What are the values at work? The term value has many meanings, but in this post we are going to focus on the one that refers to the qualities of a person or an entity for which other people choose them.
Let us look at this definition in more detail to really understand what it implies.
The objective of every company is to generate profits. Customers are vital for this, as they are the ones who buy the company's products and services. But how does the company attract customers? From its values towards the market and its values at work.
Competition in the market is increasing. In other words, more and more companies are emerging that offer similar or even the same solutions as ours, making differentiation more and more difficult to achieve. Differentiation is therefore becoming more and more difficult to achieve. What can we do in this competitive environment?
The key is values. A customer will decide to buy from us rather than from our competitors depending on how much our values coincide with theirs. We are talking about issues such as transparency, trust, friendliness and a long etcetera. To give a simple example: if one of the values to which our potential customers attach most importance is ecology, they will decide whether to buy from us or from our competitors depending on how ecological we are and show ourselves to be. Details such as having a specific bin for plastics in the physical premises or including a footer in our e-mails with the message «do not print this unless strictly necessary» are examples of those signs that the customer needs.
However, there is no point in a company having values and displaying them if its employees do not agree with them and do not put them into practice. This is where the real concept of values at work comes in. Since our employees will come into contact with our customers more or less often, it is important that they display the company's values in exactly the same way as that message at the bottom of every email.
Having understood this crucial aspect, let's look at how to promote values at work in order to achieve the desired effect on our clientele.
First of all, in any recruitment process, we must ensure that the candidates we choose to join our company share our values. If not, they will not be able to represent them effectively and credibly as values at work. To do this, it is enough to ask them what they think about certain aspects and to detect when they are being sincere in their answers and when they are not. The professional profile of the interviewer in this respect has an important influence.
Once we have chosen the right candidates, we need to train them on how to communicate and adhere to the values that the company stands for. There are many ways of putting the same value into practice and each company will have its own.
In addition, to achieve the above, the company must contemplate values at work. That is to say, in addition to those projected towards the customer, it must have internal values such as companionship or collaboration. If a worker does not feel at ease because they consider that their values do not coincide with those of their working environment, it will be difficult for them to do a good job.
That is why the company must provide solutions and have incentive schemes that adhere to values that are important to the employee and not just to customers. For example, if the company values a commitment to the parenthood of its employees, it may choose to provide them with a childcare ticket to help them reconcile work and family life.
Ultimately, values at work must be projected both internally and externally by employees. This is the only way for the company to achieve the productivity.
