Why Core Values Are So Important to Your Company, and What Our 5 Are

Why core values are so important to your company, and what our 5 are

The reason everyone refers to a company’s values as ‘core’, is because they are the very foundations of your identity as a business.

Your core values are the root of who you are, what you believe in and how you do business. These aren’t just nice words. This is the heart of your business. The basis on which your team will make decisions. These are the principles you hire and fire by.

As Brittany Forsyth, VP of HR at Shopify says:

“Determine what behaviors and beliefs you value as a company, and have everyone live true to them. These behaviors and beliefs should be so essential to your core, that you don’t even think of it as culture.”

Your core values will attract your kind of people

When we say your kind of people we mean:

Employees

Your core values are the seed from which your company culture grows, because they’ll be so specific to your brand they’ll attract the right kind of employees, and turn off those who don’t align with your business.

When you include your core values in your marketing materials, on your hiring page, in your recruitment drive, job seekers are more able to weigh up whether or not you’re the right fit.

And when values are upheld, all your team benefits. When employees are aligned under the same principles, they’re guided by a team behavior. Processes can be built from them, decisions can be made by them.

Customers and clients

Put your hands up if you’ve ever worked with a customer or client you really didn’t enjoy working with…

As business owners we can fall into the trap of taking on every person possible if it means more business. It can also be hard to get out of this habit cycle, but it’s so rewarding.

There is absolutely no reason why you can’t be working with only the clients you want. But it takes defining your core values (and communicating them effectively) to get there.

Much in the same way jobseekers will be put off if they don’t resonate with your values, so will potential customers and clients.

Having values to measure each new enquirer to, means you can choose the people you know you’re going to enjoy working with.

Our values enable us to connect with the kind of Designers we love

We love working with business owners in the Design industry. Why?

• We’re envious of your creativity! Accountants by nature aren’t viewed as the creative types, so it’s nice to be around that and share in the glow of a great idea.
• We love that many of you are completely honest with yourselves. You know when you need help, and that makes it so much easier to step in and point you in the right direction.

But that doesn’t mean every Designer we meet will be a match – and that’s okay. We love working with designers who align with our values, which are:

Help first

Our goal is to answer all of your questions. It doesn’t matter to us if you ask a question once, five times, ten times. It really doesn’t matter, because we’re here to help you. At The Designer CPA, we believe there’s no such thing as a stupid question. More than anything, we want you to understand – so ask us as many times as you need to get a better understanding of your financials.

Passionate personality

This is so important for us. Our entire team is passionate about helping business owners in the Design Industry. You may have worked with an accountant before or you may know one. Which means you probably know we generally get a bad rap! The stereotypical accountant has their head down, stuck in a pile of papers, avoiding communication. We pride ourselves in being the opposite of that. We want to communicate, in fact we make it mandatory at least 4 times a year to communicate with our clients. We’re not here to push paper, or only show our faces once a year for a tax return. We’re here to be a team mate for you, and always be there for you. We use our passion and personality in order to help you see your goals through.

Integrity

This is not just a word for us – it’s what we do every single day. We value your trust and we want to be there for you. We want everyone of our clients to know that they’re in good hands with us.

Always measure value

Other firms might log as many billable hours as possible, and focus their whole business around that. We strive to give you the most value. And every customer has a different definition of what value is based on their journey. We’re not here to work morning, noon and night to drive up a bill – we measure on the value you perceive. We want to help you, which is why we’re always trying to measure the value we’re creating for you.

No jerks allowed!

We’ve all had an experience in the workplace where we’ve had to endure verbal abuse. Whether it be from an employer, or an employee. We don’t tolerate that here. You can rest assured that when you’re communicating with a team mate at the firm, you’ll never be subject to verbal abuse, unkindness or shame. We’ll never make you think your questions or opinions are stupid. No jerks allowed here. It’s something I pride myself on, and have zero tolerance for.

What about you? What are the values at the root of your company culture? We’d love to know.

Tell us in the comments below.