What keeps you up at night? When I was President and CEO of our company, I had four main issues that would keep me up at night:
- People
- Money/Financing
- Government Regulations
- Changing ways of customer buying
I learned that I could NOT control most of these challenges. But I could control how I responded concerning them. And how I responded had everything to do with my core values.
Once I discovered “who I was”, my core values, I had more peace when dealing with issues that I could and could not control. Also, I began to sleep great at night. And you can too!
Every organization has core values. But not all organizations know their core values.
Do you know your core values?
Insight: Core values are driven by the founder, owner, president, or the leader of an organization’s division or department. And the core values must be discovered NOT “set” by the leader.
For most leaders, as your business goes, so goes you sleep – or lack thereof! Think about your own sleep patterns as we look at three types of organizations.
Sleepless Nights
Most organizations are being led by a leader who does not know “who they are”. Therefore the employees do not know “who they are”.
The employees don’t know how they are to behave with customers, suppliers, and with their co-workers.
Since employees are hired with such a variety and diverse set of core values, there is a lack of cohesiveness and unity of spirit. Without a common set of core values, there is little team work to make the dream work.
It is sad that most of these organizations are working very hard every day and trying to do the right thing. But they are under-performing financially. And they don’t even know why.
A Better Night’s Sleep
A small number of organizations are being led by a leader who does know “who they are”. The core values were announced at a one-time, short meeting. And those values may even be on a plaque as you enter the office.
That’s it. And I mean, that’s it.
The employees may remember hearing about the core values when they were announced. But they could not tell you what they are or even what they mean.
Therefore, the employees don’t understand how they should behave when interacting with and connecting with customers, suppliers, and their co-workers.
These companies do not have systems in place to assure alignment of core values:
- Core values are not considered during the interview process. Consequently, a candidate’s level of competence (job skills) gets over-emphasized during the interview.
- During the on-boarding/new employee orientation, core values are not discussed or even mentioned.
- Employees are never evaluated on how well they exemplify the organization’s core values.
- Incentives/bonuses may even encourage employees to violate one or more core values.
Financially, these organizations are performing OK… But if they only knew… they could “knock the ball out of the park”! How? Let’s look at the next type of organization.
A Great Night’s Sleep
Only a very few organizations “substantially” out-perform all others.
In my next blog post I will share the shocking evidence of the financial performance of these great, enduring organizations from Jim Collins’ research in his book, Built to Last.
Also, I will share the tremendous financial performance of my company before I sold it.
How was it done?
It is about getting disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who then take disciplined action. – Jim Collins
Jim Collins is saying when you have “disciplined people”…people who are intentional and guided by the same core values… you produce superior results.
And it starts with the hiring practices – hiring people of the same core values.
Leaders of this type of organization have learned what is more important than a powerful strategy, a super product, the newest technology…It is an organization of people with same core values.
And the people KNOW how to behave as they pursue the organization’s purpose, vision, strategies, tactics, and performance goals.
What is keeping you up at night? Would you like to sleep great tonight? Do you know “who you are?” Please share your thoughts and leave a comment <here>.