It was only a few short years ago that I thought that ‘culture’ was a bullshit corporate buzzword that meant nothing.
In my mind, you hired good people that did the right thing by clients and the rest took care of itself.
But what I didn’t realise was that as you grow, your control over the internal environment in your business diminishes.
There are simply too many people for you to vet and hire yourself and too much happening to be across every client interaction and how your team is representing the company. Both to the outside world and how they treat each other.
This is why it is so important to take a serious approach to documenting what the company stands for and making sure people are hired and performance managed based on those values.
This is the first step in creating a high-performance environment, where everyone in the business is on the same page and striving for the same goal.
The image above is a good place to start when you are thinking about defining what you and your people stand for. Simon Sinek’s video linked here is a must-watch as well, if by some miracle you haven’t seen it already (almost 17 million views!)
So how do you go about undergoing this process?
The trick is to start from the inside out (from purpose to positioning not positioning to purpose).
What do you really stand for? Think about why you started the business in the first place. Most people start with a much more altruistic idea of what they want their business to become before it is beaten down by necessity. Cashflow, accounting and processes are all very important but they are not going to build you a business driven by purpose.
As Simon Sinek says, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.
Levels ran this exact process when we set out to build our company. Here is where we ended up.
We believe in empowering growing businesses to achieve significantly more in a shorter timeframe.
Vision
To be Australia’s best resource to help SMEs grow quickly and profitably.
Mission
To systimise revenue growth so that businesses can focus on what they are best at; building great products or services and helping clients.
Values
Promise – Keep your word to your clients, partners and colleagues. Always.
Honesty and Integrity – It’s not just the best policy. It’s the core practice to act in a transparent, trustworthy manner that earns the respect of your colleagues, customers and the public
Success – Set ambitious goals and move heaven and earth to reach them.
A Quiet Ego – Self-belief that transcends egoism with less defensiveness and a balanced stance towards yourself and others
Accountability – Accepting responsibility for your actions and inactions to build trust internally and externally.
Continuous Improvement – Being open to, and providing feedback in a safe and positive way.
Positioning
A Levels, we make enterprise-level strategy and execution accessible to SMEs to fill their executive gaps and expedite their growth.
We strongly believe in our purpose and our hiring and performance management are all based on our values.
For every major decision we ask ourselves, how does this serve our purpose and vision?
What is your purpose and what do you stand for?
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