The value of creating a culture that people love is often talked about, but seemingly hard to achieve. Or is it? I believe there is a simpler way to build a culture that attracts, retains, and allows both staff and customers to truly value what the business is about.
Take an Honest Look
It is important to first take an honest look at where the business is at today. What are your real cultural values today? Not the ones on the wall or those we like to think we are, but how do we react when things are tough? When do we have staff issues? Why have really good people left? How well do we truly resolve customer issues? What drives our real-life decision making?
Taking a real-life inventory with staff, customers and vendors all contributing will give
you a good look at where you are now. If you got a bunch of staff together over an honest pizza – what would they say to the following questions?
What are some reasons why good people have left our company? What did they not find here?
When things change how do we respond?
When there is a customer issue - what happens?
When do we really shine?
What do you love about working here?
Start writing up the values underlying what people are saying. If you want to take this to the next step (be sure you want to go there!) ask the following questions:
What should we amplify?
What should we build on?
What should we replace?
These kinds of changes can take some time, and people often become confused over the process. But let’s talk about getting a better culture – faster!
The challenge with thinking about different values is that most people can not remember them all much less live by them. What if you got agreement on ONE Core value? What if everyone in the company agreed on 1 value as THE core value in the company that affected everything? Now if this value had some connectivity to how your customers interacted with your company what would that look like?
The Story of Linda
Let me tell you a parable about Linda who ran a flower shop that sold great flowers, you
know the kind. Most of her business was from internet sales and she had different price points, types of flowers and a cool sounding name. One day a man walked in the store and asked for a corsage for his wife. It turned out that he had taken her out on their first date at Prom 20 years ago. She wore a corsage with white orchids and green accents – he wanted something exactly the same for their anniversary this week.
In that moment Linda had an AHA moment. She was in the relationship cheerleading business. She started thinking of new names for her bouquets, “celebrating us”, ‘I remember when.” She wondered what this would mean for how she ran her business, gave back to the community around her and how she might impact relationships everywhere?
It did not take Linda long to come up with her core value: Relationships. She had a sign printed and put up on the wall to remind her more than anyone, “Relationships have infinite value and are worth investing in."
This value didn’t just reshape the products but also her entire approach to running the business. She shifted the store’s focus from simply selling flowers to restoring, renewing, and building life-giving relationships. By focusing on this core value, Linda’s Flower Store transformed into a community hub known to be a place that helped people nurture and celebrate their relationships through flowers.
Why Focus on One Core Value?
Clarity of Purpose: A single core value gives your business a clear sense of
direction. It simplifies decision-making by ensuring that every action, product, and service aligns with that value. For Linda, everything—from marketing to product development—was centered around fostering relationships.
Deeper Customer Connections: When your business is built around a meaningful core value, customers don’t just buy your products—they connect with your purpose. Linda’s customers began to see her store not just as a flower shop, but as a place that helped them express love and gratitude in their relationships.
Differentiation in the Market: In a crowded market, a business driven by a unique value stands out. While other stores focused on price or quality or selection, Linda’s focus on relationships gave her a distinctive position that resonated with his community.
Long-Term Impact: A strong core value builds loyalty. By addressing a deeper, more emotional need—like relationships—Linda’s business wasn’t just transactional. It became a brand people trusted and relied on for meaningful moments in their lives.
The Impact
Getting to this core value will change the way you look at your business. It will ease the
process of building a great culture. Now instead of thinking about all the various values people need to focus on, you ask them to consider ONE.
Let’s say you run a large ecommerce company and you decide that CARE is your core interactive value with your customers as well as internally with staff.
‘Hey, when you deal with that customer issue, I want you to think about how CARE applies!”
You now think about hiring, firing, training, marketing, sales, metrics, training, managing, and promoting based on this core value. The right people will be attracted to your company. Not only is this easier to implement, but I believe it is more effective.
You hire the right people with questions based on your core value. For example. “can you give me an example of where you cared about a customer issue to the extreme?” or “what does caring for your people mean when you have to fire someone?”
Tell the Stories
When you have focused clarity, taking the next step is that much easier. Relating this core value to what you do in every part of the business will get people excited and thinking. It will create a sense of clarity as you work with everyone to see how this affects their area. It takes some conversation and thinking but it will be worth it.
How would you THINK differently about your business with One Core Value in mind?
How would you FEEL about your business?
What would you take ACTION on and what would you stop doing as a result of this focus?
If you want to build the culture and light the fire with people, telling story after story that highlights this core value is the way to go. “Remember when Sally cared so much that she….” Stories about real things that staff have done to live the value with staff, customers and product issues carry a lot of weight. Stories are easily told. Seek them out. Talk about them. Put together lunches just to tell the stories.
Figuring out your core value is not as hard as you may think. I have a simple process you can follow – just send me an email (sw@newviewinnovation.com) and I will send it out to you.