Do you have a clear and differentiating STRATEGY? Turn to your financials to find out.

If you have consistent and sustainable revenue growth with increasing gross margin dollars, the answer is more than likely yes.

Your Strategy is the blueprint for how you will achieve your goals and your ability to bring this Strategy to life comes down to your Core Values, Core Purpose, and Core Competencies.

In Verne Harnish’s 4 Decisions model, the Core is the link between People and Strategy. If our Strategy answers WHAT we’re doing and WHERE we’re going, our Core Values are HOW we (the People) bring it to life.

Without a strong Core, we are plagued with a disengaged team lacking focus and overall instability. Core Values are not just a marketing initiative or a one-time exercise. They should be applied, consulted, and infused in our organizations every minute of every day. In fact, when our Values permeate our organizations, leaders are freed up to focus on what lies ahead and less time on the past or daily fire drills.

Here are 8 suggestions on how to align your people and systems around your Core Values, so your organization is truly living them:

Storytelling
- In your next town hall, share a few stories/examples of how employees are living out the Core Values.
Recruitment and Selection
- Reduce turnover by using the Core Values during the interview process to ensure candidates align with the organization and are a strong culture fit.
Onboarding
- Introduce the Core Values to new employees on their very first day. Share a video/stories of employees and the company living these Values.
Performance discussions
- Make feedback more productive by scoring employees on how well they have behaved according to the Core Values.
Recognition and rewards
- Ties into storytelling. Gamify it!
Newsletters
- To start/enhance your company newsletter, center it around how employees across the organization are living out the Values.
Themes
- Keep Values top of mind by choosing one to focus on each quarter.
Daily Reinforcement
- This is the most important. Leaders/Managers who consult the Values daily for decision-making set the ultimate example.

Repetition is vital. When we create a handful of rules and repeat them a lot (and I mean A LOT), we no longer need to ask permission for everything. Our organizations can consult the Values, which ultimately frees up the leadership team from many of the day-to-day operational issues.

While you may have your “list” of Core Values at home that your family lives by, it’s not the same for our organizations. We all come from varied backgrounds and have different life experiences which shape our personal values, and so do our organizations.

According to Harnish, our organizations are living and breathing organisms with distinct personalities. To unify our team behind our Strategy, achieve our Purpose, and honor our organization’s uniqueness, we must obsessively repeat and rally around our Core Values.