In a world where everyone in your company represents your brand – whether posting on social media, interacting with customers or driving company vehicles through town – educating your team members about your company values could help you avoid the wrong kind of viral attention. If you haven’t done so already, establishing company values would be the place to start.
A business’s vision, mission statement and core values look higher than your business plan and your products and services. These are descriptions of who you are as a company, the good you hope to achieve and the impact you want to have.
To create a list of core values, start by identifying your company’s key traits. Perhaps it’s treating each team member and every customer with respect, or delivering quality on every job, or solving customer problems quickly and correctly. Get a team together and brainstorm to come up with a lengthy list, then narrow them down to a solid set that speaks to who you are and what you want your market and potential employees to understand about how you do business.
Once you’ve identified your core values, communicate these values with your entire company. But do more than just create a poster for the breakroom. Include these values in orientations, training sessions and other employee communications. And just as importantly, be sure to lead by example. There’s nothing quite so insincere as a list of core values that are ignored on a daily basis.
Also, make sure these core values are supported by your marketing messages and your social media posts. You may also wish to develop communication guidelines and make this part of your employee training. Remind your team members that everyone represents the company with each interaction with a customer – and your future customers in the general public. A company’s reputation can be built by good deeds with the right attitude – or damaged by bad attitudes in ordinary situations.