Spring Cleaning - Part 3 of 3

In the spirit of saving the best for last, I want to wrap up this series by talking about one of the essential elements of your business - the culture. Now before you act on that thought, "Not that squishy stuff," roll your eyes, and stop reading, give me a few more sentences to make my case.​

​Simply stated, culture is the set of values that act as guiding principles for your business. The graphic below expresses why they are important.

So when thinking about culture in the context of Spring Cleaning, I can't help but think about Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. For those of you who haven't read her book or watched her series, let me give you the punch line. 

Marie Kondo espouses the simple philosophy that we should only surround ourselves with items that give us joy. Her process navigates her clients through the formation of a "joy" barometer. This barometer is defined and honed through a specially ordered set of tasks to sort through belongings and decide which to keep. Marie teaches that just because an item once provided joy, it is no longer necessary to keep it once the joy is no longer present. 

This newly honed joy barometer becomes a litmus test for the acquisition of new items as well so that Marie reports that her clients do not find it necessary to re-engage her services in the future and that most are successfully maintaining their tidied life.

As a business owner, the culture in your organization is steeped in your personal values and therefore enacted without the need for conscious thought. This is not always true, however, for staff. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the business owner to communicate the values that should guide all who are involved in the work of the business. This is known as defining the company's culture.

As Marie discovered with her clients, however, it is often difficult to identify and give words to those values. Often it is a multiple step journey of discovery to reveal and give a name to these unconscious values that guide our way of being. More importantly, once discovered, it is essential to make those values tacit in decision making and actions such as the structure and process changes discussed earlier in this series.
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During times of tremendous growth and evolution in your business, it is vital to step away from the daily demands and reflect on your founding values and their presence and relevance in your current organization. This is the organizational equivalence of a centering exercise. 

By now I hope that you are asking, "So how do you do that?" I'm so glad that you asked! Let's return to the graphic representation of the path from values to results because the answer lies in deconstructing this path.

Here's an example of how to get started uncovering the values that are the foundation for your organization's culture.

1. ​Identify one of your proudest moments regarding the performance of your business
2. List the behaviors/actions that contributed to this outcome (from #1)
3. Next to each behavior/action, list the thinking that led you to choose that action
4. Whether by individual thought or collectively, write down the core beliefs that shaped your thinking

Repeat this 5-7 times. Then look for themes and patterns in your answers to #4. 

Want help uncovering and naming your values and giving them life throughout your business? Let me help you! I have been coaching leaders for over 25 years and have seen the difference collaborative coaching makes. I am committed to introducing these benefits to business owners by making my services accessible and affordable. Experience the benefits of perspective, insight, growth, and confidence that result from our work together.

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