Gaining Alignment
If you’ve ever driven a car out of alignment (when you let go of the wheel, it heads for the ditch), you know how dangerous it can be. Running a business out of alignment is no different.
The only exercise I have ever done that I can truly say changed my business immediately was publishing my company’s Core Values.
Since then, it is stunning to see how those values are both clear and present in all of our great accomplishments, as well as an accurate indicator of pending disaster. When a single value is absent, failure is inevitably right around the corner.
Now, I am not talking about the type of literature you read on a company’s websites about, “Our customers come first, etc.” I am talking about the gritty stuff that makes your company tick.
I wrote the Barmetrix values in just 30 minutes ten years ago, and over the next year I tweaked them by applying the filters below. If one of your values doesn’t elicit a YES to each of these questions, it’s not a ‘value,’ but merely a ‘wish.’
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Would you pass over a potential hire who doesn’t share or aspire to it?
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Would you fire someone who doesn’t share or aspire to it?
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Would you take a serious financial hit to protect it?
The more we do around our core values, the better results we get. The best guide I have yet to come across for creating these values is Verne Harnish’s book: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.
Shoot us an email if you would like me to send you the Barmetrix Core Values.
Aligned and focused!
