Values guide decision making

Hey, everybody. Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute this week coming to you from Saint Pete, Florida.

I am reading an advance copy of a book that Tamsen Webster is bringing out this fall all about how to affect change. And it's a fascinating read. And I'll tell you more about it when you can, where you can buy it. But, one of the points that she's making in the book reminds me of how important it is for an agency to clearly define, articulate, and celebrate their core values and mission.

So in the book, Tamsen talks about how every decision is based on a story. And our stories are all based on our beliefs – a belief set. And that the belief set sort of tees up the story, which then supports the facts, which then lead to decision making. And so it's sort of this sort of trajectory of decision making. And the reality is, for us as agency owners and leaders, we have to help our employees join us in decisions every day. Do your time sheets. Treat clients a certain way. Show up on time. How you dress for a zoom call. Millions and millions of decisions that all impact our business. But if we don't come at those decisions, many of which are made independent of us, so we can talk about how we want them to behave or the decisions we want them to make. But in the moment, our employees are making hundreds of decisions a day that impact the way the world sees our business.

And I believe that one of the foundational tools that we should and could use to help our employees make better decisions is for them to understand the core values, the foundational elements and beliefs that our business is built on and that we really want to be defined by. That, we want to be graded on. And for us as agency owners and leaders, we know what those are. In most cases. Hopefully you've written them down. Hopefully you've shared them with your team. But even if they just live in your head and heart, you probably know what they are.

But do not assume. Do not assume that your employees understand what they are. If you don't talk about them –and not just once, not just in an employee handbook. But if you don't talk about them regularly, if you don't weave them into the culture and behavior set of your organization, if you don't hold people accountable to living by them, then you can't expect them to be part of the decision making set that your employees sort of naturally and natively use when they are acting on your behalf.

So, my point in all of this is if you do not have a set of core values or principles or rules of engagement or whatever you want to call them, and you don't have a bigger picture reason, the why your agency exists – what what is it that you're doing to change the world? You need to get on that. You need to get on and in a big, bad way, and you need to do it well. It's got to come from your head and heart. It's not a committee decision. It is not a group grope sort of thing. An agency's principles or values are born from the agency owner. And two, once you have them, they need to be communicated in a way that sounds and looks just like you. They have to be native to who you are. So don't use generic words. Don't, don't use fluffery. Talk like you talk. That so when somebody sees that list of core values or statements, they're like, I know exactly who said that and who lives that every day.

And then, and this is the part I think we forget, just having them isn't enough. Just talking about them in an employee manual, on initiation day or orientation day is not enough. You have to figure out how to weave those core values and that bigger picture why or mission into the daily operations of your agency. Because if you don't see them inside the daily operations, if you're not talking about them, if you're not hearing your employees reference them when they're making a decision together, then you know that they haven't really taken root inside your organization. And if they haven't taken root, then when somebody is under pressure or in the heat of a moment, whether it's a good or bad moment, they're not going to be able to call upon those core values as part of their decision making set. So super critical. Have them. Make sure they sound and look and feel like you. Celebrate them. Weave them into the organization so that they become part of the litmus test your employees use to make good decisions on behalf of your agency and your clients and themselves every single day. All right?

I'll see you next week.