Why does an organization need to align its corporate values with its business strategy? Your strategic plan or the direction of your business is shaped by the choices and decisions your employees make every day. A cohesive effective and successful strategy begins with the right type of people but it is the organization's responsibility to ensure their values remain ingrained in everyday business practice to ensure they remain at the forefront of employees' minds. Here are four tips for aligning values and strategies that are sure to result in the type of organization that exceeds expectations.
No. 2: Reward and Recognize For your employees when you recognize and reward desired behaviors it tells them that you are serious about what you promote. Let them know that you see the choices they are making and that you appreciate their effort in leading the way for exceptional behavior. Encourage others to recognize values in action from others and make it a positive part of strategic initiatives.
No. 3: Reinforce It's simply not good enough to recommend that your employees live and breathe your values you must reinforce them. That means to be intentional about what you espouse and showcase those business decisions that are in line with the values you work so hard to promote. Highlight the activities of employees vendors even salespeople to reinforce desired behavior and ensure you practice what you preach. Put your people and their living of your values on a pedestal for all to see!
No. 4: Create the Right Culture In business culture is everything - at least in terms of providing the impetus for creativity innovation and risk-taking. But when it comes to aligning values and strategy the right culture is a significant part of providing the framework necessary for people to exercise desired behaviors and values. In other words, making a decision because it's the right thing to do instead of focusing on profit is more likely to happen in a culture that promotes honesty and integrity over the bottom line. Create the right culture and corporate values will align with business strategy in no time. All businesses need profitability to survive but profits at the expense of strong values will always lose in the long run. The connection between values and strategy should never be underestimated. Businesses that have learned to align both are more cohesive in terms of decision making and overall direction. Likeminded employees who share a common bond work more efficiently are generally more effective and help to attract future top-quality employees. Ultimately organizations where strategy is defined by shared values have employees who are happier and that is always a recipe for success.