My Observations
My working life has given me great insight into people and alignment of personal values and with those of the organisations they work for.
Review
I did an activity in one of my modules in my masters degree at uni over 8 years ago. It was a vision, mission, values and purpose activity. A lot of self reflection and exploration. I recently whilst looking for some other documents found what I had written.
My vision and mission since then has become much clearer and much more connected (inner high five!) but what I loved was that my values where virtually the same, slightly different words but the core essence was unchanged.
When I wrote these for the first time at uni, I was on a journey of self discovery and connecting to self. And here I am looking back at them in quiet surprise but also peace that I've known who I am, I've just got a little lost.
Observations
In the last few years I've worked with and for a number of organisations both as an employee and as clients, studied with a few more, and it surprises me how much misalignment exists across the them.
When you look up the organisation online and/or talk with the recruiting staff, and then when you first start working/studying with them you get a wonderful presentation of who they are - Our values are blah blah blah, we believe in blah blah blah and stand for blah blah blah. (Please insert relevant values of a business that comes to mind in the 'blah blah blah').
Then you start working with them/for them or studying with them and after a short while see all the conflicting actions to the messages that they so proudly preach.
Where does it all go wrong?
I believe it's in the lack of belief.
When you don't truly believe in the 'why' of what you're doing how can you possibly demonstrate it with any authenticity?!? In one organisation, I felt like I was the only person that was interested in the long-term success of the company, whilst the whole senior management team were looking to cash in on quick wins - that most definitely wasn't demonstrative of any values on their part.
If everyone s not demonstrating the values of the business, it won't be long before no one is.
Employing the wrong people.
Bringing people into your business that do not align to the vision, mission and values of your business will create stress in the business. Now I appreciate that this it's not always easy to find say a cleaner who aligns to your vision to transform the wellbeing of humanity through natural skincare, for example. But it's your job as the owner/CEO of the company to align your business to them and them to your business. Understanding what their purpose is and how they achieve that through working for you. If you can't do this, then it's probably best not to employ them.
You don't have your values right.
When working out the values of your business, as a new business, they will tend to be what the owner(s) hold to be their own. However, if you don't dig deep enough to figure out what you truly value in your life and as such in your business then it'll always be a challenge for you to demonstrate your values - there will always be an element of acting involved and at some point in time you'll find yourself not demonstrating them, and we go back up to the 'lack of belief' point above. When creating your business don't fleet on doing an in depth values exercise (vision and mission as well). This is the heart of your business, without it the blood will not pump effectively and you risk the longterm health of your business.
What if you've taken over a business or started working for one? Make sure it's right for you and you are aligned to its purpose. If like me, you've worked for organisations that really can't articulate why they are, then you need to figure out whether working there is something your need to do or not...I can tell you now that misaligned values are not good for your mental or emotional health!
If you're buying a business use your heart to guide your decision and not your bank account. You're not going to want to look after a business that you don't love even if it's brining in big dollars. Which in the long term is bad for you and the business.
Present Day
So now I run two businesses LDI Consultancy and apa kula. They both support me in what I believe is my purpose, and whilst the vision and mission are different for each because they achieve my purpose through different means, they both hold the same values because they are a representation of who I am and what I believe is the best way to operate in both business and in life.
Would love to hear your thoughts about your values, comment below.
Bhav xx
