How To Enjoy Processes, But Value Outcomes More

If the job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well

He rubs his hand over the rough texture of the limestone, eyes wide and shining.

Looking up to the full height of the wall, he steps back, and back again as his gaze checks the enormous wall.

Rushing inside as he pulls out a laser measure, he scatters the contents of his pockets among the refuse on the flagstones.

Using the wall framework and beams left lying like fiddlesticks in an abandoned tangle, he scrambles up within reach of the lower rafters. Swinging himself higher until he straddles the central beam, he reminds me of an excited and confident boy on a jungle gym.

I watch as he slowly inspects the interior. He aims his laser beam and records his measurements. Inching his way over the beam until he reaches the wall, he examines the stone façade.

Looking down at me, he exclaims, “This is magnificent, could be three floors in some areas, still smells like tobacco.”

His voice is loud in the cavernous space of the stone shell. The sound floats and disappears into gaping holes in the roof. I nod my head as I look up at him. His infectious excitement is so beguiling, I feel the excitement too.

He’s precisely the sort of architect I want for my project. I don’t look for quotes. I search for enthusiasm, emotion. Someone with a passion, a belief in their own ability, a love of valuing, and preserving craftsmanship as a legacy left by others. Pride in achieving outcomes of value.

I can respect and work with someone who recognizes and values the quality of the outcome as an essential achievement. And one who enjoys the journey to reach their successful outcome.

What are your values?

My values are the core of who I am, what I stand for, and what my business stands for. These values I hold as my beliefs, not only because they were my parents’ values, they stand for what I trust in my world, in my business, and in my relationships.

Your core values will be an intrinsic vision of who you are and how your organization presents itself.

Your core values will define what beliefs your business reflects, how it resonates with employees and customers.

Your goal should be to seamlessly blend your core values into your business culture, into your belief system, so every client and customer will see these values in action. For example, how you conduct your business, the value you place on your staff, your customer care and service.

How to illustrate your organizational values

Values play a crucial role. This is especially true in deciding who your business employs. There’ll be those who thrive in an environment your values support, and those who won’t.

This environment is who you are, what you believe, and it will affect who you interact with and trust.

Assessing your business culture periodically, to see how you’re doing, is a critical part of consciously shaping your corporate culture.

Susan Heathfield says,

Your goal, when you identify the core values of your organization, is to identify the key core values, not a laundry list of cookie-cutter values that you copied from another organization’s list of core values…Four to six is better and easier to hold front and center in everything you do.

If your business values empowerment, for example, then you will take mindful risks, and encourage your employees to discover and solve problems, rather than waiting for permission to manage their tasks.

If transparency is one of your core values, then your employees will understand your goals, the highs and the lows, and the direction you’re taking your business. Your employees will tell you about good news stories of success and contributions by staff, and equally, the not so good news.

Writing a value statement is not about the statement itself

This is about living the core value statement.

The emphasis you place on your values, plays a defining role in motivating your employees, and supporting their morale. Whenever an organization recognizes and examines the values its employees live by, then this is a workplace with motivation potential.

Values such as integrity, empowerment, perseverance, equality, self-discipline, and accountability, when truly integrated within the culture of the organization, are powerful motivators — Susan Heathfield.

Is there a conflict between your values and those of your employees?

You can be sure, there are workplaces where values can deflate motivation.

This happens when employees can easily recognize there’s a conflict between what managers say and do. If the belief is how your organization endorses certain values but behaves in a contradictory manner, this will create mistrust, with employees and customers alike.

You want your staff to find your values are clear and congruent in your everyday interactions with them, and especially with your customers and clients.

How guiding principles become the corporate culture

You can be sure in any workplace environment, a culture will develop, because the coming together of people in a common environment, guarantees it.

Will the corporate culture you develop, serve the best interests of your customers, your employees, and your organization’s future progress and continued success? Sometimes, it will, and sometimes you need to consciously decide how to make your culture better to support your business goals.

Assessing your business culture periodically, to see how you’re doing, is a critical part of consciously shaping your corporate culture.

Finally, a work culture where responsibility and accountability are valued must hire employees who are willing to manage their output and outcomes. It doesn’t need people who make excuses and do not hold each other accountable. It needs people who are willing to problem solve and be powerful shapers of the organization’s culture.

If your organization is a larger one, the core values of your senior leaders are essential in the development and understanding of the corporate culture. These leaders set the direction and define daily activities. And they wield power. Make sure the messages they send are your messages.

Summary

To truly understand what values you possess and live by, you must deconstruct them until you are able to clearly see what exactly you value and why you hold those values. Looking openly and honestly at the way you were raised is the first step in identifying the values that you had instilled growing up — Jim Taylor, Ph.D., Personal Growth: Your Values, Your Life.

My parents instilled in me the idea of doing a task well. They believed honest work was important, and everyone is recognized for their achievements. If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

If your focus is on achieving the best outcome you can, then sometimes you need to recognize when to call for help. My architect was referred by my mother-in-law Sandra, as she knew he had skills in designing living spaces from older buildings, especially those with heritage listings.

My property had two homes when I bought it. One I use for volunteer workers and one I live in. I plan to rent it now the old tobacco-drying shed skeleton has become my new home.

It’s not heritage listed, but it’s valuable to me.