Scientists say that a person makes 35,000 decisions a day. (Sahakian & La Buzetta, 2013). Due to the abundance of information in the digital world, this number has increased even more in recent years. Most of our decisions are made unconsciously, automatically – intuitively (“emotionally”). Your employees’ decision to drink coffee with sugar or without it may not have any impact on your company, but many of their decisions do have a real impact on the success of the company. For example, decisions such as: which candidate to call for an interview, X or Y. Should the employee implement this project first, or that one first, and how.
To ensure that your employees don't get lost in 35,000 decisions and make decisions that benefit the company, you need a guiding principle. These principles are called company values.
Values are like a beacon of light. They serve as a guide and guide all decisions. If your company makes quality a top priority, you will need to consider the costs associated with expensive raw materials and highly skilled personnel.
Companies have difficulty formulating values, and therefore every employee has their own understanding and interpretation of them. The following questions will help you formulate company values:
- What ideals do you strive for?
- What qualities and behaviors should an employee possess that contribute to the company's success?
- How would you like customers to describe your company?
- What is unique about your company, what sets you apart from your competitors?
- What is true and what is false? Just or unjust?
Establishing values makes sense if it helps you prove that your company offers better than average conditions to customers. When you pay attention to the formulation of values, customer and employee loyalty increases and they identify with your company (internal effect). This, in turn, helps to create a convincing image of the company (external appearance). Always think about the fact that the company should live by the values that it has set as a guideline.
