There were a couple of things I wanted to share this week. One was the importance of tribe and the other was passive vs. active income. We have the Club Med Mastermind coming up and we have the “Building Products” module coming up in Building Abundance.
Since I couldn’t decide which, I decided to link you to some old blogs I wrote on those subjects and discuss something entirely different. Values and business.
More often than not, things and people are as they appear. Malcom Forbes
If you are like me, you take some time intermittently to raise yourself to a new level spiritually. The time picks me, I don’t pick the time. There are some opportunities that surely are missed – because I am not quiet enough to hear the door open. Other times it takes a grand gesture and I finally get the hint.
It is this work that prepares you for when things don’t go well or when things are going really well and a decision needs to be made.
In my old business, everything was established. I had the same employees and vendors for a minimum of 25 years. Many of my customers were multi generations. I worked with the 1st client and then, I worked with their children and worked with their children. Most of my clients came from referrals and repeat customers. We shared common values. It seems like you go through a few situations and those values become clear.
What do you do when you are working with someone who does not share your common values? Well, when it’s your business – it’s your values- that’s it. You can’t really force anyone to share your values, but they need to be well represented and if they aren’t they undermine the fabric of your business.
What are your values?
These are The Health Coach Group’s Values, they are mine. This is one of the reasons Ashlie and I get along so well in work, she understands my values.
1. Honesty
2. Respect
3. Responsibility
4. Fairness
5. Caring and Citizenship
Almost always, if someone has disappointed me, it is because they are not performing by my values. I have never interviewed an employee or a vendor or even a client and asked “what are your values”? What would happen if we did that? What if we said…if you want to represent my company…you have to share these values with me?
I bet we would save a lot of time and trouble.
Do you think we subconsciously assess the values of others when we talk to them?
Do you think we can work or even be with people who don’t share the same values?
How is it that we are respectful of other religions, cultures, etc….but so intolerant of other values?
Do you think we can expand processes by understanding other peoples’ values or do you think that is futile?
There are a lot of little sidebars too.
Tony Robbins talked about relationships and how two people can see something in such very different light.
A man may have grown up without gifts…not making a big deal out of birthdays, holidays, etc. and his family didn’t give gifts. The man has no association between love and gifts. A woman may have grown up with a totally different spin. If you loved someone in her family, you thought really, really hard and you got the best gift you could possibly shower on the one you loved and it gave both of you intense joy and reinforced love and made you feel good. So, when the husband skips an anniversary gift, the wife feels unloved and unappreciated. Totally different values. It doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be together, it just means they need to be respectful of each others’ values and make adjustments. Some people go for years and years without reconciling their values.
This is how it is in my marriage. My husband does lovely things for me every day. He shows his love through action. To be honest, I like it. I don’t like not getting presents though, even though I can sit here and explain the whole thing to you…no gift still feels like n0 love. So, whose values are right and wrong…can we both be right? I have tried different things through the years…passive aggressive is definitely not the answer. I have birthday weeks for a reason, it gives me 6 days ahead to remind him.
A business example could be an employee who exaggerates the # of hours worked. They lie to HR about the pay contracted rate agreed upon at hiring. Subcontractors who talk behind the owners back, having gripe fests. Maybe they don’t respond well to customers who need help and give them a hard time about setting times to meet….for no apparent reason. Well, I don’t know about you, I would consider all of these to undermine the values of my company. You either have to stop it or release the workers – or let their values run your company until you don’t have one anymore. Same thing with vendors, if a vendor makes it impossible to operate within your core values, you need another vendor.
The secret is setting boundaries. What will you accept and what will you not? It is a lot easier to compromise with someone who loves you…than someone who doesn’t really care about you at all.
So…this isn’t really going to answer all of your Q’s today…because …honestly, I don’t know.
Today my answer is… try your hardest to make it work, but know what you can and can not live with in your business. If you are an entrepreneur, you know how important it is to have VERY high expectations of results.
If you aren’t hiring your own people – make sure the people you trust with the selection process understands your values and trust your instincts. That can be a hard lesson as your business grows.
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Okay, here you go – I promised:
Passive VS Active Income
A blog on passive-active income. – Short and to the point.
Your Tribe
Click here for one of our best blogs written on the importance of having a tribe.
I was asked this week….. what about all these Fanpage shares? Should I delete health coaches from my list of likes? My answer is NO? They are your team, your tribe and if you did your job in niche and brand…you just may receive referrals………and a lot more.
THCG/Club Med Mastermind
Please, join us for the ultimate in self care and business care combined.
Meet:
- Hippocrates Health Institute’s Director, Dr. Brian Clements
- MY favorite journalist/graphic artist, Christie Halmick, Jewels Branch Creative
- Health Coach/Attorney Lisa Fraley
- Christina Velderman is orchestrating the event and it is guaranteed to be the time of your life and the life of your business.
We have 2 more spots to fill and I would love it to be you. Click here to learn more.
Please join in the conversation below. Have you ever had values issues in your personal life or business? How do you deal with it?
Yes to shared values. Over the course of my business life I can see that almost every failed partnership or working relationship or endeavor has been a result of differing values. For me, it means watching and waiting and interacting with people for a trial period, particularly when it comes to adding someone to my team, because we can “speak” our values but, in my experience, actions speak so much louder than words. Great conversation.
ah, shared values. finding this to be the key, not only in my business, but in my personal life as well. in creating a very different-looking life for myself and my family (homeschooling, nomadic travel), i have come to know deeply what values i hold closest to my heart.
Beautiful post! I think in order to have a truly successful business we must be living in integrity and aligning with our values for sure! Unless we are aligned with our own paradigm, how can we share authentically to the world? Such great reminders here- thanks!
Nice! So very informative and I like how you talk about focusing on our values. Very important not to loose yourself in the business process.
Great post. I love you explain shared values and make it relevant to business. This is a great reminder to check my own values and make sure that everything is aligned as necessary.
“The time picks me, I don’t pick the time.” Oh my… I know that one well!!!! And yes… what IF we only worked with those who shared our values … I mean it is good to learn from one another, but wow, the growth and the support and the love, would be amazing…. not only in the time we would save… but in the love that would expand… It’s so important to go where if feels aligned…so much more can happen that way… great post. Good conversations. Important thoughts.