Operations & Core Values (Part 4)
Core Values Template prepared by C. Hodges Consulting, LLC
So far we have walked through introductions to core values as competitive advantages and how they relate to leadership within an organization.
In this week’s newsletter on Core Values as a Competitive Advantage, consider the operations element of your business. To add context, we specifically are thinking about categories such as:
Resources
Revenue Streams
Suppliers
Customers
Production & Storage
Logistics & Documentation
This requires having a deep understanding of how your organization delivers its goods and or services to customers. Or if you are in the early phases of building a business, think about how you intend to manage your operations activities.
We are working to identify the values that you embrace and act on. I included this statement in last week’s newsletter, and I am going to include it again: this is not a situation where more is always better because “you can’t be everything for everybody.”1
“In finding your company’s core values, the key is authenticity: not uniqueness.”2
In case you need some idea prompts to get you started, here are a few sample core values (also listed in the light blue part of the table) that might be appropriate for your organization:
Uncompromising quality
Efficiency
Transparency
Innovation
Customer satisfaction
For this week’s exercise:
Reference the table below. The format provided is offered as an example for completing this week’s exercise. In the light blue rows, I listed some suggestions if you need help with identifying your organization’s potential core values.
Take a look at the list of core values that you began this exercise with.
Identify the core values that relate to Operations Activities
Note which of these core values 1) specifically support your organization in achieving your Core Purpose, 2) align with the values and needs of your Target Customers, and 3) enable you to deliver on your brand promise.
Focus on the core values that receive checkmarks all the way across.
Apply these core values to the ways that your business does things.
This is your friendly reminder to embrace operating from your organization’s core values in order to generate profits. Years of in-depth studies have proven this to be a reliable long-term strategy.2
In the coming weeks, we will apply the same methodology to Supporting Activities (i.e. back-office functions) and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Wishing you a great weekend,
Courtney
