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August 2020 · 3 Min Read
Have you ever read an article, watched a video or listened to a podcast and thought “this is really great but it wouldn’t be right for us”? Some might think that you’re just being obtrusive but most of the time, there is a good reason and it is often closely tied to your values. Even when you’re the one deciding not to use a piece of content, not to create a certain product or not to work with a particular supplier, you don’t always realise why. It feels like a gut instinct but it’s important to remember that it’s not a gut instinct for everyone who works with you.
They’re something that many of us don’t really think about much but we all have them. Some are shared, many are not, it’s all part of what makes us different. That’s why we can’t expect every employee to share exactly the same core personal values but if they don’t at least understand and agree with the core business values, how can you expect their decisions to be based upon them? When they come to you with ideas that you both think are brilliant but you don’t use because it “just doesn’t fit”, can you blame them for being more than a little annoyed?
If you’re not the only person in your company, decisions can be made in your brand’s name that you have little or no control over. By the time you realise what’s happened, it’s too late to press stop and even though the choice doesn’t feel quite right, you let it be. This judgement might create a level of success but there will be many who love and understand your brand that feel like “it’s not quite right”. One big, bad decision or enough small ones will make your most important clients start to lose trust. They will slowly start to look at other brands who are better aligned with their values.
We love to trust our gut and there is good reason. It often points us in the right direction but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t question it. Our guts can be swayed by many things; shiny objects, the glitter of short-term success and too much alcohol the night before to name but a few. When we rely on our gut alone, we can easily regret it a short while later. If we consciously base our decisions on our core business values, we know that those decisions will be consistent. As long as we’ve chosen the right values in the first place, consistency will play a big part in building long-term, strong relationships with our ideal audience.
We’re almost at the end of this article so we need to focus! By that, I mean, we, Puck Creations, need to focus on making sure that this blog aligns with our core values. Remember? That was the title of this blog. “Why I think about Puck Creations’ core values, before, as and after I write every blog”. The answer is in all the things I’ve already mentioned plus it helps me to focus. If I go off on a tangent and start talking about hippos on ice, it’s OK as long as it fits at least one of our core values. (Anyone ever seen a hippo on ice by the way? I think there might be a cartoon?).
In essence, this whole blog is about explaining why your core business values matter. There are many more reasons than we have time for here but…
Maybe we should have just written this section but that wouldn’t have been very creative now, would it!
If you’re ready to define your values so that everybody in the company knows, understands and invests in them, [email protected].
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