Why Are Your Values So Important To Job Satisfaction?

You’ve probably seen the “corporate values” posted on the wall somewhere of the headquarters of an organization, or on their website perhaps. You might actually read them and think to yourself, those are nice.

It might even give you a bit of a warm-n-fuzzy feel about the work that company is doing in the world.

That’s great for the customers.

But what does that actually mean to the employees? How do those values actually translate into what they are doing on any given day, and why should they care??

The latest survey from the Gallup Organization (http://news.gallup.com/topic/employee_engagement.aspx) shows that only 30% of employees are engaged! That means the other 70% are either disengaged or actively disengaged, which translates to they’re secretly sabotaging your business, in small or large ways. All of which impacts the bottom line!

Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year. (yowza!)

So how do you solve the engagement problem in your organization??

It comes back to those values… but not the values of the company necessarily, it’s about the individual core values of each employee!

I’ve worked with executives and employees from around the world for the last 16 years and what I’ve found is that these core values are the KEY to engagement.

When an employee knows what their core values are, those values can then serve as a guide, or a compass if you will. Helping them to do work that is meaningful for them.

And when that employee knows what the company values are, what the brand stands for, then they can align their personal values with that of the products or services that their company is offering to the world, thus creating a deeper level of engagement because it’s personal.

And when you’re personally invested in the process, what happens? You tend to give more of your time, energy and passions to the outcomes.

You see, at the heart of each of us, we all want to do meaningful work in the world.

We all want to know that our contributions of time, talent and genius matter.

Conversely, when the work lacks meaning, your body will let you know!

When your work is out of alignment with your core values, your guiding principles, it creates all sorts of dis-ease that shows up in your body in the form of stress, worry, anxiety, fear, headaches, low back pain, weight gain and any number of other disorders, addictions and diseases.

So next time you see those values of the company you work for up on the wall, take some time to ask yourself,

“What are MY core values and how well are they aligned with the work I’m currently doing in the world?”

You might be surprised what you discover.

Not sure what your core values are?

You can download my Free Values Worksheet (http://www.nectarconsulting.com/valuable-resources/assessments/) to help define your values to guide your work in each day.
And as you take the steps to better align your work with your values,

Your body, mind and spirit will thank you.

To Your Success!

Michele