What are your Core Values?

How do your core values measure up? Do you realize that the foundation of how your employees behave at your workplace result from the culture that you create? Employee guidelines are a great start, however, those are not the heart of your organization.

Are you aware of your company commandments or culture fit?

The best comparison I can give you would be to look at the Ten Commandments. They were etched in stone, and the followers did not waiver. Have you set your team up to follow what is best for the culture of your company?

The modern day commandments don’t have to be so serious, but they do need to be followed. Take Zappos for example. I was fortunate enough to sit down for a two hour interview with Tony Hsieh, the CEO of this incredibly successful organization. Tony’s foundation for building the Zappos culture was his implementation of his10 core values. These are values that the Zappos executives base how they hire, and have even been known to let people go because they were no longer a culture fit.

From the core of Tony Hsieh

Tony has set precedence up of ethics, morale, and true Happiness in the workplace. His Core Values have created an amazing culture…one that every company should emulate. For the record, when I asked Tony how he created such an amazing culture, his response was “I didn’t do it, it was my team.” If you’ve ever read the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, you will concur that Tony is a level five leader…and then some! Speaking of great books, Tony is now an author of a wonderful book called “Delivering Happiness”…this is a must read!

Authentic Values come from within

While taking on the challenge of developing your set of core values, think of it this way. If your employees were on camera, how would they behave? This is usually a great way to measure if you have plunged into the core of your core values. It’s not just coming up with these values that will make a difference in your culture. You have to practice what you preach, and make them a priority for the way your employees conduct themselves even when no one’s watching. The best way to do that is to first hire based on your company core values, and then make sure your values mirror an authentic and driven team. The only way to create a culture like Zappo’s is to implement your values live them, and treat them as if they are the “the law of the land” so to speak.

You will reap what you sow

The law of attraction is a perfect example of the culture you should be aiming for. By creating and implementing core values within your organization, you will create an atmosphere filled with positive energy. This will detour bad behavior, and attract your employees to thrive on the energy of your core values. You will not only see a change in your organization, but the law of attraction will profoundly increase your bottom line.

You may realize that when you implement the values that you have created, some of your employees no longer fit in. If you have one bad apple…it truly will affect the entire bunch. Again referring back to Tony Hsieh, he will let people go if they are a threat to his culture. It does not matter how great of a sales person they are, if their actions are destructive, negativity will spread throughout the company like cancer and affect the morale and growth of the entire organization.

Create the exact culture you desire

Visualize your ideal culture, and then begin to write down your “ideal employee”. This will help you come up with the core values that you need in order to have the company you want. Include your team in brainstorming for fun titles. Sometimes the simplest verbiage will ignite the most powerful values.

As you go through this process, don’t forget to have fun. You will feel empowered and your energy will be infectious. When you step into your core values, you will attract the employees and customers that will electrify your team, and your bottom line.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Culture Transformation Specialist and connection expert Jacqueline Hadden is devoted to helping you master your team, and maximize your bottom line. To learn how to create change, and increase revenue now, register for her free weekly articles at www.jacquelinehadden.com

©2011 Jacqueline Hadden Enterprises, LLC

My pile is bigger than your pile!

The hot steamy pile that could be worth tens of thousands!

I was cleaning out my desk, and was shocked to find literally hundreds of business cards rubber banded together with little notes attached telling what event they were from.  I am so not proud to admit that I have kept these for so long with absolutely no idea what I was ever going to do with them.  Until today!

Five warm calls a day keeps the cold calls away!

No…these cards are not meant to be kindling, nor a patchwork quilt, however…leads, yes warm fuzzy leads!  You see, I decided to take five cards a day, go online, pull up the website of each contact and learn a little something about the person on the card.  Then, I took it one step further…I pulled them up on Facebook to see what they were posting, and who they were engaging with.  Are you with me???

Glorified Stalker…or  a real smooth talker?

I know, kinda makes me look like a stalker, but really…I am just in preparation mode to make real connections. This is what I call investing time in a potential collaboration, or client. After I had finished my research, I was excited to call each of these people and have a conversation with them.  I discarded all of the cards of people that I had no interest in contacting…not everyone is my ideal client, nor do I want to connect with everyone.

Do you realize how easy it is to call someone and say “Hey Jane, I met you at Manny’s event…you probably don’t remember me…I’m the one that fell off the chair on stage…yeah, that one” I was going through my notes from that event and had you highlighted as someone that I wanted to get to know better, do you have a minute?”  If they don’t have a minute, I’m sure they will be happy to find time to re-connect with you…after all, they think they know you.  Make sure you make an appointment before you hang up the call!

A blast from the past could make a difference in your future!

Genuine, yes…if you do your research, and find that this person is someone you would like to connect with, by all means it is of complete integrity to use that “I know you” line…and make that call.  You can turn it into a sales call if that’s your intent, or, you can simply cultivate a relationship that may turn into a Joint Venture partnership, or referral.

Do you realize how much your piles of cards could be worth?  Get creative in generating leads, connecting with the right people, forming the right partnerships, and even finding the right clients.   I encourage you to play with your piles…I bet one in five are bound to become a client, connection or collaboration!  And to think…these leads were literally under your nose.

I would love to know you better, please allow me that honor by adding your comments below.