision about the direction of the company, and/or
• lacking clarity in their marketing message

The management team begins to realize they might have missed a big step in getting everyone on the same page. The missing “X” factor usually surfaces about this time.

Another familiar case is the partners or management team recognized that they needed core values, because that’s what they’ve been told, but they just didn’t know “how” to go through the process.

That makes sense because as family-owned businesses or partners, it’s hard to get clarity on whose values dominate or how to come to a consensus.

Trying to do the process alone can create tension and discord without an objective third party like a business coach or consultant. It’s definitely worth the time, effort and investment to go through the process. It can be messy and time-consuming. However, the wasted time with miscommunication, loss of revenue from training and re-hiring new employees and money thrown at various marketing efforts don’t net results is costing you more than you think.

If you’re business is struggling with any of these issues or you would like to identify your company core values, the best way to do this is starting with your personal core values. Here’s the link if you would like to find out your personal leadership style. CVI Assessment: http://bit.ly/2dE1KtQ

Learn more about Kathy and how she can help you define your core values, your mission, and vision for your business. Click HERE to schedule a FREE consultation with Kathy!