What would it be like if you could keep all your people happy, have a great working life and make more money? For most of us that sounds like an unobtainable dream. However, there are clear strategies you can adopt which can make this reality.
Creating Value
The key to all this is creating value. Creating value is something you do not only for your customers but also for yourself and your team. The first thing to look at is making sure that your product adds value to the lives or businesses of your customers. You also want to make sure that working in the organization adds value to the lives of the people involved in it.
To the extent you add value in all directions, you also make money as a natural by-product. Focusing on money never produces the best results. That does not mean that you cannot increase performance by focusing on money but to do so is ultimately usually at the cost of internal relations and/or the well being of your team and/or the loyalty of your customer base.
Making the Dream Reality
Stage 1:
Ask yourself and your team:
(1) What is the underlying purpose of our business? For example, if you are a software company providing simple account packages, besides the purpose of making money and for creating good quality accounting software, there will be underlying values that drive the business and motivate most of the team (if they are on board). This could be, for instance, empowering small businesses or empowering small businesses to take proper control of their finances or some such purpose. Focusing on the true, underlying nature of what drives a company can give renewed vigor to business owners and their teams. The process gets everyone in touch with their authentic selves and helps create a truly authentic business.
(2) What are the core values of our organization? Look at the core values by which you operate the business or, at least, aspire to do so. For example, what is important to you? Openness? Good customer relations? Honesty? Integrity? Look at all those values that you count as fundamental to your existence. Having done that, honestly appraise yourselves as to where you currently stand on each aspect of your values. Highlighting your purpose and values allows you to stop and acknowledge yourself for those things that you are doing well and to take stock of those things that perhaps fall short of the mark. In turn, this allows everyone in your team to “own” the issues and to take responsibility for gradually bringing everything into line with your purpose and values.
Stage 2:
Be consistent in everything. Look at all your relationships to see whether they are appropriately documented and documented in a way that reflects your purpose and values:
- terms and conditions (i.e. your relationship with your customers), including website terms);
- employment contracts;
- joint ventures and partnering arrangements;
- supplier terms;
- dealings with other stakeholders including the general public (where relevant)
Once you have highlighted your purpose and values, undertaking an honest appraisal of where you currently stand and audited your relationships with various stakeholders in your business, the time may have come to take a step back and reappraise your legal documentation.
We can work with you to help you define your purpose and values and/or in making sure that all of your relationships match them: we offer hands-on, cost-effective consultancy services to get you on track and turbo-charged. We can also assist you in auditing your core relationship documents to bring them up to date legally and in line with your purpose and values.