What does “values-led” mean?

It is common for businesses to state their values nowadays. However, they don’t really mean much if your actual business activities don’t reflect them.

Listing your values on your website isn’t enough. You need to show how the your business-related actions and behaviours reflect them. When you do this, your employees, customers, and prospects will be able to see and understand how your business is led by your values.

How do you become a values-led business?

Start by identifying your values. There are a number of ways to do this, but a good old heart-to-heart with yourself, your managers, or your larger team will help to distill these details for your business. 

You might start by thinking about what your company values over making money. Or, when do you prioritize a team member over a customer or prospect? Your values should inform your policies related to your employees, your products and services, and your business choices as related to environmental and social impact.

Having values vs. being values-led

Once you have identified your core values, start thinking about ways to infuse them further into your business practices. Committing to values-led business can carry some risk. Consider what you can afford to do, but also the larger benefits of infusing your values into your day-to-day business. You might look more closely at:

• Employee policies, from travel to vacation to quality of life to your expectations surrounding workplace conduct
• Service policies, like how you address customers to your supply chain transparency
• Environmental and social policies, such as product and service sourcing, carbon footprint, and business-related activism

Not just for big businesses

There are many things that might seem like they are more within the capacity of large corporations than small companies. However, when it comes to creating a values-led business, even the smallest owner-operated shop can make an impact and reap the benefits.  In fact, committing to values-led business really stands to have an effect on your bottom line. It turns out that 63% of consumers prefer to buy from purpose-driven brands, so the effect is in fact quite real.

GiveRound.com offers an opportunity to extend your values into supporting causes that align with your business, and build your reputation as a values-led company.