TL;DR.
The eighth and final value in our values mini-series is about Collaboration. Beautiful things are made when we collaborate but we often don’t put a collaborative effort forward. We dive into why collaboration is important and how unity is formed from it. We cover important why values are important, dive into our value Collaboration Unites Us, and why you need to have values in both your personal life and for your business!
Introduction.
Note: The first two sections (The Value in Having Values & What Values Convey) are located in each value post. They provide important information to remember when reading each post. So if you’ve already read them in another post, you may go ahead and skip to the Ownership value section!
The Value in Having Values.
Values are often times the sounding device you will use for a multitude of different things. We all have personal values, whether they are constructive values or destructive values, we all have them. Your values should point you in the right direction. Often times they are something that is a relief and something that can be relied upon. At Maven X we have values to both convey what we stand for but also to show our clients and potential customers what we deliver each time.
Having both you and your clients or customers align on a value is a win-win for both sides. It can give your clients a more relieved feeling to go with someone who has the same values as them, you’re telling the client what they are to expect from you, but also you get a read into what might be important to that person or brand you’re working with.
Values also don’t have to be this crazy unique thing just to you and your business, but they shouldn’t be generic or just adopted because it looks good. You need to live it out.
What Values Convey.
Values speak things into someone’s mind before they meet or even talk to you. Spoken and unspoken conclusions are made based upon someone’s values. You and your business values are no different. Your values can either be an asset or a curse. So what can values convey to others?
- Your Purpose
- Who You Are
- Your Sounding Process
- Your Decision Making Guide
- What Matters to You
Your Purpose
In a business sense your purpose is the reason that you exist. In a personal sense you purpose is something that drives you or is a part of your identity. Your values will convey what your purpose is but in small details which play into the big details. Let’s say you sell cybersecurity services, one of your values should be trust. They play together. You need to be trusted to handle security. So make sure that your values speak into your purpose.
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Who You Are
Someone’s values speak a lot about the person that they are. Like mentioned, values tell a story about you and your business. Your values will show what you stand for. You shouldn’t take on values unless you are already putting them into action or you really want to pursue them. Your values also shouldn’t be difficult to “implement” because they should already be there; they’re a part of who you are.
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Your Sounding Process
A sounding is defined as:
information or evidence ascertained as a preliminary step before deciding on a course of action.
Oxford Languages
When making decisions or taking action on something the steps should align with your values. They fill in the blanks before you begin to make a better decision. What we can see is that a lot of false opportunities or noise is filtered out when values don’t align. This is a good thing! A process or boundaries should be in place to protect you and your business from certain things. So use your values as a way to filter and guide you to the decision or outcome.
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Your Decision Making Guide
Similar to being a sounding process, your values should help in making decisions. If you can’t trust someone, don’t do business with them. If they don’t have integrity, cut them out of your personal life. Some decisions can be cut and dry when aligned (or mis-aligned) with your values.
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What Matters to You
Finally, your values should show what matters to you. These are your top picked traits and items that mean something to you. They will convey ultimately what you are looking for in others as well as other businesses. It’s a match-match situation. You’ll be more aligned to another person or another business when your values match. These are the characteristics that you both are that matter to both of you. When you’re showing that you’re living them out, there is no argument about who you say that you are and what you stand for.
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Collaboration Unites Us.
Collaboration is one of my personal favorite things. We all are made uniquely, we all have our own talents, and we all have a human desire for connections.
At Maven X we are a collaboration based business. We work with our clients directly to collaborate with them to make their business better. The collaboration process can either be dreadful or one that’s fulfilling. We choose to make it one that is incredibly fulfilling. The collaboration that needs to happen between clients and Maven X is crucial to project success. Our goal is to help the client achieve their goals. In order for this to happen we need to be on the same page at all times, or in other words… united.
So how do we achieve collaboration? At Maven X we have our dedicated Client Portal that was created for our clients specifically. In the client portal we have a list of tasks, project details, purposeful forms, file upload capability, and email notifications that all aides in collaboration. Maven X clients are able to see the current status of their project, allow us to share files with the client and the client share with us, every action sends an email to both of us to make sure we are all always kept up to date, and it puts everything on paper so it’s not forgotten. We also use purposeful forms that we created to gather the items we need to start and the information that helps us know what to do next. Through the portal and forms we have a process that is continuously being improved to make sure our collaboration is continuously being used to unite Maven X and our clients together. Of course all of this is tied to the classic old fashioned meeting, email, and text message!
Final Thoughts.
This value is your choice. You can choose to foster a great collaborative environment or a horrible one. Things either happen by default or by design. Chose to make collaboration happen by design. Take the time to focus on your collaboration process and don’t be afraid to try things and constantly improve!
Previous Value.
The previous Maven X value we covered was Quality Is Our Direction – “In line with excellence, quality is the tangible proof of excellence. In all of our products, services, and deliverables we are aiming towards quality. We make sure that we are giving you the best quality for your money.”