How are you using your values?

Hey, everybody. Drew McLellan from Agency Management Institute this week coming to you from Columbus, Ohio, where we are celebrating our youngest daughter's 22nd birthday. We had a dinner conversation last night that I thought was really interesting and reminded me of something that I wanted to talk to you guys about. We were talking about values. And you know, one of the key things for you retaining your team and keeping them engaged in the agency and focused on the same goals that you're focused on, is actually having agency values that are clearly defined, that are regularly discussed, that are woven into performance appraisals, interviews, exit interviews, team meetings, and most important, in your decision making metrics. So when you have core values that you really live by and that you talk about often, and your employees can recite them, can be guided by them, can remember what they are, and also bring them up when you're making decisions, that is a game changer in terms of employee retention. Our employees want to know why the agency exists, what we stand for, what we're about, what are our boundaries, what are the criteria by which we make decisions? And an agency employee that's values align with our values is a really clear indicator of the stickiness of that employee. And given how hard it is to find good employees and keep them today, this is a critical element inside your agency. It is also a great way for you to standardize some decision-making around core values that you hold. I am not a fan of core values being delivered or developed by a committee. Core values have to reflect the agency owner's values. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have the agency participate or a leadership team participate by giving them some options in how they word the values or making sure those values actually align. We're sharing with them what you want the values to be and then having them help you identify where you're off the mark and where the agency doesn't actually show up living that value today. But values by committee end up being generic values, like honesty and integrity and things like that, which honestly are table stakes. Your agency's values should be the values that matter most to you, the things that are going to make you proud about how the agency is run, and how people talk about the agency, and the legacy that the agency leaves. So core values should be yours. They should be clearly communicated, and they should be a tool that you use on a regular basis inside the agency. And if you do that, you're going to retain your employees, and the employees you're going to retain, are going to be the ones who align with you. All really good for business, and honestly, good for us, just in terms of enjoying the work and enjoying the people we work with. So if you have not clearly articulated and defined your agency's values, now would be a great time to start. All right, I'll see you next week.