This week we sat down as a company to talk about what we valued the most, what we’d like to get across in each and every customer interactions, and what we wanted to live by. This is what we came up with, after 3 or 4 sessions:
- Love what you do.
- Be interesting, not perfect.
- Focus on simplicity.
- Be the ‘go-to’ people.
- Make yourself at home.
The idea is that in every decision, interaction, argument, direction, we take, the above values are our guide. We think the above take all of the little things we want to live by, and wraps them up into something which is easy to understand and talk about.
The proof it works for us, was that this week we had an experience which tested the above values, and we felt good about the outcome. We talked about how our values applied in this situation, what our conduct should look like to make us feel congruent with them, and then we acted. What’s funny is that my own default response was somewhat cynical (this happens after being in the trenches for so long – you get jaded and less and less patient), and much more sarcastic. But it was the team which brought us back to our values and what was the right thing to do.
No discussions, no debate, no arguments. Just alignment. And then happiness knowing we’d tried, and done the right thing.
We’re going to put the values on the wall, and we’re going to use them for all the important decisions. Feels good.
How about you? What’s your guide?