How Do I Turn My Core Values into Tools?

It’s no secret that we love Core Values; in fact, Kirk says they’re “the most important thing you will ever do in business.” We work with practices across the country, and though they’re all unique, there’s one consistent truth in all practices — when core values are not operationalized, it creates confusion, inconsistency, and frustration. However, when they become decision-making tools that you use every day, they create clarity, accountability, and a culture that runs itself!

If your core values aren’t kept alive in the practice, they won’t shape your culture. However, with a few strategies, you can bring your core values alive and start letting them guide your decisions!

Make them Behavioral

When first identifying your Core Values, it’s important to understand that they only work when they’re observable and measurable in behavior. Start by looking at the behaviors you want to show up in your practice, which you can easily do by using the key characteristics of your best team members. Remember, the best values are verbs, and when you incorporate clear expectations into them, you’re setting yourself up for success when it comes to using them as effective tools.

Build them into Systems

When you start including your values in the key communication rhythms and systems in your practice, they start becoming real:

• Hiring and onboarding. Introduce values as early as possible in the interview process and incorporate them into onboarding from day one.
• Daily huddle. Call out and celebrate when you see values in action.
• Weekly team meetings. Use your values to solve issues, making sure to identify which value is being violated.
• Monthly check-ins. Anchor your feedback in in values, which keeps it from becoming personal. This is also the perfect opportunity to use our Right Person Right Seat Scorecard!
• Quarterly planning meetings. Involve the team in activities that incorporate your Core values.

These are just a few examples you can use!

Use them as a Daily Decision Filter

We’re faced with decisions all day, but you can reduce that decision fatigue by using your values as a filter. When you’re faced with a decision, ask:

• Does this align with our core values?
• Which value does this support?
• Are we compromising a value to make this easier?

When you master this process, you’ll be able to make faster decisions with less second-guessing, which will help create consistent experiences for patients and team members.

Ultimately, if you want to turn your Core Values into tools, you need to make them visible in your behavior. After all, if your team can’t clearly see what a value looks like in action, they can’t consistently live it! You must integrate them into your systems and then use the intentional repetition of those systems to make your values real.

To get started on this journey, ask yourself one simple question: “Are my Core Values hanging on the wall, or are they alive in the halls?”

To learn more about how to build a Better Practice and a Better Life, visit us at www.actdental.com!