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 a company attract customers? Through its values presented to the market and its internal work values.
The competition in the market is ever-increasing. In other words, more and more companies are emerging that offer solutions similar to ours, or even the same. Therefore, differentiation is becoming more and more complicated to achieve. What can we do in this highly competitive environment?
The key lies in our values. A customer will decide to buy from us rather than our competitors based on how well our values align with theirs. We're talking about issues like transparency, trust, friendly service, and so on. To give a simple example: if one of the values that our prospective customers consider most important is environmental friendliness, they will decide between buying from us or our competitors based on how environmentally friendly we are and how much we demonstrate that we are. Details such as having a specific bin for plastics in our physical premises or including a footer in our emails with the message «do not print this unless strictly necessary» are examples of those demonstrations that the customer needs.
Now, it's no use a company having values and displaying them if its employees don't subscribe to them and put them into practice. That's when the real concept of values at work arises. Since our employees will come into contact with our customers a greater or lesser number of times, it's important that they display the company's values in exactly the same way as that message at the bottom of each email does.
Once this crucial aspect is understood, let's see how to foster values at work to achieve the desired effect on our clientele.
First and foremost, in any staff selection process, we must ensure that the candidates we choose to join our company share its values. Otherwise, they will not be able to represent them effectively and credibly in their work. To achieve this, it is sufficient to ask them what they think about certain aspects and to detect when they are being sincere in their responses and when they are not. The professional profile of the interviewer is very important in this regard.
Once we have chosen the candidates we have deemed appropriate, we must train them so they know how to communicate and adhere to the values that the company represents. There are many ways to put the same value into practice, and each company will have its own.
Furthermore, to achieve the above, the company must consider values in the workplace. This means that, in addition to those projected towards the client, it must have internal values such as camaraderie or collaboration. If an employee is not comfortable due to believing their values do not align with those of their work environment, they will find it difficult 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 childminder to help them reconcile work and family life.
Ultimately, values at work must be projected both inwards and outwards by employees. Only then will the company achieve productivity.
