by Karen Turnquist
I was watching clips of Mel Brooks’ hilarious classic “Young Frankenstein” the other day and it occurred to me that building a business can be a monster task.
Entrepreneurs work diligently to get their creation on its feet, only to have something unexpected throw their best-laid plans into chaos.
Here at Sage, we’re no different. We experience that adversity and those unexpected challenges. But we’ve discovered that our best defense in overcoming those hurdles is our core values.
That may come as a surprise to some, who view core values as something you quickly jot down and put in a frame on a conference room wall, never to be revisited again.
In reality, what we’ve learned is that core values are invaluable as the foundation and guiding principles for any well-run business.
But first, in true “Dr. Fronkensteen” fashion, you have to bring those values to life.
When we started Sage, among our first conversations was the importance of creating a culture that would make working for us—and with us—a positive experience.
We knew we wanted to be “different.”
But different how?
Our core values
Intuitively we knew the difference would be organic, innate and nearly self-evident.
Through much discussion, we settled on the following six core values:
- Care. We show up, pay attention and consistently do the best job we can do because we’re sincerely interested in the success and well-being of our colleagues, clients and business partners.
- Trust. We have a firm belief in the reliability, truth and abilities of one another. We build trust by doing what we say we will do and by being transparent and authentic.
- Respect. We honor colleagues for who they are, recognizing what makes them great. We cherish our differences because they make us collectively stronger, smarter and more capable.
- Integrity. Every decision, action, behavior is rooted in doing the right thing. It’s the foundation that supports us all, gives us deep roots and makes for a good night’s sleep.
- Drive. We bring a sense of urgency to our day-to-day work. We know how to turn thoughts into action and love the sense of accomplishment that comes from getting things done.
- Creativity. It’s the zing in our day, the zip in our step and the zest for our work. We are curious and seek to understand. We love hearing stories, connecting the dots and finding new ways to go forward.
Links to business results
Some business owners make the mistake of thinking core values are just an ethereal concept—something with no link to actual business results.
On the contrary, establishing and living core values has tangible and very valuable payoffs.
One of our clients recently told us they have been able to sustain the loss of a major customer, reduce costs and improve profitability by rewriting and recommitting to their core values.
Sixty percent of this client’s employee performance reviews are now focused on how the employees’ day-to-day work embodies the company’s core values.
And despite downsizing, restructuring and cost cutting, their employees are happier now than they’ve ever been.
Bring your values to life
Want to experience a similar bump for your business?
It starts with you. Don’t ask, “What are our core values?” Instead, ask, “What do I really care about?”
Then have the courage to build a business based on what’s important to you—and eventually “we”.
Most importantly, get to work bringing your core values to life by
- making it an everyday thing by integrating core values into your daily conversations.
- identifying behaviors that support and embody your core values
- reinforcing behaviors that support and embody core values
- identifying and rooting out behaviors that detract from your core vales
- helping employees understand they have a role in creating and building on behaviors that support and embody core values.
Share your thoughts
So, what do you think is the one core value every business should have?
And what’s your favorite quote or scene from “Young Frankenstein”?
I’d love to hear from you.
Send me your answer to either of these questions and I’ll enter your name in a drawing for a “Young Frankenstein” Special Edition DVD. (kturnquist@sagebusinesscredit.com)
As the CEO and founder of Sage Business Credit, Karen Turnquist helps entrepreneurs build value in their businesses. She’s facilitated more than $2 billion in accounts-receivable financing for emerging businesses and believes there’s no greater reward than seeing fellow entrepreneurs succeed.