By Erick Stewart
I believe there is an important relationship between an entrepreneur’s passion and values and how these intangibles are ingrained in your company’s culture to affect performance. Regardless of what your company does, it’s critical to identify what feeds your fire and then transfer this to your team. It’s what leads to ongoing professional success — and personal satisfaction.
Yet when business owners become distracted, their entrepreneurial fire begins to smolder, which can lead to burnout.
During my tenure as CEO of Stewart Industries, it was my responsibility to make strategic decisions that ensured the company’s ability to thrive. Line workers in the factory were responsible for moving our product to the next station while maintaining high quality. I didn’t need them coming into my office and advising me on corporate strategy, and they didn’t need me on the factory floor telling them how to run the line. My point is, we all have our respective lanes. Yet too often entrepreneurs become overly involved in daily operations and forget about the unique synergy that can be created by managing values, culture and performance.
So let’s talk about this transformative relationship.
Identify values — The first step for CEOs is to be crystal clear on their core values. It’s almost like a marriage. There is some sort of catalyst that initially kindles a relationship between two people. As long as you keep that spark going, the relationship remains strong. It works the same way in your business.
Alignment — Next you want to infuse your values throughout the company, which is done via speech, action (walking your talk), processes and policies. Customers should be able to walk in the door of your company and feel those values resonating in every interaction with every employee — whether you’re physically present or not.
Communication — Integral to alignment, CEOs must acknowledge how employees are performing in regard to corporate values, whether it’s praising good work that has been done or pointing out corrections that need to happen. And vice versa, the team must be able to communicate with you. (A powerful concept in Japanese lean manufacturing is that anyone can stop the production line if they see a quality issue. What’s more, production doesn’t resume until the problem is solved.)
An important consideration, which influences both communication and performance, are the unofficial leaders in a company. These folks may not have a senior title, but they control the rhythm in the room. When their feelings and opinions bubble up in a meeting, the rest of the group pays attention. The lesson for CEOs: Know who these people are and touch base with them before announcing any major company or department initiative to understand how they might react. When your unofficial leaders thrive, the rest of your team performs better.
To recap, maintaining your entrepreneurial fire revolves around three things:
- Identify and understand what you’re passionate about.
- Interact with your employees to embed these core values within the company culture.
- Communicate with team members about their progress related to those values.
Granted, CEOs must focus on their company’s success and profitability, but they also need to remain excited about what they are doing. Burnout happens when an entrepreneur gets too deep in the weeds of the business and forgets to manage this three-prong process. Yet by aligning your core values, company culture and performance, there is no burnout, because the company becomes a manifestation of your passion.